Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell struck an ominous tone about the state of world affairs Monday while promising that he will serve out the remainder of his current term in the upper chamber.
McConnell (R-Ky.) didn’t reveal whether he plans to pursue an eighth term in 2026, but told Louisville’s NewsRadio 840 that his chief mission is pushing back against “isolationists” within the GOP.
“I’m not leaving the Senate. And I’m particularly involved in fighting back against the isolationist movement,” the 82-year-old said.
“For the next couple of years, it’s something I’m going to focus on.”
The Kentuckian added that Americans are living through “the most dangerous time for the free world since right [before] the Berlin Wall fell down.”
“My party tends to be isolationist when there’s a Democrat in the White House,” McConnell explained. “Most Republicans voted against Lend-Lease going into World War II and Pearl Harbor straightened that out.”
McConnell announced in late February that he would not vie for another term as the leader of the Senate Republicans, a role he’s held since 2007 — making him the longest-serving leader of either party in US history.
A spirited contest to replace McConnell is underway between Senate GOP Whip John Thune (R-SD), the current No. 2 Republican, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who previously held that role.
McConnell added Monday that another priority of his is to ensure that Republicans flip the Senate this November, which they are favored to do thanks to a favorable map.
“I’d like the person who succeeds me to be the majority leader,” McConnell said before reupping his encouragement of House Republicans to pass a supplemental aid package to help Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
“Thirty-eight different states are benefiting from the Ukraine supplemental — building equipment, much of it, to replenish our own stockpiles as we send older weapons to the Ukrainians,” he said.
“This invasion of Ukraine has given us an opportunity to do what we should have been doing anyway,” McConnell added, referring to a military build-up and modernization.
McConnell also tore into President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for feuding with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid Israel’s war in Gaza.
“Apparently, Benjamin Netanyahu is so unpopular in this country that we now have the administration and the majority leader in the Senate, basically tell them they ought to have a new election, and they ought to have this kind of invasion instead of some other kind of invasion,” McConnell said.
“My view is, in a democracy, you ought to yield to whoever’s in power, whether you like them or don’t like them, and we ought not to be telling the Israelis how to conduct the war.”
Last month, Schumer took to the Senate floor and admonished Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace, while calling for new elections in Israel.
