The Tragedy of the Congress
Mitch McConnell isn’t known for his joyousness, but the dour Senate Republican leader was able to find delight even in the bleak aftermath of the January 6 insurrection: This, at long last, was the end of Donald Trump.
“I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself,” McConnell told the New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin late that night, according to Martin’s forthcoming book with Alex Burns, This Will Not Pass. “He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
Across the Capitol, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy also foresaw Trump’s demise. Unlike McConnell, McCarthy had worked hard to stay on Trump’s good side. Now, however, he’d had enough. “What he did is unacceptable. Nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it,” McCarthy members of his leadership team four days later. He said that with impeachment sure to pass the House and conviction in the Senate a strong possibility, he would recommend to Trump that he resign, though he didn’t expect the president to take the advice.
