U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks to reporters as he returns from a gathering on the White House with President Joe Biden, to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, November 29, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested Tuesday that Donald Trump is “highly unlikely” to regain the presidency in consequence of his recent dinner with the rapper now often known as Ye and white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
Trump has been condemned for dining with each men, who’ve espoused anti-Semitic beliefs, at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, last week.
“First, let me just say that there isn’t a room within the Republican Party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy,” McConnell, R-Kentucky, told reporters.
“And anyone meeting with people advocating that standpoint, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the US,” McConnell said.
Asked by a reporter if he would support Trump if Trump won the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, McConnell reiterated his statement about there being no room within the party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy.
“And that might apply to the entire leaders within the party who shall be searching for offices,” McConnell added.
Trump later fired back at McConnell, telling FoxNews.com, “Mitch is a loser for our nation and for the Republican Party who wouldn’t have been re-elected in Kentucky without my endorsement, which he begged me for because he was taking place.”
Trump, who earlier this month announced his candidacy for the White House, has said he was unaware of who Fuentes was when he arrived with Ye at Mar-a-Lago. Ye was previously often known as Kanye West.
Trump told FoxNews.com, “I had never heard of the person,” referring to Fuentes.
“had no idea what his views were, they usually weren’t expressed on the table in our very quick dinner, or it would not have been accepted,” Trump said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a gathering Republican Congressional leaders in Washington, D.C.
Joshua Roberts | Reuters
Earlier Tuesday, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California — who goals to turn into speaker of the House when Republicans regain control in January — criticized Fuentes.
“I condemn his ideology,” McCarthy said. “It has no place in society in any respect.”
The California lawmaker later said, “The president can have meetings with who he wants — I do not think anybody, though, must have a gathering with Nick Fuentes.”
McCarthy added that Fuentes’ views “are nowhere throughout the Republican Party or inside this country itself.”
