What will Mitch McConnell do next? Everyone from Donald Trump to the producers at “60 Minutes” is wondering whether the veteran Republican Senate leader will use his perch to lead some kind of resistance.
McConnell has made his differences with Trump known. He voted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s nomination and has openly questioned the views of other cabinet nominees like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He believes tariffs against allies are bad policy and wants to see a robust defense budget with military aid sent to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, all while the appetite for international intervention is rapidly dissolving within the GOP.
But at a time when the Republican conference largely mirrors Trump’s views, the longest-serving Senate leader’s presence looks more like an academic exercise for his party’s lawmakers than a voice of influence.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we’re dealing with today that was done 30 years ago,” that McConnell “literally” witnessed, Sen. Markwayne Mullin said. “Mitch is really good about just kind of like saying, ‘This was what was going on at the time, this is why we done what we did and this is the story behind it.’”
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“I find it fascinating,” Mullin added.
Conversations with 11 of McConnell’s colleagues about his role in the new GOP conference depicted him as something of an institutional historian — not an arm-twisting former party head. McConnell spends his weekly lunches and meetings sharing the occasional Senate war story.
“I just think Mitch is not really a factor one way or another,” one GOP senator said. “There’s, I suppose, a certain antiquarian interest there.”
None of his colleagues relayed the specific stories McConnell has been sharing. Several described them as giving the history and context of why or how the Senate did something relevant to what the GOP conference faces today.
With Republicans in the process of confirming Trump’s cabinet, attempting a budget reconciliation package, including border security and tax cuts (not to mention funding the government), there’s no shortage of topics for when he is “waxing philosophic,” as Sen. Cynthia Lummis described it.
“I do need to tune in a little more when he’s being more — more of a teacher, more of a historian, imparting wisdom on his colleagues,” Lummis said. “It’s happening.”
It’s happening at a pivotal time for the governing body McConnell has given much of his life to, with Trump encroaching on Congress’ constitutional authority.
It’s not as if McConnell’s turn as a bard is exclusively a new endeavor. And there’s not many men or women around who know more about the Senate than McConnell, who started as an intern and staffer for Sens. John Sherman Cooper and Marlow Cook. But most of those who spoke with NOTUS about the former leader described it as a recent emphasis since stepping down from leadership.
“Sen. McConnell is grateful for the support of his constituents over the years and of his colleagues for choosing him as Senate Republican leader for 18 years,” a spokesperson for McConnell said. “Every day, Sen. McConnell continues to work in the Senate to make the country and the state that he cares so much about a better place.”
After 18 years as the Senate’s Republican leader, McConnell has seemingly welcomed a return to the rank and file, which grants him independence that was unavailable during his time as leader.
“He’s a free man,” Sen. John Kennedy said. “He doesn’t have to think, conference first, himself second.”
“He can approach problems in a different way,” Kennedy added.
McConnell exercised that independence when he voted against Hegseth’s nomination. He said Hegseth “failed” to demonstrate the ability to effectively manage the Department of Defense, though he pledged to work with Hegseth to advance American interests.
The vote triggered an immediate backlash from some GOP lawmakers.
But even for Hegseth’s nomination to be defense secretary, which McConnell called “the most consequential cabinet official in any administration,” he didn’t openly try to influence his colleagues.
In conference meetings, “He’s never brought up his opinion about the president; he didn’t ever bring up his opinion about Hegseth,” Mullin said.
McConnell said on Sunday during his interview with “60 Minutes” that he’ll employ his new role judiciously.
“I expect to support most of what this administration is trying to accomplish,” McConnell said during the interview.
During Trump’s first administration, McConnell worked to deliver sweeping tax cuts. The two also had phone calls that devolved into screaming matches, exchanged subtle insults and Twitter attacks as they endured a seesaw relationship that cratered after failing to repeal Obamacare, rebounded after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and was strained during Trump’s first impeachment trial.
Trump’s racist comments about McConnell’s wife, Trump’s former transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, further severed their relationship. Trump often targeted McConnell at political rallies. And McConnell’s private disdain toward Trump has become public in his biography published last year.
Asked about his relationship with Trump McConnell told “60 Minutes,” “We haven’t spoken for quite a while.”
There will be plenty more opportunities for McConnell to defy Trump’s picks. He’s raised concerns about RFK Jr.’s positions on vaccines. And as chair of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, McConnell will work hand in hand with Hegseth to allocate roughly $850 billion in defense spending.
But unlike how many perceive Nancy Pelosi in her role outside of leadership, few see McConnell as the man pulling the strings. McConnell, his colleagues said, has readily accepted his position as a senior member of the conference.
“He actually is embracing the role as the senior statesman,” Lummis said. “He seems to know that when he starts talking, everybody will stop and listen to what he has to say. And he’s one of the few people that can command a room that way, and I think he’s aware of it.”
“People still stop,” Lummis added. “They do give him that deference, and he’s earned it, and he’s using it.”
McConnell still speaks up during meetings. During last Tuesday’s lunch, he gave “historical perspective” about the appropriations process for the government funding deadline and the debt ceiling, according to Sen. Kevin Cramer.
Though it’s widely acknowledged that today’s GOP is not McConnell’s brand of Republicanism.
“It’s being masked by the era of populism that we’re on right now,” Sen. Thom Tillis, who served as a counselor to McConnell’s leadership team, said. “We’ll get back there.”
Tillis’ reverence for McConnell is well established. His dog, a cocker spaniel-poodle mix, is named Mitch.
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Ben T.N. Mause is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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