Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly said President-elect Donald Trump’s victory puts Americans in “a very, very dangerous world,” emphasizing that he plans to spend his last two years in the Senate and push back against growing Trump-fueled isolationism within the Republican Party.
The 82-year-old Republican from Kentucky, who last month resigned from his role as the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, has a complicated track record with the new president. While McConnell has worked to move the country significantly to the right — much of it under the first Trump administration — he is not a fan of Trump and his isolationist worldview spreading through the Republican Party.
“We are in a very, very dangerous world right now, reminiscent of before World War II,” McConnell told the Financial Times on Wednesday. “Even the slogan is the same: ‘America First.’ That’s what they said in the 1930s.”
He made similar comments before the election, telling Kristen Welker on NBC’s Meet the Press in April that the world is “more dangerous” than before World War II due to the increase and evolution of terrorism. The interventionist senator highlighted how Trump and the current Republican Party are moving backward toward pre-World War II isolationism — a foreign policy position that opposes U.S. military intervention in other countries’ political affairs, including war.
Trump and his allies have called on the US to stop sending money to Ukraine, a country that has been at war with Russia for more than two years. The former and new president have also argued that enemies within the US are more dangerous than Russia and China, a claim McConnell says he strongly disagrees with.
“The cost of deterrence is significantly less than the cost of war,” the senator told the Times. “For most American voters, I think the simple answer is, ‘Let’s stay out of this.’ That was the argument made in the 1930s and it just doesn’t work. Thanks [former President Ronald] Reagan, we know what works – not just saying peace through strength, but demonstrating it.”
In one of many examples of putting the Republican Party first, McConnell told Welker in April that even though he personally doesn’t like Trump, he would support him as the Republican presidential nominee. The senator told the Times he voted for him in November, but characterized the decision as support for “the ticket” rather than the candidate.
“The election is over and we move on,” he told the publication when asked if he regrets not doing more to prevent Trump from returning to power. “He has a huge audience and he just won a national election, so there’s no doubt he’s the most influential Republican out there.”
Trump is also no fan of McConnell and recently called him a “disgrace” for supporting him.
McConnell, who has had several health problems in recent years, was replaced as Senate Republican Party leader by John Thune of South Dakota. He said he will not seek re-election after completing the two remaining years of his current term.
