Will McConnell be the Senate Majority Leader if the GOP takes the Senate?

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Trump clearly HATES McConnell and I can absolutely see him pressuring Republicans to not choose him for Leader. Would Republicans listen to him? If he's ousted who would be chosen - certainly not Thune if Trump wanted McConnell out, he hates him too, Cornyn?

[SnowLabrador]

Yes, why wouldn't he be? He's extremely effective, and you don't need to like him to admit that.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Yes, why wouldn't he be? He's extremely effective, and you don't need to like him to admit that.

Because Trump doesn't want him to be.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Depends on how bad the money people want him their for his effectiveness. Even for Trump, money tends to talk.

[MATTROSE94]

Not sure. I know that John Kennedy has been floated as a possible Senate Republican leader by the MAGA people.

[Leroy McPherson fan]

They should make Ted Cruz majority leader.

[Calthrina950]

Yes. McConnell will remain in command of the GOP Senate Caucus until he retires or decides not to stand for another term as their Leader.

[Vosem]

Yes; the Senate is not the House. It's a much more tightly-knit institution where everybody knows each other. McConnell is also a far more powerful leader, in terms of his ability to direct donor money, than anybody in the House.

I don't really imagine even a successful Trump return in 2024 would dislodge McConnell, but if it does the likeliest leader might be Todd Young? He's a Trump 2016 endorser who is also on pretty good terms with the Republican establishment and he seems more interested in eventual Senate leadership than a presidential bid. McConnell considers Thune his heir apparent to some extent but Thune is on even worse terms with Trump, so in an actual Trumpy Senate scenario I don't think Thune's leadership is likely.

[NewYorkExpress]

If McConnell for some reason isn't the Majority Leader when the GOP takes the Senate (probably in 2022, possibly in 2026 instead), I'd guess the new Majority Leader will probably be someone like Rubio (if in 2022) or possibly someone like Tom Cotton (if he isn't elected President soon).

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

They should make Ted Cruz majority leader.

Ted Cruz is a try hard phony and a show boater. There is a reason why Donald Trump kicked his a@% in 2016.

Of course he is beloved in the echo chamber conservative media, which allows his stock to creep up constantly because they paint him as a "principled fighter" instead of the craven opportunist that he is. One of the most appealing aspects of Trump in 2016 was that he exposed a lot of these people for what they were.

I remember a time when the conservative alternative was Scott "I just got a call from the Koch brothers so now I am for open borders again" Walker. I remember a time when Paul Ryan was the desired Speaker of the Tea Party types Mark Meadows/Jim Jordan etc. When Marco Rubio was the boy wonder of the GOP post "self-deportation" Romney and even Sean Hannity was endorsing a path to legalization to protect their golden boy in 2013.

These debt ceiling fights are just a shell game to stir up and manipulate people, if their was ever actually a threat of a the debt ceiling being reached, it would never be allowed. Alternatively if there is ever a threat of Democrats growing a spine to actually nuke the filibuster, it would likewise never be allowed. That is why they caved on raising the debt ceiling.

The establishment Republicans, most all of the ex-tea party types and now most of the so called Trumpists are all bought and paid for by the same neoliberal donors and the extent that they are "appearing as fighters for base or standing up to the Democrats" is just kabuki theater cynically allowed by the money types on the promise that doing so will get them back into power to cut more taxes and regulations for them.

The days of yore of a business versus religion or business versus trumpist dynamic is so anachronistic that it serves no valuable purpose. Now that the GOP is completely divorced from needing to win said posh areas and just needs to rake in the dough from select residents in those areas, those people will enable, tolerate and condone virtually anything as long as it gets them power and all the actual policy wins are stuff they want in the end and nothing harmful to the bottom line happens.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

We still have 13 mnths til the Election, Mcconnell isn't Leader right now ,

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

They should make Ted Cruz majority leader.

Ted Cruz is a try hard phony and a show boater. There is a reason why Donald Trump kicked his a@% in 2016
Of course he is beloved in the echo chamber conservative media, which allows his stock to creep up constantly because they paint him as a "principled fighter" instead of the craven opportunist that he is. One of the most appealing aspects of Trump in 2016 was that he exposed a lot of these people for what they were.

I remember a time when the conservative alternative was Scott "I just got a call from the Koch brothers so now I am for open borders again" Walker. I remember a time when Paul Ryan was the desired Speaker of the Tea Party types Mark Meadows/Jim Jordan etc. When Marco Rubio was the boy wonder of the GOP post "self-deportation" Romney and even Sean Hannity was endorsing a path to legalization to protect their golden boy in 2013.

