McConnell's Influence on the GOP and the Courts (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

[Music] amid a republican leadership shake up in the house it's all been like a long round of musical chairs in which nobody is winning the uncertain future for the powerful Republican in the Senate I'm not sure who would replace him if he weren't there he's the indispensable figure in the Republican party for a stable center right point of view and his legacy that's the big accomplishment getting more conservative judges he had the power to do it and so he did now on front line McConnell the GOP and the court the most powerful Republican in the United States Senate was holding a routine press conference Mitch McConnell is now the longest serving Republican senator from Kentucky well good afternoon everyone he's the longest serving Republican leader in history we're on a path to finishing the he has been enormously powerful and enormous ly consequential he is the adult in the Republican party and a string of uh Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell alarmed his colleagues when he froze during a news conference suffering an episode in front of the cameras unable to speak for quite some time quickly turning to concern for the health of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell anything else you want to say should go back to do you want to say anything else to the Press it's very alarming to everybody watching it to see that happen The Political Animals in this town immediately saw this as a sign that power is ebbing away and that someone will come to challenge sooner rather than later concern is growing for the 81-year-old leader a fall in Marge left him with a concussion and fractured rib and for months the senator has sometimes used a wheelchair the episodes have raised questions about McConnell's role as Senate Republican leader I'm not sure who would replace him if he weren't there because right now he's the indispensable figure in the Republican party as well as the American government for a stable center right point of view the attending physician for the capital says McConnell is not suffering Strokes nor showing signs of Parkinson's disease Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell insisting there's no reason for him to step down uncertain what will happen in the next Congress or feel run again in 2026 Mitch McConnell the consummate political operator who reshaped the Supreme Court and ushered in an era of partisanship and polarization through shrewd choices and sacrifices facing ongoing challenges politically and physically to his long hold on [Music] power Remember Me this is polio some may carry the mark and burden of polio paralysis for life polio Mitch McConnell was only 2 years old when it struck would they recover or would polio never be over for them today it's hard to imagine how scary polio was there was no cure for it uh I had classmates who were in an iron lung in in other words lying on their back breathing with help all day long some died from it there are so many to be remembered in the Grim polio fight ahead for them polio is still a terrible reality you can walk but you can't walk that's what my mom would say to me after I was struck with polio at Age 2 to explain why she wouldn't let me get up on my feet he was basically confined to a bedroom and his mother would come in and they would do the physical therapy that put him in a very difficult spot for such a young child his father was off to war his mother was left to take care of him it had to be one of the most difficult isolating things in the world all I knew was that as other kids my age were easily learning to run jump and climb I was fighting from the confines of my bed for the chance to one day do the same you're stuck in a room and you're left with your own thoughts so much uh it's got to have had it a huge psychological impact I suspect to a certain extent it affected his ability to relate to other people since he missed several formative years of of developing socialization skills he finally learned to walk but Mitch would have a limp for the rest of his [Music] life polio for Mitch McConnell was his first Big Challenge and it's something that gave him this sense of if you face a challenge you can overcome it and you've seen that mentality play out at various junctures in his career he was often alone an only child his life upended by frequent moves around the South as his dad worked for the Army eventually they ended up in Louisville Kentucky I was halfway through the eighth grade preparing to enter High School the idea of starting over in a wholly unfamiliar Place made this already daunting transition feel even more so I was overwhelmed by how big the school was so much so that I immediately became an introvert but although I couldn't know this at the time these first uneasy months would spur me to set a clear if seemingly Out Of Reach goal that would set the course of my life he tells the story of seeing an upper classman speaking at a school assembly and and recognizing the power that that person seemed to have and how much he would like to be able to have that he recognized that people had power in politics that appealed to him the lonely kid had found his calling politics I mean he was kind of the ultimate political nerd growing up what other people would channel into sports he channeled into these political competitions in school like running for student body president or student council he really took it super seriously that would be something I say at getting to be president of that big school and