What Mitch McConnell Did After The Hegseth Vote Is Infuriating

Posted • January 24, 2025: Mitch McConnell is still the senior Senator from Kentucky, but the 82-year-old—who has been serving since 1985, when Wham's "Careless Whisper" was the top song—stepped down from his role as Senate GOP Leader in November. He’s also experienced several health scares, including two disturbing “freezing” episodes in July and August of 2023, as well as a concussion from a fall. Throughout Donald Trump’s first term and during Biden’s presidency, he’s been a dubious ally. While he garnered some acclaim for his relentless pushing of conservative justices for confirmation, he’s been an unreliable backer of “45” – now “47.” In fact, he said after the events of January 6, 2021: “We’ve all known that Trump is crazy. I’m done with him. I will never speak to him again.” He didn’t vote to impeach him, but he was one of the strongest GOP voices against the president.

He cheered on Biden for the 2021 $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which Trump strongly opposed and which almost certainly contributed to the rampant inflation that Joe unleashed upon America. Thanks, Mitch. Nevertheless, McConnell did reluctantly endorse Trump’s 2024 bid for the presidency, so it came as a surprise to some Friday night when he made the last-minute choice to vote "no" on Trump’s Defense Secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, and came oh so close to tanking the confirmation. Vice President JD Vance had to step in and cast the deciding 51st vote. McConnell proved that he preferred the old smoky backrooms of Washington, D.C. and isn’t all that interested in the transformational change that almost 80 million people voted for when they elected Trump. In a press release, he attacked Hegseth for not being a typical bureaucrat. What makes the move extra Swampy is that he did not make his position clear until the very end. How principled. What leadership.

Mitch McConnell just voted NO on President Trump’s secretary of defense nominee. This led to VP Vance having to rush down to cast a tie-breaking vote, only the 2nd such vote in U.S. history. As Republican Senators gather around to congratulate Vance, notice McConnell walk over and SHAKE HANDS with the Democrats. If you thought RFK Jr and Tulsi was going to be easy—think again. The GOP Establishment isn’t going down without a fight. Get ready. (…)

• More at: RedState - With Surprise Hegseth Vote, Mitch McConnell Nukes Already Tainted Legacy on His Journey to Irrelevancy
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2025/01/25/with-surprise-hegseth-vote-mitch-mcconnell-nukes-his-already-tainted-legacy-on-his-way-out-the-door-n2184784
Townhall: What McConnell Did After the Hegseth Vote Is Infuriating
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/01/25/mitch-mcconnell-explains-why-he-betrayed-the-gop-on-hegseth-vote-n2651134
PJ Media: Pete Hegseth Confirmed as Defense Secretary
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/01/24/the-us-senate-has-decided-pete-hegseths-fate-n4936347
Townhall: Pete Hegseth Confirmed as Secretary of Defense
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/01/24/hegseth-confirmed-n2650817