Sen. Mitch McConnell derided former President Trump as “stupid” and “a despicable human being” during his effort to overturn the 2020 election, according to a new book based on his own personal oral histories.
The longtime Republican Senate leader slammed Trump in blunt terms behind closed doors as the then-president pursued his ultimately failed scheme to stay in power after losing the vote to President Biden.
Trump is “stupid as well as being ill-tempered and can’t even figure out where his own best interests lie,” McConnell said, according to the book.
The Kentucky senator slammed Trump for holding up a coronavirus aid package at the time despite bipartisan support.
“This despicable human being is sitting on this package of relief that the American people desperately need,” McConnell said.
McConnell worked closely with Trump to guide key priorities through Congress, including the 2017 tax cut and three successful Supreme Court nominations.
But they split after the 2020 election, when McConnell refused to join Trump’s scheme to overturn the results.
“The American people, they’ve had just enough of the misrepresentations, the outright lies almost on a daily basis, and they fired him,” McConnell said. “And for a narcissist like him, that’s been really hard to take, and so his behavior since the election has been even worse.”
McConnell called Trump “practically and morally responsible” for the violent Jan. 6 attack. But he later helped scuttle the effort to convict Trump at his impeachment trial, a move that paved the way for Trump’s comeback in the 2024 White House race.
McConnell’s private comments are by far his most brutal assessment of the former president and could be seized on by Democrats before the Nov. 5 election.
“The Price of Power,” written by Associated Press journalist Michael Tackett, will be released Oct. 29, one week before Election Day.
McConnell acknowledged the harsh remarks about Trump on Thursday but noted that other Trump allies have also had nasty words about the former president.
McConnell recently swallowed his pride and endorsed Trump’s election bid despite his scathing attacks.
“Whatever I may have said about President Trump pales in comparison to what (vice presidential nominee) JD Vance, (Sen.) Lindsey Graham, and others have said about him,” McConnell said. “But we are all on the same team now.”
