Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced he would support Donald Trump for president after blaming him for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and panelists on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" were appalled.
The Kentucky Republican, who announced last week he would step down as Senate Republican leader after November's election, has not spoken to Trump since the insurrection, although he helped shield the former president from conviction in his Senate impeachment trial.
"A lot of people have forgotten why you go to Washington," said New York Times columnist Mara Gay. "It's supposed to be to serve Americans, it's supposed to be to be a public servant. This looks like it's about power. It's shameless. Americans understand that. They see that that's part of why so many voters are deeply demoralized and cynical about this process."
"It's shameless but also bizarre," said conservative attorney George Conway. "I mean, here's a man – how old is Mitch McConnell?"
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"Old enough that it doesn't matter," said host Joe Scarborough. "I'm old enough that it doesn't matter."
"Exactly," Conway agreed. "Right, why not go out and just say what you think? He did say what he thought on that -- for that brief, shining moment on Feb. 13, 2021, where he said not only the stuff we just saw on tape, he said, 'There's a criminal law in this country.' He was endorsing Jack Smith before Jack Smith was even appointed. He was saying that the man was a criminal, that he did cause these people to engage in violence on the Hill and that one of the remedies could be criminal prosecution. So where is he today? For what? He's done."
Scarborough said the GOP minority leader was the latest in a line of Republicans to bend the knee to a candidate who had personally insulted them or their wives.
"I'm sorry, I'll ask, and I say this of [Ted] Cruz, of Lindsey [Graham], of all of them," Scarborough said. "I say it of just all the people Trump insulted. What man -- I say a man, but or a woman, but as a man, what man would put up with that? I had a very powerful Republican slander a friend of mine, 20 years later, 20 years later, he pulls me aside before a speech and begs me to stop. He says, 'Jesus Christ, Joe, it's been 20 years. It's been 20 years.' I said, 'You shouldn't have said that about my friend, it's going to be 20 more years.' I mean, that's what we would all do. Well, except for my friends – hold on, except for my friends, when Donald Trump said I was a murderer and should be executed, a lot of them voted for Donald Trump."
"But that even raises a question: What is it about Donald Trump?" Scarborough added. "Someone can insult someone's wife or husband, or in Mitch McConnell's case, continue racist slurs against his wife, and they're just fine with it. I just -- that's not -- I'm not even looking at Donald Trump there. I'm looking at these people. I'm looking at my former friends. Like, 'Yeah, he called you a murderer, but I'm voting for him anyway. Regulations, you know, they'll be down under Trump' – crazy."
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