Speaker 1: We have breaking news.
Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell will step down as the Republican leader in
Speaker 2: the Senate in November.
Speaker 1: According to the Associated Press.
Speaker 2: Just ran this headline a moment ago, coming a day
Speaker 2: after we watched the driveway outside the West Wing, a
Speaker 2: big meeting with the Big Four, of course, on a
Speaker 2: budget and potentially funding our allies in Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan.
Speaker 2: Everyone came out except Mitch McConnell. He got in the
Speaker 2: suv and went back to the capital, of course, knowing
Speaker 2: that we'd be talking about this today, but also potentially
Speaker 2: giving Mike Johnson a little bit of cover so they
Speaker 2: didn't have to publicly disagree about went on inside. And
Speaker 2: that's something we want to talk about with Wendy Benjaminson.
Speaker 2: Of course, Washington's senior editor is with us here. Wendy,
Speaker 2: this is not what we expected to be talking about.
Speaker 2: And I want to ask you about what happened in
Speaker 2: Michigan last night because it's important. But Mitch McConnell, my gosh,
Speaker 2: a record run in this powerful post. What does it
Speaker 2: say that he's stepping down, that he's too old to
Speaker 2: keep doing the job.
Speaker 1: The parties left.
Speaker 3: Him well, obviously we don't know yet, because all we
Speaker 3: you and I know so far as the saidline from
Speaker 3: the AP and I'm sure we're all scrambling to find
Speaker 3: out exactly the answer to that question.
Speaker 4: It very well could be his age.
Speaker 3: He's had those two public incidents, at least two public
Speaker 3: incidents where he just.
Speaker 4: Seemed to freeze and lose.
Speaker 3: I don't know if the ability to speak or the
Speaker 3: ability for his brain to catch up, but clearly that
Speaker 3: struck us as an age related problem.
Speaker 4: He is eighty two years old, well was.
Speaker 2: Doctor did make the point that it followed a fall,
Speaker 2: he had a spell.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 3: It may have could have been related or something like that,
Speaker 3: so right, but clearly it certainly gave the impression.
Speaker 4: Of an old leader.
Speaker 3: And then also there is this sense now that the
Speaker 3: transformation of the Republican Party with Trump coming back as
Speaker 3: the front runner and probable nominee, is complete, that that
Speaker 3: transformation is done, and what we all thought of conservatives,
Speaker 3: what being conservative for the last thirty forty years, no
Speaker 3: longer means that. And Mitch McConnell is, you know, one
Speaker 3: of those lions of the Senate really into procedure, really
Speaker 3: into trying to do bipartisan where he can, trying to
Speaker 3: stick it to Democrats where he can. And it's a
Speaker 3: but it's not a let's own the Libs sort of
Speaker 3: attitude that a lot of new Republicans Trump Republicans have,
Speaker 3: and so he may What we may find in our
Speaker 3: reporting today is that he's just decided that a party
Speaker 3: left him.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: He's watched Donald Trump disparage his wife publicly. Yeah, he's
Speaker 2: lost apparently the argument over Ukraine funding, at least in
Speaker 2: the way he wanted it to be done.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: You wonder if he stays on then past the election,
Speaker 2: is he going to be having lunch with Nancy Pelosi
Speaker 2: talking about the old days?
Speaker 4: Yeah? They probably, They probably will. I mean they have
Speaker 4: known each.
Speaker 1: Other, said something incredibly important. Though the transformation is complete.
Speaker 4: He was the last hold out exactly.
Speaker 3: And I don't I think he's he may be worried
Speaker 3: about leading the party after the twenty twenty four election.
Speaker 3: You know, if Donald Trump wins, well, if Biden wins,
Speaker 3: he's the minority leader. If Trump wins, and I'm sorry
Speaker 3: I shouldn't say that, if Democrats control the Senate, he's
Speaker 3: the minority leader. If Republicans flip the Senate, he's the
Speaker 3: majority leader, but always with a guy who doesn't see
Speaker 3: the world in the White House the same way that
Speaker 3: mcconnald does.
Speaker 2: Right, And if yeah, my goodness, if Donald Trump is
Speaker 2: the next president of the United States, he could be
Speaker 2: dead in the water. And we are going to be
Speaker 2: asking a lot of questions about the role that Donald
Speaker 2: Trump played in this.
Speaker 1: Right, he could have given him an ultimatum.
Speaker 2: We have no idea what happened behind the scenes here,
Speaker 2: because this is quite the breaker if you're just joining us.
Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell's stepping down or at least announcing that he
Speaker 2: will as the Senate Republican leader in November.
Speaker 3: And you know, we know that the McConnell team and
Speaker 3: the Trump team have been talking recently behind the scenes
Speaker 3: about whether McConnell will endorse Trump. Yes, and I think
Speaker 3: if mc donald does endorse Trump, I'm going back to
Speaker 3: that lion of the Senate school kind of guy. If
Speaker 3: Trump is clearly the Republican nominee, then McConnell will hold
Speaker 3: his nose, explain to his.
Speaker 4: Wife and you know, and go.
Speaker 3: Ahead and endorse them, because the public he's a loyal Republican.
Speaker 2: When you see this headline, though, then you start because
Speaker 2: that has been the big conversation. Is this his way
Speaker 2: of saying, no, I'm not endorsing Donald Trump.
Speaker 4: Why I don't know?
Speaker 2: That would be something that would be something talk about
Speaker 2: the last holdout As we spend time with Wendy Benjaminson,
Speaker 2: this is remarkable and we'll have a lot more to
Speaker 2: talk about with our panel. Rick and Genie will be
Speaker 2: here about ten minutes, and of course we're going to
Speaker 2: get their take. They'll be here and even less than that, Wendy,
Speaker 2: the Michigan primary is behind us.
Speaker 4: Now, that was interesting.
Speaker 1: How about that?
Speaker 2: I want to hear why you think it was because
Speaker 2: we knew all I guess we all thought we knew
Speaker 2: Donald Trump and Joe Biden were going to win, right,
Speaker 2: And they did, and they did.
Speaker 1: We can't mistake that, right.
Speaker 2: But when you look under the hood here, it didn't
Speaker 2: come without a little bit of pain, especially for Joe Biden.
Speaker 1: One hundred thousand uncommitted.
Speaker 4: One hundred thousands essentially protest votes.
Speaker 3: Well, it really shows us for the very first time
Speaker 3: the depth of concern among both voters of color, Muslim
Speaker 3: American voters, and young voters who are extremely worried about
Speaker 3: or who want to at least put Joe Biden on
Speaker 3: notice that he cannot take them for granted. That he
Speaker 3: has to take steps on the Middle East, and he
Speaker 3: has to take other steps toward things that they've wanted
Speaker 3: that he promised them in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: The interesting thing was that some of those hundred thousand
Speaker 3: protest votes did not just come from the Muslim American
Speaker 3: sort of enclaves of Dearborn and places like that. It
Speaker 3: came from ann Arbor, It came from East Landsing. Those
Speaker 3: are college towns and they have a, you know, a
Speaker 3: more liberal population than a lot of Michigan, but also
Speaker 3: a lot of those young people who are extremely dissatisfied help.
Speaker 2: To get him there in twenty you know, we hear
Speaker 2: the analysis young people don't vote anyway, They're going to
Speaker 2: probably sleep in that day. But I wonder if this
Speaker 2: starts to resonate in other college towns like Madison, where
Speaker 2: the president needs those votes to win in razor thin
Speaker 2: margins exactly.
Speaker 3: And we've seen going all the way back to Bill
Speaker 3: Clinton and especially with Barack Obama, young people will vote
Speaker 3: when they believe they have a reason to vote. When
Speaker 3: they will believe I mean, you always have a reason
Speaker 3: to vote, as I tell my kids. But they but
Speaker 3: they when they feel inspired, when they feel that they
Speaker 3: are going to have a choice to pick a leader,
Speaker 3: even if it's to vote against Donald Trump. But then
Speaker 3: you have to give them a good reason to vote
Speaker 3: for something. And they're not a lot of them, at
Speaker 3: least are not seeing it. You know, the news for
Speaker 3: Donald Trump wasn't all one hundred percent Rosie last night.
Speaker 3: Either's Nikki Hilly is still getting a significant portion of
Speaker 3: the Republican primary voters, which tells you that in the
Speaker 3: general election, there will be Republicans who will look for
Speaker 3: an alternative.
Speaker 4: Whether it's RFK.
Speaker 3: Junior, whether it's You'll Stein, whether it's Joe Biden, They're
Speaker 3: going to look something else.
Speaker 2: Thanks we saw like we saw in Georgia, you know,
Speaker 2: where they're Republican all the way down the ballot, but
Speaker 2: they never or they wrote in someone for president. Wendy
Speaker 2: Benjaminson is with us on balance of power. That's with
Speaker 2: ninety nine percent of the ballots counted, by the way,
Speaker 2: eighty one to thirteen eighty one percent of thirteen percent
Speaker 2: for Joe Biden running against himself almost in this case.