having the respect of your peers and an influence over the direction of the school he knew from the get-go that he wasn't a popular person that he wasn't charismatic right that he wasn't going to win um because people liked him so he was smart enough at the time to figure out well if people aren't going to like me then I have to get the popular kids to say they like me so we literally went to the cheerleaders and the football players and convince them to be to endorse him Mitch McConnell won having had my first taste of the responsibility and respect that came from holding elected office I was hooked the fascination with respect or power however you want to Define it is a through line for Mitch McConnell he was drawn to politics because it's something that gave him a feeling of the feedback of having people's [Music] respect and when it came to politics in deeply Democratic Kentucky Mitch McConnell was a rarity a republican his dad had a really strong feeling towards Eisenhower who was a republican candidate for president in 1952 and then Mitch kind of took that on and that was the beginning of his republicanism if you look at his yearbook picture he's got an I like Ike button you know he's a politics nerd from like the very beginning being a republican in Kentucky in those days would be very lonely you would certainly get used to being in the minority that inculcates a certain iconic clasm or certain willingness to go against the crowd and on on a central issue of the time civil rights McConnell and his parents also stood out on this issue my parents were far ahead of their time and years beyond their peers from an early age they taught me that everyone deserved equal opportunities and the right to vote you're growing up in a at a time you know in the 60s obviously where segregation and outright discrimination was still rampant across the whole United States and yet here you had a republican who identified with the with a civil rights I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up live out the true meaning of its Cree he was an intern in Washington in 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr led the March on Washington the famous iconic I Have a Dream speech and he was able to see the crowds going to that speech while in college and law school McConnell was swept up in the moment campaigning for civil rights and writing op EDS in order to realize the ideals of the Constitution all segments of society must do their part to ensure the basic rights of all citizens regardless of race Creed or national origin McConnell's idealism and ambition would be tested as anti-il rights forces gain power in the Republican party our Republican cause is to free our people led by the hard-right presidential candidate Barry Goldwater Barry Goldwater was driven by the energy in the Republican party at the time and the energy at the time was uh on the right wing farthest right the John Burch Society I would remind you that extremism in the defense of Liberty is no Vice as a senator Goldwater had voted against the Civil Rights Act to say that I was extremely disappointed that Goldwater voted against the Civil Rights bill doesn't nearly capture how upset I was so great was my anger in fact that on November the 3rd 1964 I cast my vote for LBJ he was clearly an idealistic young man he had a conscience he was moved by trying to do what was right and that you know that is a um that's all to his credit but Upon returning to Louisville to launch his political career McConnell would start to show just what kind of politician he would be he was a young lawyer here in town like so many others and I think that he uh was somewhat underwhelming really he he did not have a uh boisterous personality he was not a frat boy type he was buttoned up he always had his tie on and he looked a little bit out of place in a town dominated by democrats McConnell ran for County Executive as a republican he had learned his lesson in high school that you have to win over the popular kids who are the popular kids in Louisville Kentucky in 1977 the Democrats it's a democratic City and a democratic State it's very blue they work to get an endorsement from the left-leaning local newspaper Courier journalism is quality journalism the kind of Journalism the Region's been getting for over a hundred years Keith ran was an editor at the newspaper he came into the editorial boardroom at The Courier Journal where I worked for his endorsement interview and he sat down and he answered our questions he came off as being enlightened thoroughly honest and he did a very very good job in his interview he was one of the few Republicans to ever get the endorsement of the paper it helped to convince Democratic voters and he won you know I think he's Adept enough at uh saying what all those people like to hear that he was climbing the greasy pole and when you were climbing the greasy pole you grabbed for whatever traction you can find after just two terms as County Executive McConnell decided to make a bold leap he'd Run for the United States Senate he's running to unseat somebody who's fairly popular who he doesn't really have that much of a shot against and he's doing this as a republican in a state that's still not completely swinging that way but mconnell calls in Roger ALS Roger ALS a controversial political operative and the future founder of Fox News ALS loved the combat of it ALS loved conflict and he loved to stick it to the opponent he gave McConnell fair warning you know we can do it the oldfashioned way we can we can try to puff you up but as Al said that's not going to work