The McConnell-inspired momentum began within hours of the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia last February, when McConnell declared the Senate should not confirm a replacement for the conservative icon until after the 2016 election.
That gave McConnell the ability to offer conservatives of all stripes a passionate reason to support the Republican nominee, whoever it was — including the unorthodox Trump…
“A lot of people talked about this being a ‘change’ election,” McConnell said. “Well, it actually wasn’t,” at least not for the Senate and House. Instead, he describes it as a status-quo election for Congress.
“In other words, the American people expressed confidence in the House and Senate. What they wanted, it seems to me, was someone who would signs bills that we passed.
“What the president deserves a lot of credit for during the campaign is that he breached the blue wall. I did not think that any candidate for president on our side would carry Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.”
“What he managed to do, which is startling given the fact that he is a billionaire living in Manhattan and Palm Beach, was to identify with white, working-class voters who look at today’s Democratic Party as one that is only interested in groups — this group, that group — and they’re like, ‘I’m not in any of those groups.’
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