The House of Representatives impeached former President Donald Trump on January 13 for inciting an insurrection, after his constant lies about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election prompted a mob of his extremist supporters to storm the United States Capitol in a deadly failed insurrection.
Almost exactly one month later, the Senate acquitted Trump in his subsequent impeachment trial, falling 10 votes short of a conviction in the most bipartisan vote to convict a President in American history.
Among the Republicans voting to acquit was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). McConnell infamously served as Senate Majority Leader for the entirety of Trump's term, where he used his power to push through pro-Trump legislation and confirm his Supreme Court nominations, rarely publicly breaking with the President.
Though McConnell voted to acquit Trump—a move he said was his constitutional mandate—the Minority Leader delivered a scathing Senate floor speech decrying Trump as responsible for the riots.
McConnell said:
"There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president, and their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of ... reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth."
Former President Trump was none too happy with McConnell's words.
On Tuesday, Trump issued a lengthy diatribe against his onetime ally, claiming that the Republican party can never be "respected or strong" again with leaders like McConnell.
The statement was issued through Trump's Save America PAC.
The statement reads in part:
"Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again. He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country. Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First."
Trump continued the rant, blaming McConnell for the loss of the GOP's Senate majority in 2020 and claiming McConnell would've lost his own Senate seat without Trump's endorsement.
Twitter couldn't decide which man they disliked more.
Many saw Trump's diatribe against McConnell as yet another instance of the former President demonizing anyone whose devotion to him isn't unconditional.
According to the New York Times, Trump's initial draft was even "more incendiary" than the version publicly released.