Speaker 2: It's kind of interesting. And he's got a big data
Speaker 2: mars going to the border. Yes, so is Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: They're both going to really understand how this happened. Well,
Speaker 2: they're going to be one hundreds miles apart. I think
Speaker 2: Biden is going to Brownsville, which is on the seople
Speaker 2: are going to see this as a standoff though, like
Speaker 2: they plan it that.
Speaker 3: Way, right, yeah, right, It will be sort of a
Speaker 3: standoff on the Mexican border, so you know, cue the
Speaker 3: Clint Eastwood music. But it's it will be interesting because
Speaker 3: they will both be trying to say the border is important.
Speaker 3: They will both be trying to say I can fix it.
Speaker 3: And it will be a matter of who who.
Speaker 2: Joe Biden need to show up with something or do
Speaker 2: you save that for the state of the Union and
Speaker 2: say I just got back from the border and I
Speaker 2: am taking this action here tonight, or does he need
Speaker 2: to say more than hey here, I am take my
Speaker 2: picture tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think what he'll do tomorrow is probably, you know,
Speaker 3: smack around Republicans a little bit for tanking the last
Speaker 3: bipartisan border bill. Explain that he can't do it with
Speaker 3: executive orders because he, as he said earlier this week, Dad,
Speaker 3: fixing the border requires personnel, which requires money, which requires appropriations,
Speaker 3: which requires Congress. So that I think will be his
Speaker 3: message down there. I want to fix it. He's a
Speaker 3: little late to the party, but he wants to fix it.
Speaker 3: And there we go.
Speaker 2: We're hearing the voice now of Mitch McConnell, and we
Speaker 2: want to bring you live to the Senate floor. As
Speaker 2: we just told you, he's announced that he will step
Speaker 2: down as leader in November.
Speaker 1: Let's listen live on Bloomberg.
Speaker 6: There's a certain intro spectrum that accompanies the grieving process.
Speaker 6: Perhaps it is God of reminding you of your own
Speaker 6: life's journey to reprioritage the impact of the world that
Speaker 6: we will all inevitably leave behind. I turned eighty two
Speaker 6: last week. The end of my contributions are closer than
Speaker 6: i'd prefer. My career in the United States Center began
Speaker 6: amidst the Reagan Revolution. The truth is, when I got here,
Speaker 6: I was just happy if anybody remembered my name. President
Speaker 6: Reagan called me Mitchell O'Donnell close enough. I thought. My wife, Elaine,
Speaker 6: and I got married on President Reagan's birthday, February sixth.
Speaker 6: It's probably not the most romantic thing to admit, but
Speaker 6: Reagan meant.
Speaker 1: A lot to both of us.
Speaker 6: For thirty one years, Elaine has been the love of
Speaker 6: my life, and I'm eternally grateful to have her by
Speaker 6: my side. I think back to my first days in
Speaker 6: the Senate with deep appreciation for the time that helped
Speaker 6: shape my view of the world. I'm unconflicted about the
Speaker 6: good within our country and the irreplaceable role we play
Speaker 6: as the leader of the free world. It's why I
Speaker 6: work so hard to get the National Security Package passed
Speaker 6: earlier this month. Believe me, I know the politics within
Speaker 6: my party at this particular.
Speaker 1: Moment in time.
Speaker 6: I have many faults, this understanding politics is not one of.
Speaker 6: That said, I believe more strongly than ever that America's
Speaker 6: global leadership is essential to preserving the Shining City on
Speaker 6: a Hill that Ronald Reagan discussed. As long as I'm
Speaker 6: drawing breath on this earth, I will defend American exceptionalism.
Speaker 6: So as I've been thinking about when I would delivered
Speaker 6: some news to the Senate, I always imagined a moment
Speaker 6: when I had total clarity and peace about the sunset
Speaker 6: of my work, a moment when I'm certain I have
Speaker 6: helped preserve the ideals I so strongly believe that day
Speaker 6: arrived today. My goals when I was narrowly elected to
Speaker 6: the Senate back in nineteen eighty four were fairly modest.
Speaker 6: Do good job with the people of Kentucky and convince
Speaker 6: them that by doing so, they might rehire me for
Speaker 6: a second term. That was it. That was the plan.