alss offered McConnell a choice do you want to look nice or do you want to take out your opponent and win this thing I want to do what it takes I said I want to win this thing then leave the ads to me at a time that was a controversial choice you know do you go negative it was there was there was kind of a stigma attached to um to being overly negative Mitch McConnell wants to win I mean and that was a fundamental decision that you had to make back then in a sign of what was to come in his political life McConnell put his Ambitions first he went negative attacking Democrat D hudon for missing votes to make paid speeches my job was to find D hudon and get him back to work hudon was missing big votes on Social Security the budget defense even agriculture Hudson was skipping votes but an extra $50,000 giving speeches Mitch McConnell is a ruthless campaigner and he will pull no punches uh he is renowned in Kentucky and nationally to be an incredible strategist when it comes to finding the weakest part of his opponent and seizing upon it maybe we ought to let him make speeches and switch to Mitch for Senator and the pollsters told us that after that ad aired all over Kentucky Mitch started to go up in the polls it was a come from behind race and the odds were against him running against a two-term democratic incumbent in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans two and a half to [Applause] one the fact that he decided to go low in that campaign was an important lesson this is a legitimate tactic just basically be forceful and when you have to be ugly you have to be ugly it's morning again in America and under the leadership of President Reagan our country is prouder and stronger and better McConnell's election came in the midst of a dramatic political moment rean really represented new power within the Party conservatives had really started to seize the commanding Heights of the party in a way that would profoundly change the landscape of American politics almost a totally Clean Sweep for Ronald Reagan had won 49 states winning in Kentucky by almost 300,000 votes McConnell had barely won by 5,000 Mitch saw the shift going in the South The South was going to move to the right McConnell knew that there were tectonic changes going on in American Life and he couldn't Master the tectonic changes he could adapt to them he'd move to the right Embrace Reagan's conservatism and he let everyone know it not long after he won that race he was having a meal with Keith runan who wrote that original editorial endorsing Mitch McConnell at the Louisville Courier Journal and when breakfast was over he said Keith I I don't know that you all will will ever endorse me again and I said oh well why is that he said because I'm going to have to become much more conservative to be reelected much more conservative than you all are and so he became and Keith always remembers this moment he talks about it like I I just couldn't believe it this person I thought he was he's turning into something else Mr Pell's like of course I said that of course would have to move to the right that's my job now you know that's where the Republican party is going I see where it's going and I'm going to go with the wind good to see you to gain power in Ronald Reagan's Washington I believe McConnell needed an issue to demonstrate his conservative credentials and he would find one in an explosive political moment that's a great idea Mitch McConnell was present at the creation For Better or Worse of modern politics one great episode in that was the Bor confirmation fight but it's with great pleasure and deep respect that I nominate United States court of appeals judge Robert H Bor to be an associate Justice of the Supreme Court that episode was I think a watershed moment in American history liberals outrage Ed at bork's conservative views launched a political assault with protests phone Banks we are going to keep aor safe and legal in New York an attack ads this represented an attack on bour primarily because of his views that would be the way McConnell would look at it and the way I looked at it Mr Kennedy at that time McConnell was powerless he watched as the Democrat controlled Senate overwhelmingly defeated bork's nomination the board nomination was Crucible a turning point it's made him particularly focused on Supreme Court uh battles and and particularly ruthless in the way he conducts them senator from Kentucky and so to Robert Bourke you happen to be the one who set the new Senate standard that will be applied in my judgment by a majority of the it prospectively unfortunately it got set over your dead body so to speak politically the Bor confirmation fight was so stunning and so bitter that this was a moment when I think mcconell rightly said the rules have changed I don't make the rules but I can play by them and can Master them we're going to do it when we want to and when we want to is going to be when the president whoever he may be sends up somebody we don't like if you go back and look at the speech that McConnell made he said sooner or later this will come back to haunt you get ready it'll happen to you all too that was the beginning of his long-term concern about the [Music] courts in the years that followed McConnell would be a central combatant in the judicial Wars that I will nominate judge Clarence Thomas to serve as associate Jud as Democrat and Republican presidents tried to tip the balance of the Court he kind of makes it his mission to try to leave a lasting Legacy because judgeships are you know they can last a lifetime right expected to approve the nomination