Senate

Mike Braun says McConnell should ‘bite his tongue’ and endorse Trump

by Tara Suter - 02/29/24 4:27 PM ET

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should “bite his tongue” and endorse former President Trump’s reelection bid.

“If he does decide to stick through November, I think he needs to come out strongly for Trump, even though he might have to bite his tongue to do that,” Braun said Thursday in an interview on Fox Business’s “Mornings with Maria” in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.

“It’s clear that in [2015] and [2016], when [Trump] came on the scene, Maria, half the country was fed up with this place,” Braun told host Maria Bartiromo. “And when you see it up close like I do, it’s worse than what you can imagine. So, don’t fight it. You gotta go along with it, even if they don’t get along as personalities.”

Fellow Republican senators have said McConnell saw the writing on the wall as he made his recent decision to step down as Senate Republican leader, noting that his party is heading in a different direction from him and falling in line behind Trump as the likely presidential nominee.

“I think it’s a reflection of Mitch’s understanding of the room. I think it’s a reflection of both his personal situation as he described eloquently in his speech and his reading of the political climate and his respect for that,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said following McConnell’s Wednesday announcement that he will step down from his leadership post.

On Wednesday, McConnell, who recently turned 82, gave a speech announcing his plan to leave his leadership post in November on the upper chamber’s floor.

“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter. So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate,” McConnell said.

McConnell has faced recent pressure to endorse Trump; reports confirmed by The Hill this week said Chris LaCivita, the former president’s campaign manager, and Josh Holmes, the Kentucky Republican’s top political hand, had been discussing a possible endorsement.