Trump/McConnell, 2020’s odd couple

Senate leader’s embrace shows transformation of GOP

WASHINGTON — It’s not quite “Trump-McConnell 2020,” but it might as well be.

As he runs for reelection, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is positioning himself as the president’s wingman, his trusted right hand in Congress, transformed from a behind-thescenes player into a prominent if sometimes reviled Republican like none other besides Donald Trump himself.

“In Washington, President Trump and I are making America great again!” he declared at a rally in Kentucky, his voice rising over protesters.

McConnell was heckled last weekend at his home state’s annual “Fancy Farm” political picnic, and protesters outside his Louisville house hurled so many profanities that Twitter temporarily shut down his account for posting video of them online.

Undaunted, he revels in the nickname he’s given himself — the “Grim Reaper,” bragging that he’s burying the House Democrats’ agenda — though he seems stung by one lobbed by opponents, “Moscow Mitch.”

McConnell is even more dependent on Trump’s popularity in Kentucky than his own, a different political landscape from the one he faced in 2014, before the president took the White House.

“They need each other,” says Scott Jennings, a longtime adviser to McConnell.

The new McConnell strategy shows just how far Trump has transformed the GOP, turning a bankers-and-cuff-links conservative into a “Fake News!” shouting senator.

McConnell and his allies have taken on Trump’s style, lashing out at media and political opponents. When campaign volunteers came under criticism for appearing to choke a cardboard cutout of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the picnic in a photo circulated online, McConnell allies said the high schoolers were being treated unfairly by opponents trying to maliciously shame them in public.

Kentucky remains a GOP stronghold, and Trump is extraordinarily popular, which is part of the reason McConnell is tying his own political future to the president.