Donald Trump’s blistering attack on former ally Mitch McConnell

Donald Trump has warned that Republicans will never win an election again if they keep Mitch McConnell as their leader.

Donald Trump has labelled Republican leader Mitch McConnell a “dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack” in a dramatic escalation in the battle for the party’s future. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump has launched a blistering attack on Republican leader Mitch McConnell, calling him a “dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack”, in a dramatic escalation in the battle for the party’s future.

The former president warned that Republicans could never win again if they kept Senator McConnell as their leader, portraying him as an inept and unpopular politician who helped Republicans lose the Senate.

The attack follows Senator McConnell’s strong criticism of Mr Trump’s role in the Capitol riot and signals a major battle ­between the two men over the future of the party.

‘‘The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political ‘leaders’ like Senator Mitch McConnell at its helm,’’ Mr Trump said in a 600-word statement.

‘‘McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse.

‘‘Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if ­Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again.’’

Mr Trump also took a swipe at the Chinese business interests of Senator McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who resigned as Transport Secretary in protest over Mr Trump’s role in the January 6 riot.

“McConnell has no credibility on China because of his family’s substantial Chinese business holdings. He does nothing on this tremendous economic and military threat,” Mr Trump said.

He issued the statement on Senator McConnell instead of proceeding with a planned press conference. His lawyers warned the former president against holding an unscripted press conference while he faces a raft of lawsuits over his role in the riot.

The ferocity of Mr Trump’s statement shows that he sees the Kentucky senator and Senate Minority Leader as his most powerful opponent in his attempt to maintain a firm grip on the party. Senator McConnell has made it clear that he wants the ­party to move on from the Trump era. He has accused the former president of being ‘‘practically and morally responsible’’ for the Capitol riot, even though he voted to acquit Mr Trump in his Senate trial last week on legal grounds.

Senator McConnell believes Mr Trump’s behaviour in challenging the November election ­result in Georgia and threatening Republican officials there contributed to the loss of two Senate seats and control of the Senate.

The fallout between the two men, who were once close allies, reflects broader divisions within the party about whether Mr Trump should continue as a kingmaker after the disgrace of his final months in office.

Polls show Mr Trump remains hugely popular with Republican voters with a new Quinnipac University poll showing 75 per cent of Republicans want Mr Trump to continue to play a prominent role in the party.

As civil war rages among ­Republicans, President Joe Biden has tried to move past the impeachment trial, holding a town hall meeting in Wisconsin to promote his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

Mr Biden is expected to announce further measures in the coming weeks to boost the rollout of vaccines and coronavirus treatments at a time when US infection rates and deaths have finally begun to fall steeply. Daily US infections have fallen to below 80,000 compared with about 250,000 a day just three weeks ago.

Mr Biden is weighing up whether to use the Democrat ­majority in congress to force through his full package or whether to compromise with Republicans to accept a smaller but bipartisan relief bill.

The President is also expected to introduce a sweeping immigration bill as early as this week in which a path to citizenship would be ­offered to at least 11 million illegal immigrants.

Mr Biden has already stopped construction of Mr Trump’s border wall and has signed orders to allow in more refugees and establish a taskforce to reunite 600 children who were separated from their parent’s under Mr Trump’s hardline immigration policies.