Throughout Donald Trump’s first term and during Biden’s presidency, he’s been a dubious ally. While he garnered some acclaim for his relentless pushing of conservative justices for confirmation, he’s been an unreliable backer of “45” – now “47.”

In fact, he said after the events of January 6, 2021: “We’ve all known that Trump is crazy. I’m done with him. I will never speak to him again.” He didn’t vote to impeach him, but he was one of the strongest GOP voices against the president.  

He cheered on Biden for the 2021 $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which Trump strongly opposed and which almost certainly contributed to the rampant inflation that Joe unleashed upon America. Thanks, Mitch.

Nevertheless, McConnell did reluctantly endorse Trump’s 2024 bid for the presidency, so it came as a surprise to some Friday night when he made the last-minute choice to vote “no” on Trump’s Defense Secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, and came oh so close to tanking the confirmation. Vice President JD Vance had to step in and cast the deciding 51^st vote.

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 25, 2025