These debt ceiling fights are just a shell game to stir up and manipulate people, if their was ever actually a threat of a the debt ceiling being reached, it would never be allowed. Alternatively if there is ever a threat of Democrats growing a spine to actually nuke the filibuster, it would likewise never be allowed. That is why they caved on raising the debt ceiling.

The establishment Republicans, most all of the ex-tea party types and now most of the so called Trumpists are all bought and paid for by the same neoliberal donors and the extent that they are "appearing as fighters for base or standing up to the Democrats" is just kabuki theater cynically allowed by the money types on the promise that doing so will get them back into power to cut more taxes and regulations for them.

The days of yore of a business versus religion or business versus trumpist dynamic is so anachronistic that it serves no valuable purpose. Now that the GOP is completely divorced from needing to win said posh areas and just needs to rake in the dough from select residents in those areas, those people will enable, tolerate and condone virtually anything as long as it gets them power and all the actual policy wins are stuff they want in the end and nothing harmful to the bottom line happens.

Rs users gotten their 300 bonus unemployment and 1400 checks because D's were in the Majority, remember Johnson and Mcconnell blocked it because of the Debt Ceiling , they only approved giving 600=00 but of course Rs used up their Stimulus so they don't need D's


Most of the Debt cones from 1/3rd of our budget not Stimulus and we spent 1=5T each of Bush W and Trump Tax cuts and 8Tbon Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein War on Terror for 20 yrs

Did you know the Green Deal complete transfer from a Fossil Fuels to Electric that's looks like Futurama UTOPIAN SOCIETY was 6T but we spent 8T on two wars on Terror and we bombed Arabs with their own oil to fuel tanks and planes

[MT Treasurer]

Yes, why wouldn't he be? He's extremely effective, and you don't need to like him to admit that.

...How? The Supreme Court nominations/confirmation processes are the only instances I recall where he was fairly albeit not completely "effective." Everything else has just been pushing a (mostly economic) agenda which his base dislikes to a large extent, using the filibuster as an excuse for not acting on other, vitally important issues, and awful strategic decisions, especially in coordination with the NRSC (e.g. supporting Luther Strange, treating MT as a second-tier race in 2018 and MI as less winnable than CO in 2020, emphatically blocking stimulus checks before the GA runoffs, etc.).

He’s the main reason Republicans no longer have the Senate.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Yes, why wouldn't he be? He's extremely effective, and you don't need to like him to admit that.

...How? The Supreme Court nominations/confirmation processes are the only instances I recall where he was fairly albeit not completely "effective." Everything else has just been pushing a (mostly economic) agenda which his base dislikes to a large extent, using the filibuster as an excuse for not acting on other, vitally important issues, and awful strategic decisions, especially in coordination with the NRSC (e.g. supporting Luther Strange, treating MT as a second-tier race in 2018 and MI as less winnable than CO in 2020, emphatically blocking stimulus checks before the GA runoffs, etc.).

He’s the main reason Republicans no longer have the Senate.

The last time any party might have had the votes to eliminate the filibuster was in 2009-10. There was no way Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and John McCain were ever gonna vote to fully abolish the filibuster which is why it wasn't pursued.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Yes, why wouldn't he be? He's extremely effective, and you don't need to like him to admit that.

...How? The Supreme Court nominations/confirmation processes are the only instances I recall where he was fairly albeit not completely "effective." Everything else has just been pushing a (mostly economic) agenda which his base dislikes to a large extent, using the filibuster as an excuse for not acting on other, vitally important issues, and awful strategic decisions, especially in coordination with the NRSC (e.g. supporting Luther Strange, treating MT as a second-tier race in 2018 and MI as less winnable than CO in 2020, emphatically blocking stimulus checks before the GA runoffs, etc.).

He’s the main reason Republicans no longer have the Senate.

This is why he isn’t effective for the base. The party establishment, elected officials and biggest donors almost certainly prefer McConnell’s deliberate approach of prioritising economic over cultural issues, and for whatever reason the base failed to mobilise against him in 2014 and 2020.

I agree his approach may have cost Republicans the Georgia run-offs, but one has to take risks and expend political capital to enact a legislative agenda, and - broadly - he’s been competent at spending Republican political capital to enact his.

[MarkD]

I don't think McTurtleFace would have crossed Trump in the ways that he did - such as voting to confirm that Joe Biden won the electoral college - if he had not already made an assessment about who has more clout in the Republican Senate Caucus: Trump or himself.

