Dick Morris, an author and adviser to former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, told Newsmax Monday that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., undermined candidates picked by Trump and caused the lackluster GOP performance in last week's midterm elections.
"Those who blame Trump for this, it's just wrong," Morris said during "American Agenda."
"Mitch McConnell, the [minority] leader of the senate, absolutely failed to fund the Republican Senate candidates who were backed by Trump. Anybody who won the primary, who is trump's endorsed candidate, was shut out of money from the Senate committee, or from McConnell's PAC. The Democrats spent an aggregated $360 million Republicans spent only $190 million in specific races," Morris added.
Morris said that Trump's endorsement picks won in nine of the 15 "tough" races, including Senator-elect JD Vance in Ohio, Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, and Rep. Ted Budd's GOP Senate win in North Carolina.
Morris said that McConnell spent the middle of the campaign "undermining" Trump's candidates and giving party donors "incentives" not to support them -- just to protect his own leadership job.
"The fact of the matter is that McConnell would rather be leader than care whether it's majority or minority leader," Morris said. "He ended up underfunding, or zero funding, races that had candidates who might not support him for leader, and that's why there's a strong effort."
Morris also said it was "absurd" that McConnell's Senate PAC ended up giving Alaska's incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski $10 million to run against a fellow Trump-picked Republican challenger (Kelly Tshibaka), just because Murkowski was "fighting" with Trump.
"It played a huge role in the Republican defeat," said Morris.
Arizona’s GOP Senate challenger Blake Masters, another Trump endorsement, said Friday that McConnell's PAC pulled a planned advertising buy in the state in August that could have helped put him on top of Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, who won the race by roughly 5 percentage points, The Hill reported.
"The people who control the purse strings, Senate Leadership Fund, Mitch McConnell — McConnell decided to spend millions of dollars attacking a fellow Republican in Alaska instead of helping me defeat Sen. Mark Kelly," Masters said in the report. "Had he chosen to spend money in Arizona, this race would be over we’d be celebrating a Senate Majority right now."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Related stories:
Lindsey Graham Joins GOP Senators Opposing Quick McConnell Vote | Newsmax.com
Trump Blames McConnell for GOP Race Losses | Newsmax.com
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.