Biden campaign manager calls GOP lawmakers ‘a bunch of f—ers’

President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming deputy chief of staff called GOP lawmakers are “a bunch of f—ers” and said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is “terrible,” but expressed optimism that the new administration could still work with Republicans to pass legislation. 

In a new interview with Glamour, Jen O’Malley Dillon, who also served as Biden’s campaign manager, defended Biden from criticism from the left over his insistence that Republicans would warm to the idea of working with him once President Trump leaves office.

“The president-elect was able to connect with people over this sense of unity,” O’Malley Dillon said.

“In the primary, people would mock him, like, ‘You think you can work with Republicans?’ I’m not saying they’re not a bunch of f—ers. Mitch McConnell is terrible. But this sense that you couldn’t wish for that, you couldn’t wish for this bipartisan ideal? He rejected that. From start to finish, he set out with this idea that unity was possible, that together we are stronger, that we, as a country, need healing, and our politics needs that too.”

McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate majority leader, for the first time on Tuesday recognized Biden’s victory over President Trump after the Electoral College certified the election results in all 50 states.

Biden said he called McConnell to thank him for recognizing his victory and said that they had a “good conversation.”

McConnell and Biden served in the Senate together and have a decades-long relationship. They also cut deals together when Biden was vice president in the Obama administration.

There’s a furious battle going on over control of the Senate, which will be determined by two runoff elections in Georgia on Jan. 5.

But Biden has repeatedly said he can get things done even with a GOP majority in the Senate.

During the primary and general elections, Biden repeatedly insisted that his decades in the Senate and longstanding relationships with some GOP lawmakers would position him to be able to work with Republicans.

Many on the left expressed skepticism about this, as McConnell has a reputation for being a political figure and Republicans over the past four years have increasingly become the party of Trump.

O’Malley Dillon acknowledged it will be a heavy lift.

“Which is not to say it is easy. It is like a relationship. You can’t do politics alone. If the other person is not willing to do the work, then that becomes really hard,” she said.

“But I think, more than not, people want to see impact. They want to see us moving in a path forward. They want to do their work, get paid a fair share, have time for themselves and their family, and see each other as neighbors. And this overhang of this negative, polarized electorate that politics has created is the thing that I think we can break down.”