McConnell is hoping to maintain his 'political power' by 'cutting his losses' with Trump now: columnist

In a column for the Nation, author Sasha Abramsky speculated the Republican Party is facing an internal civil war that could tear the party apart once Donald Trump leaves office -- and that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is gaming out how to hold onto the stranglehold he has over the party.

According to Abramsky, supporters of Trump are furious that more than a few GOP lawmakers are ready to move on and accept that former Vice President Joe Biden won the 2020 election with the president's fans calling them the "surrender caucus," in the words of Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Al ) who also stated, "There is some chance of succeeding if you fight..." to overturn the election results.

Behind the scenes, McConnell and his deputy Sen. John Thune (R-SD) are urging Republican senators to not join in with Republican colleagues in the House contesting the election as the Senate majority leader walks the fine line between appeasing the president -- who refuses to admit he lost --and dealing with the incoming administration.

With McConnell conceding that Biden is the president-elect earlier in the week, he has been the subject of the president's ire, with Trump tweeting at him, "Mitch, 75,000,000 VOTES, a record for a sitting President (by a lot). Too soon to give up. Republican Party must finally learn to fight. People are angry!”

However, as Abramsky writes, McConnell is keeping his head down as he tries to win the two Senate seats still up for grabs in Georgia despite the president's attacks.

"It’s tempting to dismiss all of this as simply the noisy, irrational coda to a brutal election season. But it’s more complex than that," the columnist wrote. "Trump is desperately fighting for his personal survival, but McConnell has abandoned him; ergo, Trump must now turn his rhetorical guns against the Senate leader."

She then suggested, "For his part, McConnell has clearly concluded that it’s in his political interest to cut his losses now and endure Trump’s rants and his supporters’ threats for the next few weeks, in order to maintain his political power into the Biden presidency," before adding that, regardless, the Republican Party will continue to be in disarray once Trump is out of office and still sniping at Republicans from the outside.