Speaker 6: If you would have told me forty years later that
Speaker 6: I would stand before you as the longest serving Senate
Speaker 6: leader in American history, frankly, I would have thought you'd
Speaker 6: lost your mind. I have the honor of representing Kentucky
Speaker 6: in the Senate longer than anyone else in our state history.
Speaker 6: I just never could have imagined, never could have imagined
Speaker 6: that happening when I arrived here in nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 6: At forty two, I'm filled with heartfelt gratitude and humility
Speaker 6: for the opportunity. But now it's twenty twenty four, I'm
Speaker 6: now eighty two. As Ecclesiastics as these tells us, to
Speaker 6: everything there is a season and a time to every
Speaker 6: purpose under heaven. To serve Kentucky in the Senate has
Speaker 6: been the honor of my life. To lead my Republican
Speaker 6: colleagues has been the highest privilege. But one of life's
Speaker 6: most underappreciated talents is to know when it's time to
Speaker 6: move on to life's next chapter. So I stand before
Speaker 6: you today, mister President, and my colleagues to say this
Speaker 6: will be my last term as Republican leader to the Senate.
Speaker 6: I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. However, I'll complete my
Speaker 6: job my colleagues has given me until we select a
Speaker 6: new leader November and they take the helm next January.
Speaker 6: I'll finish the job that people of Kentucky hired me
Speaker 6: to do. As well, i will be it from a
Speaker 6: different seat, and I'm actually looking forward to that. So
Speaker 6: it's time for me to think about another season. I
Speaker 6: love the Senate sent our life. There may be more
Speaker 6: distinguished members of this body throughout our history, but our
Speaker 6: doubt there were any with any more admiration for the Senate.
Speaker 6: After all this time, I still get a thrill walking
Speaker 6: into the Capitol, and especially on this venerable floor, knowing
Speaker 6: that we each of us have the honor to represent
Speaker 6: our states and do the important work of our country,
Speaker 6: but father time remains undefeated. I'm no longer that a
Speaker 6: young man fitting in the back hoping colleagues would remember
Speaker 6: my name. It's time the next generation of the leadership.
Speaker 6: As Shenry Place said in this very body in eighteen fifty,
Speaker 6: the Constitution of the United States was not made merely
Speaker 6: for the generation that then existed, but for posterity, unlimited, undefined, endless,
Speaker 6: perpetual posterity.
Speaker 1: So time rolls on.
Speaker 6: There will be a new custodian of this great institution
Speaker 6: next year. I won't surprise you know, I tend to
Speaker 6: turn this job over to a Republican majority of life.
Speaker 6: I have full confidence in my conference to choose my
Speaker 6: replacement and lead our country forward. There'll be other times
Speaker 6: to reminisce. I'm immensely proud of the accomplishments I've played
Speaker 6: some role in obtaining for the American people. Today is
Speaker 6: not today to discuss all of that, because, as I
Speaker 6: said earlier, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. There are
Speaker 6: many challenges we must meet to deliver for the American people,
Speaker 6: and each will have my full effort and attention. I
Speaker 6: still have enough guests in my tank to thoroughly disappoint
Speaker 6: my critics, and I intend to do so with all
Speaker 6: the enthusiasm with which they become accustomed. So to my colleagues,
Speaker 6: thank you for in trusting me with our success. It's
Speaker 6: been an honor to work with each of you. There'll
Speaker 6: be plenty of time to express my gratitude in greater
Speaker 6: detail as I sprint towards the finish line, which is
Speaker 6: now in sight. How are you poor?
Speaker 2: Senator Mitch McConnell there live in the chamber, the majority leader,
Speaker 2: once now minority leader. We'll be stepping down from his
Speaker 2: leadership post in November. As we brought you here just
Speaker 2: a short time ago. A breaking situation today in Washington,
Speaker 2: d C. I would love to just get a quick
Speaker 2: thought from Wendy Benjaminson. Wendy before you leave us. The
Speaker 2: news broke while you were in the chair here. We
Speaker 2: just listened to that together, A very emotional addressing How
Speaker 2: would you describe it? Does he feel defeated or does
Speaker 2: he feel like he's leaving on top?
Speaker 4: No, I don't think he feels defeated.
Speaker 3: My impression was sort of confirmed everything you and I
Speaker 3: were talking about right before we went to that speech,
Speaker 3: which is that he really he and Nancy Pelosi too.
Speaker 3: They are sort of such creatures of that institution in
Speaker 3: the way that we've always understood that institution to be,
Speaker 3: you know, I mean almost part of the furniture, if
Speaker 3: you will, because these the chambers did not operate without.
