Mitch McConnell is blowing off Trump as he eyes 2024 election

Now that he is back at work after a rehab stint following a fall, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is working feverishly to line up candidates for U.S. Senate seats he thinks are within reach in the 2024 election before Donald Trump can intercede like he did in the 2022 midterms to disastrous results for the GOP.

According to a report from Politico, the longtime senior Republican is trying "to get ahead" of the former president who has been taking shots at him on his struggling Truth Social media platform and — according to an aide — the Kentucky Republican is ignoring the former president

As Politico's Burgess Everett wrote, McConnell is rounding up candidates which "underscores the reality that, with the presidential primary still ramping up, he is probably Trump’s greatest foil in the Republican Party right now. He has not changed his mind about Trump’s conduct after the 2020 election, according to confidantes, and he sees Trump’s nomination as complicating the task of defeating Joe Biden next year."

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"The Senate GOP leader doesn’t talk about Trump in public, and does so little in private... What McConnell won’t do, though, is pick a fight with the GOP frontrunner, whom he clearly does not want to win the nomination," the report adds.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an ally of Trump,stated, "Mitch is trying to pick his battles wisely,' before elaborating, "He understands that the drama of Trump probably doesn’t help day-to-day activities in the Senate. Any leadership person is going to have to make some decisions that are not popular with their base.”

Another Republican senator, who asked to be kept anonymous, stated he agreed with McConnell.

"The thing about Mitch is, he wants a majority in the Senate,” they explained.

Another McConnell ally added, "He believes that him getting involved in the presidential cycle makes it harder for candidates to win. Not easier. The practical reality of winning the Senate is probably entirely divorced from what happens in a presidential primary because of the map. If Trump’s the nominee, I don’t know what happens but I can probably tell you he’s not going to lose West Virginia, Montana and Ohio.”

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