of John Roberts as Chief Jud president sent Congress the name of his nominee to if he wants to leave a lasting mark on the country President Obama nominated Elena to the United States Supreme cour this is the way to leave a mark through it all McConnell had been climbing to power in the GOP Senate Majority Whip Republican leader and finally Majority Leader there's nobody who's more focused on political Conquest than he is there may not have ever been anybody who has spent his entire life calculating he knows more than everybody else it was how much he could win and how much power he could achieve McConnell had real power and still holding on to that grievance about what had happened to Robert Borg he waited for the right moment to use it this is CNN breaking news breaking news just IND us here at CNN United States Supreme Court Justice anonin Scalia has died according to Scalia the intellectual force on the right on the court suddenly dies so what's at stake is the ideological balance on the court with that vacancy the question is will a republican controlled Senate allow President Obama to replace SC I think it's very clearly the most consequential decision Mitch McConnell made in his public career Mitch mccon doesn't even wait for the day to end after anonine Scalia dies to put out a statement saying in effect we're not going to let President Obama replace him you think about that it's an election year we're going to wait for the next president to nominate somebody a majority leader Mitch McConnell just releasing this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president it was a bold move on Senator McConnell's part to basically stand in the way of a president being able to nominate someone to fill a seat on the Supreme Court 4 and A2 weeks after Justice Calia died with almost a year left in his presidency Barack Obama forged AE undeterred by McConnell's threat today I am nominating chief judge Merrick Brian Garland to join the Supreme Court Mitch McConnell joins us now from Capitol Hill Senator thanks for being here on television McConnell went on the offensive the right of Center world does not want this vacancy filled by this president but we're not giving lifetime appointments to this president on the way out the door to change the Supreme Court for the next 25 or 30 years and in the Republican controlled Senate he made clear there could be no wavering Senator Moran from Kansas said he thought maybe there should be a hearing and McConnell just said to him you keep talking like that and I'm running a primary opponent against you and Moran backed off he McConnell was ruthless and Brilliant there would be no hearings no votes no confirmation of Judge Garland Democrats are outraged by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's it was outrageous at the time and is still outrageous it kept the seat open um for nearly a year refusing to give Meritt Garland even a hearing even the courtesy of being rejected but he did it he had the power to do it and so he did it wouldn't be long before Mitch McConnell faced a test of just how far he would go to get what he wanted we are going to drain the swamp of corruption in Washington DC whether to support a Republican presidential candidate he didn't like we are led by very very stupid people he faces a horrible Dilemma to say that Trump was not um McConnell's cup of T would be an understatement of the first order build a wall everything that Trump voiced and stood for McConnell I think had very little respect for 2016 rolls around Donald Trump steamrolls the entire field with a campaign that was often outright racist when Mexico sends its people they're bringing drugs they're bringing crime they're rapists the total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States McConnell once an advocate of civil rights made a shrewd calculation to remain silent I'm going to continue to avoid uh weighing in on the presidential contest at this point Mitch McConnell understood Trump's lies and he understood the coarseness and the vulgarity and the the general seeming of it all he is repulsed by the amateurism he has the Craftsman's dislike of the charlatan but as he had with Reagan McConnell sensed also where the GOP was headed he knew he needed Trump if the court was that important to him he wanted make sure that he had someone he could influence in terms of Supreme Court appointments and on that sad day when we lost Justice Scalia I made another pledge that Obama would not fill this seat that honor will go to Donald Trump next year he sees what is needed to hold on to power and he made the choice it's his choice he's the person who has to sleep with it mind you in in 2016 Donald Trump was not the figure that he is today he was not inevitable Trump's election and McConnell's support was a moment with far-reaching consequences Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States there was a lot of skepticism on the right of what Donald Trump was and holding that Supreme Court seat open just as a political matter reminded Republicans we can't leave to chance that Hillary Clinton might put a liberal on the court if Scalia had not died then and certainly if McConnell had not said what he did Trump would not have been elected one of the interesting carams of politics is that Mitch McConnell brought about the election of someone who in almost every particular he deplored McConnell had bet that Trump could deliver conservative control of the Supreme court and one of the new President's first acts was naming Neil Gorsuch to the Scalia seat the longest vacancy on the Supreme Court