Speaker 4: One of them, yes, exactly.
Speaker 3: And yet he's he's giving the sense that what I
Speaker 3: said before, that you know, the things have changed. This
Speaker 3: is a new century, this is a new way of
Speaker 3: approaching politics. Seniority doesn't guarantee access to being junior, doesn't,
Speaker 3: you know, deny access. And the whole place is run
Speaker 3: in a much different way than it was in the
Speaker 3: Reagan era. And he must have mentioned Ronald Reagan three
Speaker 3: or four times there. He longs for that era and
Speaker 3: that era doesn't exist anymore, you know. And you know,
Speaker 3: I love him or hate him. He really is an institutionalist,
Speaker 3: and I think he feels like, you know, he's either
Speaker 3: too old or too out of style to run that
Speaker 3: chamber anymore.
Speaker 1: Thanks for sticking around with us.
Speaker 2: Happy I always look forward to Wendy Benjaminson's insights Bloomberg's
Speaker 2: Washington Senior Editor.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Wendy.
Speaker 2: As we assembled our panel, didn't think we'd be talking
Speaker 2: about this, but need to hear from Rick Davis and
Speaker 2: Genie Shanzanoh Bloomberg Politics contributors on news that Mitch McConnell
Speaker 2: is in fact stepping down as leader.
Speaker 1: Ricky spent a number of years.
Speaker 2: I think, as we all know working with John McCain
Speaker 2: in the United States Senate, you have every sense of
Speaker 2: the importance of this particular tenure. What does it mean
Speaker 2: that it's coming to an end?
Speaker 6: Now?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think what Wen you just said about it's
Speaker 5: really the end of an error. We saw Nancy Pelosi
Speaker 5: and her eighties be retired, and now we have Mitch
Speaker 5: Mcconnelady two retiring from this leadership post. We're going to
Speaker 5: have a whole new generation that comes into power power
Speaker 5: positions in Washington in the very near future, and I
Speaker 5: think that era is going to be ushered in is.
Speaker 1: To youthful leadership.
Speaker 5: It'll be interesting to see what happens in the Senate
Speaker 5: as far as the elections go and whether or not
Speaker 5: we're picking a minority leader or a majority leader in
Speaker 5: this cycle. But at the end of the day, we're
Speaker 5: going to lose a master strategist at legislation and politics.
Speaker 5: I was actually happy to hear that he talked about
Speaker 5: his grasp of politics. I've never met a member of
Speaker 5: the United States Senate who knew more polling and strategy
Speaker 5: than Mitch McConnell did. He was a real study in politics,
Speaker 5: and for people like me that helped have conversations with
Speaker 5: him about the impacts of what happened in the United
Speaker 5: States Senate. They weren't in a vacuum politically. He calculated
Speaker 5: the politics of every move he made.
Speaker 2: Fascinating the quote that stuck half to me, Genie, the
Speaker 2: end of my contributions are closer than I'd prefer. And
Speaker 2: you wonder how much of this had to do with
Speaker 2: his age or the impact of Donald Trump on his party.
Speaker 2: Maybe you can't separate the two.
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I think I agree with you. I
Speaker 7: think it's really hard to separate the two. And I
Speaker 7: was struck by that as well, because, of course, this
Speaker 7: is a party that has changed enormously in the last
Speaker 7: several years, but certainly since Mitch McConnell took the helm
Speaker 7: in the Senate and since he joined the Senate, this
Speaker 7: is not the same Republican Party of Mitch McConnell's time,
Speaker 7: and we have seen challenges to his leadership in the
Speaker 7: Senate very very recently, and so I think that's part
Speaker 7: of it. And I think we have to take him
Speaker 7: at his word that he feels like it is now
Speaker 7: time to hand over the mantle.
Speaker 1: And this is something so many of.
Speaker 7: Our leaders are grappling with right now, right up to
Speaker 7: our presidential leading contenders and Joe Biden and Donald Trump,
Speaker 7: as you see new generations saying wait a minute, is
Speaker 7: it time for you to exit stage left? So so
Speaker 7: many you know of our leaders grappling with this challenge.
Speaker 7: And I think Mitch McConnell makes a really important point.
Speaker 7: Part of being a leader is having a succession plan.
Speaker 7: And we know that he's got the three Johns in waiting,
Speaker 7: and I would hope a couple of the women as
Speaker 7: well in the Senate leadership on the Republican side who
Speaker 7: may be able to fill his shoes. But that's a
Speaker 7: critical part of being a leader, is knowing when to
Speaker 7: exit and hand over the mantle to the next generation.