[Progressive Pessimist]

They would be stupid to support anyone else as long as McConnell is in the chamber. He, not Trump, has done more for the American right wing than anybody else since Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich.

[Schiff for Senate]

They would be stupid to support anyone else as long as McConnell is in the chamber. He, not Trump, has done more for the American right wing than anybody else since Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich.

Tell that to the MAGA base.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

They would be stupid to support anyone else as long as McConnell is in the chamber. He, not Trump, has done more for the American right wing than anybody else since Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich.

Definitely not. All McConnell cares about is tax cuts and judges. Most Republicans in 2021 don't really care about those things.

[Make America Grumpy Again]

There's a chance Josh Hawley would be. He's not quite in the new guard, but his fiscal conservatism isn't offensive to the old guard either. He's not as good of a bridge as Trump, but he's probably the best bridge in the senate.

[David Hume]

Yes, why wouldn't he be? He's extremely effective, and you don't need to like him to admit that.

...How? The Supreme Court nominations/confirmation processes are the only instances I recall where he was fairly albeit not completely "effective." Everything else has just been pushing a (mostly economic) agenda which his base dislikes to a large extent, using the filibuster as an excuse for not acting on other, vitally important issues, and awful strategic decisions, especially in coordination with the NRSC (e.g. supporting Luther Strange, treating MT as a second-tier race in 2018 and MI as less winnable than CO in 2020, emphatically blocking stimulus checks before the GA runoffs, etc.).

He’s the main reason Republicans no longer have the Senate.

I agree with what you said, yet he is much more effective than Lott and Frist. In general GOP is playing defense at congress. They need to stop Dem from packing the court, DC statehood, new VRA, etc. What are they going to do if they have filibuster proof supermajority, besides tax cut? I can only think of eliminate diversity lottery, introduce merit based immigration system, Federal voter ID law. Even these would benefit them much less that what Dem would do to benifit Dems. Keeping the status quo is a win for GOP.

[Progressive Pessimist]

They would be stupid to support anyone else as long as McConnell is in the chamber. He, not Trump, has done more for the American right wing than anybody else since Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich.

Tell that to the MAGA base.

Well, the base is stupid. So you may be right.

They would be stupid to support anyone else as long as McConnell is in the chamber. He, not Trump, has done more for the American right wing than anybody else since Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich.

Definitely not. All McConnell cares about is tax cuts and judges. Most Republicans in 2021 don't really care about those things.

That's basically all the GOP does when it wins power though. That is what they want and then they let the states deliver on the culture war garbage. Judges exist as a means of enforcing those too. So as long as those two things happen the GOP base is satisfied...well sort of. They're never actually happy because they always find some new edge issue to get upset about as often as Madonna changes outfits during a concert.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

No he wont and Rs are losing in every competetive Senate race except NH, Lol

[Schiff for Senate]

They would be stupid to support anyone else as long as McConnell is in the chamber. He, not Trump, has done more for the American right wing than anybody else since Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich.

Tell that to the MAGA base.

Well, the base is stupid. So you may be right.

To be more precise the base worships Trump - which makes the base stupid, but I feel like my description is more exact and precise.

Trump detests McConnell after McConnell denounced January 6 and the Big Lie. Remember that the base tried to hang Mike Pence, Trump's otherwise loyal vice president, for a similar offense. Trump has also insulted McConnell multiple times since then. So there's no question - the MAGA base dislikes him.

But more relevant is how the GOP senators regard McConnell. I don't think voting for McConnell as Senate Majority Leader would be something that would make the MAGA base too upset at a senator (and thus make that senator susceptible to a primary challenge) unless Trump expressly warns against voting for McConnell. If Trump holds a grudge against those who support McConnell, which he might (though I don't think he will unless there are only a few of them), he might endorse a primary challenger. Also I feel like most GOP senators realize how important and powerful McConnell is, so he'll probably win. And I don't think it'll have that big consequences among the MAGA base. McConnell is probably disliked among MAGAns, and even hated by a few, but most may realize how crucial he is, or simply not be that angry with him over January 6, or not hate him enough to vote to primary a senator who supports him. I don't know. Overall it's Safe McConnell if Trump supports McConnell (very unlikely) or stays silent (quite possible), whereas if Trump endorses McConnell's opponent (also quite possible), it's a Tossup (depends on the nature of the endorsement and the receiver of the endorsement).

[Del Tachi]

McConnell is a great Republican leader not because he's some great orator or evil genius parliamentarian, but because he's extremely good at reading and triangulating the positions within his caucus.  Schumer is objectively very bad at this, which is why I'd be very surprised if he lasts more than a couple more years in leadership.