since the Civil War has been filled McConnell approaches Trump transactionally at The outset McConnell thinks okay we can work together we can get things done that I want to get done this is an opportunity for me to be able to get some wins here and so I'm willing to work with this guy because I think that I can actually steer him where I want to go I think that's a conversation even McConnell's wife elain Chow was given a seat of power Donald Trump decided to nominate her to be Transportation secretary because of the link to McConnell feeling that if he nominated his wife then he'd have a better relationship with Senator McConnell he could get more out of the Senate with her there than without her there cha born in Taiwan the daugh of a shipping magnate and a former Secretary of Labor she's been active in Republican politics for a number of years she campaigns with McConnell in Kentucky itself so she's very much a a partner and and uh and adviser to him McConnell was being transactional which is a language that Trump speaks very well uh and uh McConnell does too I will get judges and you get to be president and I get to have my wife as Secretary of Transportation and it's give and take give and take but soon the profound cost of their choice to support Trump would become [Music] clear in Charlottesville Virginia Mayhem in Charlottesville some members of all right groups supremacists in the streets counter protesters minutes ago saw the largest group of counter protesters culminating in horrific violence violent clashes between white supremacists and counter protesters the chaos which has reached a boiling point the president fanned the Flames at a Trump Tower press conference that was a horrible horrible day I think there's blame on both sides and I have no doubt about and you don't have any doubt about it either but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides you had people in that Trump makes these comments with a lane Chow just behind him right Taiwanese American who has dealt with racism growing up in in America and also spouse of Mitch McConnell but you had many people in that group other than neo-nazis and white nationalists okay the what do you do as a member of the cabinet you're standing next to the president and you know you just have to stand there with the blankest look on your face possible and that's what she did thank you all very much thank you what about the Nazis who support [Music] you that's a difficult moment for her and for McConnell because it's not the brand of republicanism they believe in it's not what they represent it's not who they are Mitch McConnell seems to sense that he can't stay silent but he puts out just a statement he doesn't say anything publicly he doesn't go to the microphones he puts out a statement that condemns hatred and bigotry in all its forms we can have no tolerance for an ideology of racial hatred there are no good neo-nazis but the statement really notably does not include the name Donald Trump Mitch McConnell is the classic hold your nose guy yes Mitch McConnell loves to say he's a product of the Civil Rights Movement but Mitch McConnell much more so will be remembered as someone who is a bottom line guy and bottom line means power and it means staying in office McConnell had made his choice to not confront Trump Over Charlottesville and just a few weeks later at the White House yeah aligned himself even closer to the president they had decided at that point that they were going to try to shelf everything that had happened up till then and they were going to focus on judges and they did and they did in return for conservative judges McConnell would give Trump what he wanted most loyalty they consummated the moment with a press conference thank you very much I just want to say that we just spent they go out to the Rose Garden and and you know Trump makes these remarks with the Senate Majority Leader Rich McConnell who has been a friend of mine for a long time and it is sort of the beginning of this new period of them actually sort of working together listening despite what we read we're probably now I think at at least as far as I'm concerned closer than ever before and uh the relationship is very good we're fighting it is a moment where the sort of oddness of this like marriage becomes extremely clear in three dimensions outside of the White House well thank you very much Mr President uh I want to underscore what the president said we have the same agenda uh we've been friends and acquaintances for a long time he was not only legitimizing what Trump was doing he was enabling it you didn't see McConnell break with this President of his own party but in the Great look back from history uh that may be seen as a you know a major lost opportunity now with the president's support McConnell would Forge some of the biggest accomplishments of his political career he saw an opportunity to realize his dream to fill the federal courts with more conservative justices the lower courts the pellant courts straight on up to the United States Supreme Court on the Supreme Court Trump had already filled scalia's seat with Neil Gorsuch Neil Gorsuch confirmed as Justice Gorsuch moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy this Centrist moderating force was replaced by conservative Brett Kavanaugh Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg this is a Fox News Alert US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age of 87 it was the chance McConnell had been waiting for since Bourke the only problem it was just 6 weeks until the 2020 election in the shadow of a