Former Republican President Donald Trump lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and tossed out a racist and xenophobic reference to McConnell's wife Elaine Chao while deflecting blame onto McConnell for the GOP's poor midterm election performance.
Trump's remarks came after the "red wave" Republican legislators and pollsters had anticipated failed to materialize and once Democrats officially secured control of the Senate after their candidates and Nevada and Arizona fended off Trump-backed candidates.
Trump called the lack of a "red wave" the "fault" of McConnell, whom he accused of "Spending money to defeat great Republican candidates" instead of supporting candidates like Blake Masters in Arizona, a conspiracy theorist backed by German-American billionaire Peter Thiel, who has made substantial donations to American right-wing figures and causes.
Trump then accused McConnell of supporting legislation sponsored by Democrats before attacking McConnell's wife, writing:
"Giving 4 Trillion Dollars to the Radical Left for the Green New Deal, not Infrastructure, was an even bigger mistake."
"He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow!"
You can see Trump's post below.
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In many ways, this year's midterm elections were seen as a referendum on how much sway Trump and his rhetoric still have over the American electorate. The lack of a "red wave" indicates that many voters have repudiated his lies and blatant attempts to subvert the democratic process.
Trump has ramped up his attacks against the GOP in the process, at a time when reports indicate that dissension is growing within the ranks of the Republican Party, whose members have urged senior leadership to break from Trump following the GOP's disappointing midterm election performance.
Trump has also held a grudge against Chao for some time. Chao served as Trump's Secretary of Transportation until she became one of the first members of his cabinet to resign following the January 6 insurrection, the day a mob of Trump's supporters attacked the nation's seat of government on the false premise the 2020 election had been stolen.
Many criticized Trump in response, noting his use of a racial slur serves as a "dog whistle" to his most fanatical supporters who ate up his xenophobic rhetoric on China and COVID-19 when he was in office.
McConnell has criticized the former President more than once and indicated he is looking to move on to ensuring Republicans regain their majority in the Senate after experiencing significant setbacks under the Trump administration.
The relationship between Trump and McConnell has been largely strained since McConnell acknowledged Democratic President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 general election even as Trump mounted a failed campaign to overturn the election results that culminated in the Capitol riot.
According to New York Times journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns—who interviewed the Kentucky Republican for their book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for American Democracy—McConnell was "exhilarated" by the potential damage the insurrection would inflict on Trump.
McConnell felt “exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself,” according to the book. The exchange was reported by multiple news outlets ahead of the book’s publication earlier this year.
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