'Deadly serious': Trump warned he needs a 'McConnell strategy' to prevent a GOP revolt

The Trump administration needs to come up with a "McConnell strategy" if it doesn't want a full-on Republican revolt to stall the Trump agenda, according to CNN's Manu Raju.

Last week, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) defied Trump by breaking with Republicans during the vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense. McConnell's "no" vote, along with that of Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) necessitated a tie-breaker vote from Vice President JD Vance to put Hegseth over the top.

On Sunday's Inside Politics, Raju said, "This is something that a former Senate leadership aide told me yesterday about McConnell. He said that, 'There isn't a single ideological similarity between McConnell and the Murkowski/Collins wing of the party, which tells me this. He's deadly serious about being totally uncompromising in his defense and foreign policy views. And two, somebody in the Trump world is going to need to come up with a McConnell strategy because he could be a real problem for their entire agenda if they don't come up with something.'"

ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration

Panelist Anstead Herndon of The New York Times commented, "It feels to me like he's prioritizing his legacy, right? Like, post-January 6th, we know that there's been a rift between them, and now that he's out of leadership, it feels like on the issues he cares the most about, he can make a point about the ways the party has changed. The ways that we know he has been uncomfortable with."

Herndon said McConnell's actions remind him of how the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) used their seniority to make a statement on certain issues.

"But I don't think we've seen Mitch McConnell be willing to put Republicans in a losing position because of it, right?" Herndon continued. "There has not been a time that I can remember where he is, like, moved to sink legislation because of it. So until that, I would think I would be a little skeptical of him being someone that will doom the second Trump administration."

Watch the clip below via CNN or at the link.