Speaker 7: He is right about that part of it.
Speaker 1: So what do you think about the succession plan here? Rick?
Speaker 2: It's always been about the three Johns in terms of
Speaker 2: recent history, Barasso, Foon and Cornn.
Speaker 1: Will it in fact be one of them? It could be.
Speaker 5: There's no question that the caucus itself is going through
Speaker 5: some turmoil. We saw attacks against Mitch McConnell earlier in
Speaker 5: the year related to his efforts to try and past
Speaker 5: Ukraine funding, and so I think you'd have to sort
Speaker 5: of see it as an opportunistic situation. Obviously, the three Johns,
Speaker 5: who have been participating in leadership for a very long time,
Speaker 5: know how the strings are pulled, understand how to get
Speaker 5: legislation passed, understand the dynamic within the caucus probably better
Speaker 5: than anyone else. But there are other people who have
Speaker 5: ambitions in leadership, people like Tom Tillis, who I think
Speaker 5: have studied Mitch McConnell's leadership for quite some time and
Speaker 5: may be ready to emerge. And so I think you
Speaker 5: can see also potentially a right flank attack. You know,
Speaker 5: Ted Cruz and some of his buddies have been very
Speaker 5: vocally opposed to Mitch McConnell and may put up a
Speaker 5: candidate that represents their point of view.
Speaker 2: Do you wonder, Genie, with all the talk lately of
Speaker 2: conversations happening that might bring Mitch McConnell to a Donald
Speaker 2: Trump endorsement, which we talked about yesterday and some think
Speaker 2: is inevitable. Was this this way of saying no, but
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be part of this.
Speaker 7: I was thinking about that.
Speaker 1: You know, I think it's a hard call.
Speaker 7: I think I veer on the side that Mitch McConnell
Speaker 7: is a real institutionalist and he is somebody who is
Speaker 7: deeply committed to the Republican Party. Since he committed to
Speaker 7: supporting whoever is the nominee, I believe he will probably
Speaker 7: in the end support Donald Trump. He may hold his
Speaker 7: nose like some other voters and do that, but I
Speaker 7: think he will as Donald Trump goes to take that
Speaker 7: mantle as the nominee this year. Again, you know, I
Speaker 7: would also again just let's add to the list of
Speaker 7: possible successors Ernst and Iowa, Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia.
Speaker 7: There are women in the House Republican leadership who could
Speaker 7: really play a very important role. And so you know,
Speaker 7: in addition to all those folks that Rick just mentioned
Speaker 7: in the Three Johns, I think we also have to
Speaker 7: look to them because they have a very sort of
Speaker 7: interesting perspective and a path to the Senate and a
Speaker 7: lot that they could do in their house republic I mean, sorry,
Speaker 7: Senate Republican leadership.
Speaker 2: Yes, right, yeah, a lot to consider here as we
Speaker 2: move into this election cycle or further into it. Rick,
Speaker 2: I don't know if you see a McConnell endorsement of
Speaker 2: Trump in the offing, does he want to be remembered
Speaker 2: as a tried and true Republican or in this case,
Speaker 2: the guy who said no.
Speaker 5: I don't think it was an accident that he wistfully
Speaker 5: discussed on his floor speech just now how much he
Speaker 5: was impacted by Ronald Reagan's leadership, basically given credit to
Speaker 5: Rob Reagan for his marriage.
Speaker 1: But the reality is that is.
Speaker 5: The Republican Party that Mitch McConnell has fought so hard
Speaker 5: to be successful in the isolationist policies of Donald Trump
Speaker 5: may as well be in the Democratic Party, right, That's
Speaker 5: what he's fought his entire career, And so it wouldn't
Speaker 5: surprise me that in conjunction with a decision that I
Speaker 5: suspect has a lot more to do with being eighty
Speaker 5: two years old than anything political. Right now, Remember he's
Speaker 5: had some challenges with his health this last year. Yes,
Speaker 5: that he uses the opportunity to not feel compelled to
Speaker 5: have to play in this presidential election and may just
Speaker 5: skip an endorsement.
Speaker 1: If it's Donald Trump's to.
Speaker 2: Have Rick Davis and Genie Shanzino with the Instant Analysis.
Speaker 2: As we learned, Mitch McConnell will be stepping down from
Speaker 2: his leadership hosts in November. Not going anywhere anytime soon.
Speaker 2: He says he will continue to serve the state of Kentucky,
Speaker 2: this from a different seat.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg