Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) invited a never-Trumper to Senate Republicans’ private weekly lunch on September 17 to argue that Republicans should prioritize defense spending above election integrity.
McConnell’s pitch undermined the House Republican plan to pass a six-month continuing resolution (CR) attached to the SAVE Act – a bill by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) to eliminate non-citizen voting favored by Donald Trump.
In the meeting, McConnell brought in members of the Commission on National Defense Strategy to present a report that endorsed raising taxes to send billions more taxpayer dollars to the Pentagon, a meeting reported by the Daily Signal.
Breitbart News has learned one of those leaders brought in by McConnell to address Republicans was Commission Vice Chair Eric Edelman, a former Undersecretary of Defense for George Bush. In 2020, Edelman endorsed Joe Biden against Donald Trump, disparaging Trump’s fitness for office.
Edelman maintains his fervent opposition to the Republican standard-bearer. On September 18, the day after he pleaded with Republican Senators to prioritize defense spending over conservative policies, Edelman’s name appeared on a letter with dozens of other national security officials attacking Trump and endorsing his Democrat opponent, Kamala Harris.
The September 17 meeting underscores McConnell’s increasing distance from the conference he has long ruled – and highlights the significance of the battle to replace him.
Three candidates have declared so far in Sens. John Thune (R-SD), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Rick Scott (R-FL).
Thune and Cornyn are considered loyal McConnell disciples. Thune currently serves as Republican Whip –McConnell’s top deputy, while Cornyn served in the role before term limits forced him to step aside.
Scott challenged McConnell for leader at the end of the previous conference. Although McConnell won, Scott’s was the first challenge to McConnell’s leadership in his many years atop the Republican conference.
By amassing ten votes in a race that McConnell was certain to win, Scott showed that members of McConnell’s conference were increasingly willing to stand up to him despite the consequences, signaling McConnell’s loosening grip.
In February, after months of working hand-in-hand with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Ukraine aid and other President Joe Biden priorities and leading an effort to pass a massive pro-migration bill to unlock tens of million in aid to Ukraine, McConnell faced increasingly serious internal threats to his leadership. McConnell made the surprise announcement he would step aside at the end of the Congress, avoiding a potential coup.
McConnell has used his final year as Republican Leader to cement his legacy, partnering often with Chuck Schumer and fighting against the rising elements inside his own conference that elevated Trump and his America First agenda that increasingly have forced McConnell to look across the aisle to advance his priorities.
Those rising elements inside McConnell’s conference largely refute the policies McConnell has spent a career advocating.
The Pentagon, long a spending priority for McConnell, has come under increasing scrutiny for mission drift and a recruitment crisis, as it has prioritized woke HR initiatives, abortion tourism, and vaccine mandates, love its role as a lethal fighting force – represented most keenly in its disastrous Afghanistan pullout.
McConnell is undeterred, continuing to prioritize American taxpayer funded proxy wars across the globe, even as the war-weary electorate has turned away from military adventurism.
While McConnell has undermined Trump and conservatives on the Hill, he has increasingly cozied up to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. The leader joined Schumer to meet with Zelensky on Capitol Hill Thursday, just days after the Ukrainian President bashed Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), attacking them in American media outlets. And Zelensky used a tour of an ammunition factory in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania Sunday to appear with a large group of Democrat politicians and Harris surrogates — reportedly arriving there at the taxpayers’ expense on an Air Force jet.
Many Republicans were incensed by Zelensky’s interference into American politics – on the American taxpayer’s dime. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called for Zelensky to fire his ambassador to the U.S., who had arranged the trip. He refused to meet with Zelensky Thursday.
McConnell was unfazed.
With Republicans in the minority in the Senate, much press focus has fallen upon the embattled Johnson, who has struggled to establish his leadership atop the House Republican Conference. Much ink has been spilled on Johnson’s future in the House should Republicans retain the majority.
The race to replace McConnell has largely gone under the radar – which is exactly how McConnell wants it.
McConnell insists the internal conference election to replace him will happen days after the November election, refusing Senate conservatives’ pleas for more time to discuss the issues and direction of the conference and consider candidates (it is likely another candidate may join the current field of Thune, Cornyn, and Scott).
That strategy would benefit one of McConnell’s preferred candidates.
By holding the election soon after the November 5 election, McConnell also reduces the likelihood that Trump himself will weigh in, particularly if Trump emerges victorious. McConnell consistently worked to undermine Trump throughout his first administration, and Trump assuredly would want a Republican Senate leader he can more easily work with.
With the Senate now recessed, McConnell’s final priority will be working behind the scenes to install a friendly candidate as his replacement – one who would continue standing with the “good ol’ boy” institutionalism of the Senate and internationalist element of the Republican Party, fighting the rising pro-American populism of the America First movement.
The direction of the Republican Party may hang in the balance.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
