‘Man despicable’: McConnell’s 2020 thoughts on ‘sleazeball’ Trump revealed in new book

A few weeks before the presidential election in which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., endorsed former President Donald Trump, excerpts from a new book about the longtime Republican leader reveal McConnell’s fiery thoughts about the GOP presidential nominee, including. “he was not wise, he was not sensible, [and] bad.”

Aside from the quotes from him a few years ago described in the biography, McConnell told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Anything I can say about President Trump pales in comparison to what JD Vance, Lindsey Graham, and others are saying about him. , but we’re all on the same team now.”

In the book, The Price of Power, the leader was quoted as saying, “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be criticized by than this football player,” in 2022, as Trump continued to attack his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine. Chao, calling him “Coco Chow.”

McConnell provided a series of oral histories for an upcoming book by Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief for the Associated Press.

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In quotes from the minority leader revealed in the book, he doesn’t hold back, reportedly criticizing Trump as “stupid,” “misguided,” “despicable,” and “narcissist.”

Despite their strained public relationship during and after Trump’s presidency, McConnell announced in March his endorsement of the former president, noting that he “got the necessary support from Republican voters to nominate us.”

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Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House following President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order supporting the transition of active duty service members and military veterans to the Merchant Marine, Monday, March 4, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Furthermore, when Trump met with Senate Republicans in Washington, DC, over the summer, he and McConnell shook hands.

In the weeks after the 2020 presidential election and before the Capitol violence of January 6, 2021, McConnell said, “It’s not just Democrats who are counting down the days” until Trump is no longer president.

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He also praised the “good judgment of the American people” for voting for Trump in 2020.

Trump and McConnell had a publicly troubled relationship. (Reuters)

“They have a false name, blatant lies almost every day, and they fired him,” he said, according to the quote.

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McConnell also blamed Trump for causing House Republicans to lose their majority in the lower chamber in the 2018 midterm elections. “He has all the characteristics that you would not want a president to have,” he said.

In 2022, the Kentucky Republican aired Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 election, which have since been repeated. McConnell lamented, “Unfortunately, about half of the Republicans in the country believe anything he says.”

McConnell criticized Trump as ‘disrespectful,’ according to the letter. (Reuters)

The Trump campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital at the time of publication.

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The leader of the Senate party announced in February that he will not seek the position again in the next Congress. In power since 2007 as Republican leader, McConnell is the longest-serving caucus leader in the chamber’s history.

After next month’s presidential election, Republican senators and GOP nominees will vote by secret ballot to decide the next leader. Candidates announced by Senate Minerals Whip John Thune, RS.D., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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