Sen. Mitch McConnell is back in his home state of Kentucky and, after his refusal to support Trump and recent “senior moment” when he froze in the middle of a press conference for about 30 long seconds, his constituents are well past ready for him to leave office for good.Such could be seen in a video of Sen. McConnell’s appearance at the 2023 Kentucky Fancy Farm Picnic, which showed the gathered crowd chanting “retire” as Sen. McConnell appeared.
The “retire” chants were reportedly coming mainly from the Democrat side of the event, as indicated by the signs for Andy Beshear, who is running for governor as a Democrat. However, the “retire” chants echo what many on the more Trump-leaning side of the GOP have been saying in the wake of McConnell’s health scares and tepid support for Trump.
The local Courier-Journal reported on the incident, saying that Senate Minority Leader McConnell attended the event despite uncertainty over what he would do given his recent “freeze” moment, and while there told the gathered crowd that he had no plans to leave office any time soon. “Well, this is my 28th Fancy Farm, and I want to assure you, it’s not my last,” McConnell reportedly said.
Trump recently tore into McConnell, speculating that the Democrats have some dirt on McConnell and that dirt is why he won’t stand up to them on issues of importance. Commenting on that during an event in South Carolina, Trump said, “These guys, what they’re doing with the election interference and the Senate has to step up and do something. The House is doing a lot of things. The Senate under, perhaps the worst leader in the history of the country running the senate, Mitch McConnell has to stand up and do something.”
Continuing, Trump said that the Senate needs new people and to stop backing down to Democrats on budget issues, saying “they need a lot of other people and to stop handing out money every time,” meaning that he blames McConnell for passing the latest Democrat budget.
That’s when Trump got to saying the Democrats must have dirt on McConnell and that’s why he won’t stand up to them, saying, “I’m telling you Lindsey, they have something on Mitch McConnell. There’s no way that he’s doing this. They have something on Mitch McConnell. It’s a terrible thing that’s happening with that guy. They got to step up.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, has indicated that he thinks it is time for Sen. McConnell to leave because of his health issues, saying, “He suffered a really bad fall, and that’s actually had an impact on him.” Continuing, Sen. Johnson said, “Obviously, that fall affected him.” Sen. Johnson then added, “Age affects us all. You can’t deny that reality.”
Similarly, an anonymous GOP senator reportedly said, “I kind of do [think he should step down].” Continuing, that senator said, “I’d hate to see it forced on him. You can do these things with dignity, or it becomes less dignified. And I hope he does it in a dignified way — for his own legacy and reputation.”
