WASHINGTON -- One by one, the Republican leaders of Congress have made the trip to Mar-a-Lago to see Donald Trump.
With no obvious heir apparent or leader-in-waiting, the standoff between the party's two highest-ranking figures poses an uneasy test of political wills and loyalties, particularly for the rank-and-file lawmakers in Congress dependent on both men for their political livelihoods. Congress has become more Trump-like in the former president's absence, as a new generation of Trump-aligned lawmakers emerges, particularly in the Senate, and more centrist Republicans announce their retirements.
Asked about it later, McConnell responded with perhaps the most cutting retort of all: He simply ignored Trump.Unlike past presidents who did not win a second term, the end of Trump's presidency has not brought closure as much as it has a lingering uncertainty on Capitol Hill about the party's pathway back to power. He is promising to return to the political stage, perhaps for his own bid for the White House.
"One of them is in party-building mode, which is McConnell, and the other one is in axe-grinding mode," he said.The congressional leaders want, and expect, Trump to play a role in next year's midterm elections as they try to wrest control from Democrats, who have the slimmest majorities in the House and Senate in recent memory.
While Trump has also endorsed some GOP incumbents, other Republican lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, have simply announced they are retiring."The No. 1 thing I want to have happen is make sure the next century is the American century," he said. "If the next century is going to be ours, we're going to have to change administrations, we're going to have to change Congress. That's my focus.
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