presidential election the battle lines over the Court's future already being drawn that night McConnell reached the president on Air Force 1 McConnell told him two things he said first I'm going to put out a statement that says we're going to fill the vacancy second he said you've got to nominate Amy Cony Barrett McConnell says the Senate will act to fill the vacancy even though he spent most of 2016 denying a confirmation hearing to Merck Garland it was starkly different from a position he took in the moments after Justice scalia's death now we've come full circle he held open the Scalia seat on the principle that the voters should have a say in who gets to appoint the next Justice we held it up for eight or nine months now it's only a matter of weeks he says oh yeah this is different and so he rushes to confirm Amy con Barrett do you understand why many Americans view this as a double standard I can only repeat that we have an obligation under the Constitution should we choose to take advantage of it to fill the vacancy and I assure you that's very likely to happen he was able to withstand being called on the obvious hypocrisy being slammed left and right he was able to withstand that and he toughed it out and he got what he wanted just days before the presidential election I Amy Cony Barrett you solemnly swear the new Jud Justice was sworn in so help you [Music] God he has been working towards this moment his entire professional career and it was all coming to fruition all of the judicial Wars that started with Robert bour now was the moment that he finally got what he came [Music] for [Music] dramatically altering the ideological makeup of the court in a more conservative Direction he remade the federal Judiciary and the United States Supreme Court it's a court with an energized conservative majority that's already demonstrated it is ready and willing to overturn Decades of precedent and settled law to put three people on the Supreme Court we've already seen some very fundamental changes in American Life uh not the least of which was the overturning of Row versus Wade the conservative majority by a 6 to3 vote overturning Row versus Wade the right to choose abortion so the decisions that Mitch McConnell made ended up having profound consequences you we asked him like if they were going to build a monument to you what would it be what were you the champion for what are people going to remember you for when all of us are long gone and you know he's basically like judges you know that's the big accomplishment of my career was getting more conservative judges on to the federal courts not about an issue not about a specific issue not like we overturned roie Wade he wouldn't say that cuz I just don't think that's what it is for him I think it's that look at all this winning we want a bunch of stuff we turn this country in in a different direction I did [Music] that in reshaping the Supreme Court Mitch McConnell had forged his legacy in Washington and on American life but the costs of his alliance with Donald Trump were accumulating and in the aftermath of the 2020 election McConnell would again face a profound on test of his ideals to 270 it's 19214 right now Biden has 220 Trump has 213 this is a fraud on the American public this is an embarrassment to our country we were getting ready to win this election frankly we did win this election we did win this the view at this point initially is this looks like it's probably over it it just it felt off it felt like it wasn't going to be able to get to the you know a Victorious outcome for president Trump but McConnell wouldn't say it publicly he knows Trump is lost but he does not want to anger Trump Mr ler can you tell us have you seen any evidence of election fraud uh that you think might overturn the election results all right folks let's wrap it up thank you very much go McConnell chooses silence he does not acknowledge Biden's Victory because he's trying to keep Trump happy he's trying to Plate Trump I heard from a specific senator who said Mitch has told us to stay quiet against the president in this period And I think that led to a lot of what otherwise would be kind of influential Senators at least countering the voice of uh Donald Trump being silent and silence is complicity supporters of the stop the steel movement as the election lies spread Trump's followers grew more and more violent saying the election was being stolen from the president that period immediately after the 2020 election was the low point of of M McConnell's career that was a moment for McConnell to come out not once not twice but regularly and say this is crazy this is ridiculous I think he failed the country in not speaking out more forcefully because he was in that position he had that power and he didn't really do that it was 6 weeks after the election when Mitch McConnell finally publicly conceded the reality McConnell waited until there was there could be absolutely no doubt about the election results uh to come out to congratulate Joe Biden the electoral college has spoken so today I want to congratulate president-elect Joe Biden he knew that his relationship with President Trump would forever change at that moment he knew that Trump had increasingly been trying to reign in any Republicans that observed reality at this point and the significance of McConnell saying it's over means it's over but by January 6th the lies had fed a rage that was about to be Unleashed on McConnell and his colleagues as Congress prepared to certify the election the capital and McConnell's Senate chamber were breached I asked if they had gotten into his office and he said why had eight or nine of my staffers in the office and they used the furniture to barricade the door and they were pounding on the door and they were wondering if the mob was going to break through we need [Applause] more how soon can you have the play cleaned out you know McConnell was rattled by the attack on the capital he gets a purpose of needing to make sure that they have to get back into the capital he's the one that pushes that from from their lockdown facility and forces that to happen we're not going to let these people keep us from finishing our business so we we need you to get the building cleared give us the okay so we can go back in session and finish up the people's business as soon as possible that night when the Trump mob was cleared McConnell returned to the capital he was stunned and offended that Donald Trump thinks so little of our government that he would do what he did at with that mob after certifying Joe Biden's win McConnell stopped to speak to reporter Jonathan Martin he thinks this is a moment of opportunity he feels he tells me exhilarated because McConnell loathes Trump and he's loathed him uh for some time and now he believes Trump for once and for all is going to be gone the first Cabinet member res the day after the attack on the capital elain Chow was the first member of Trump's cabinet to resign elae Chow says she was deeply troubled by the president's response Democrats began moving towards impeaching president Trump he must go he is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love on January 11th the Monday after the attack McConnell has lunch in Louisville with two of his longtime advisers he says that if Donald Trump's behavior on January 6th wasn't an impeachable defense he doesn't know what is and he predicts in that moment that there will be the votes in the Senate to convict Donald Trump 2 Days Later the house impeached the president sending it to the [Music] Senate his presidency over and the impeachment pending Donald Trump left Washington if McConnell had hoped it would finally be Trump's Exile from the GOP it wasn't to be what happened after that well a lot of those Republicans came right back in the Trump F they saw that Republican voters around the country a lot of them Trump voters still supported Trump after the attack on the capital those are their voters those are the voters that they need as he had throughout his career McConnell faced a stark choice about what he was willing to do to hold on to his power the weeks that followed between January 6th and when the Senate actually received impeachment charges that they had to to vote on um you know McConnell was wrestling with wanting to convict the president and yet getting swayed and kind of looking for off-ramps so that he wouldn't have to necessarily make that choice McConnell continued to hold Trump responsible former president Trump's actions were a disgraceful disgraceful der elction of Duty this speech is a cry former president as I was watching that address I thought four years of frustration and anger has just exploded that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day no question about it Senators the question is on the article of impeachment but when it mattered McConnell voted with his members to acquit the former president the E are 57 the Naes are 43 John Trump is not guilty as charged in the article of impeachment one of the conundrums of being a party leader is that you can't lead too strongly sometimes you have to be a follower if you want to remain a leader it's certainly an exercise in cognitive dissonance Mitch McConnell the institutionalist and Mitch McConnell the party leader sometimes those roles are in conflict Mitch McConnell had chosen his side there'll be a lot of talk this weekend about 2024 if the president was the party's nominee would you support him uh the nominee of the party [Music] absolutely he is not the idealistic young man he had been back at home being empowered power had changed him he had become too in love with power and uh and so he was willing to make too many compromises in the name of holding on to power in 2023 Mitch McConnell became the longest serving leader in Senate history okay Senator you're up for in three short years what are your thoughts on that I'm sorry I had a hard time hearing here that's okay what are your thoughts on running for re-election in 2026 what are my thoughts about what running for reelection in 2026 that's did you hear the question Senator running for reelection in 2026 all right I'm sorry you all we're going to need a minute Senator vny y he's 81 years old he is balancing a heck of a lot and he's sort of a leader in a party that he doesn't really know anymore um and how long does he want to do that and how long do they want him to do that that's the other question okay thank you all thank you sorry thank you new questions about the health of the Senate's to Republican Mitch McConnell there are Whispers in the capital and Kentucky about McConnell's long-term viability a lot of questions swirling around a lot of speculation but Mitch McConnell saying that he's up for the job despite reassurances some Republican Senators say they're concerned if McConnell is fit to continue leading the [Music] party [Music] w for more on this and other Frontline programs visit our website at [Music] pbs.org front lines McConnell the go and the court is available on Amazon Prime video [Music] oh

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Length: 53min 17sec (3197 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 01 2023