Welcome to the Resistance? Mitch Mcconnell Bucks Trump with ‘No’ Votes

The Washington Post

13:04 JST, February 13, 2025

In his many years leading Senate Republicans, Mitch McConnell pushed the judiciary rightward and turned the chamber into a legislative graveyard for Democrats, earning a reputation for cutthroat partisan politics.

But free from his leadership role and likely in his last term, the 82-year old has spent the last few months pushing back against President Donald Trump’s most controversial nominees, becoming an unlikely – and sometimes lonely – face of Republican resistance.

On Wednesday, McConnell cast the lone Republican “no” vote against Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence, blasting her as an unqualified candidate with a history of “alarming lapses in judgment” in a statement that indirectly indicted his colleagues for failing to do their constitutional duty to check Trump’s nominees. It followed a similar “no” vote against Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth last month and a likely refusal to vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the nation’s health system later this week.

As many of his colleagues have swallowed their concerns about these nominees’ backgrounds or policy positions, McConnell has silently and with little fanfare voted against them – refusing to even meet with the candidates one on one before doing so.

“The Senate’s power of advice and consent is not an option; it is an obligation, and one we cannot pretend to misunderstand,” McConnell said in his statement Wednesday. “When a nominee’s record proves them unworthy of the highest public trust, and when their command of relevant policy falls short of the requirements of their office, the Senate should withhold its consent.”

McConnell’s emergence as a node of resistance in a Senate that has otherwise supported Trump’s agenda has surprised some of his colleagues.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) said McConnell’s vote against Gabbard was “a heartbreaker.” “I think loyalty was very important to him when he was leader, so I’m so sorry to see now that his role has changed, that he views it differently,” Lummis said. “So I would just say I am sad.”

McConnell has telegraphed to GOP leaders ahead of time when he’s going to vote “no,” according to senators, and his colleagues are reluctant to criticize him publicly for voting the way he wants to after so many years of being bound to his leadership position.

“We all respect him. We always have, and he’s certainly still respected,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota).

Still, some Republicans pointed out that his “no” votes have not seemed to make an impact on his colleagues. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), moderates who flouted Trump on key votes in his first term, voted with McConnell against Hegseth. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who voted to convict Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, appears on track to support all of Trump’s nominees, even after raising grave concerns about Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism. (McConnell, as a childhood polio survivor, has particularly strong views on vaccines and public health.)

“How many people voted with him today against Tulsi on our side?” asked Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), a critic of McConnell when he was the leader. “It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of people following suit.”

There’s little love lost between McConnell and Trump, who has insulted the ex-leader and his wife in personal terms. After the Jan 6. attack, which enraged McConnell, the pair did not speak for years. Trump has groused about McConnell’s opposition, telling reporters before the Hegseth vote: “Of course, Mitch is always a “no” vote, I guess.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized McConnell from the lectern on Wednesday – though not by name. “I think we’re greatly disappointed in any Republican who chooses willfully to vote against the president’s exceptionally qualified Cabinet nominees and picks to lead his America First administration,” Leavitt said.

Still, McConnell endorsed Trump’s reelection and has made clear he is not planning to oppose Trump on most of his agenda – no matter how excited Democrats may get at these small signs of resistance.

“I expect to support most of what this administration is trying to accomplish,” McConnell told “60 Minutes” earlier this month. “So, what happened in the past is irrelevant to me.”

In a floor speech in January, McConnell said he planned to support nominees “whose professional experience is commensurate with the responsibilities of their office, and who have demonstrated in detail their command of relevant policy.”

McConnell, who is currently making his way around the Capitol in a wheelchair after a pair of falls, has said he wants to serve as a counter to the isolationism growing among Republicans on foreign policy. He wields the Appropriations subcommittee gavel overseeing defense spending, and he has argued for continued funding for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, and increased defense spending to counter the threats of China and Russia.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) said he wasn’t surprised by McConnell’s vote against Gabbard and viewed it as part of his “lifelong commitment to national security issues” – not some transformation into a true swing vote.

“He’s Mr. Republican … he’s the same McConnell who, when Barack Obama was elected, said his job was to make Obama a one-term president. But he’s always elevated national security issues above partisan politics and is following through,” Welch said.

Democrats are now finding themselves in the strange position of praising the man whom for years they had made the poster boy for what they painted as Republican callousness.

“I’m glad that he is showing some gumption,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).

Some pointed out that McConnell’s votes against nominees who other Republicans have raised concerns about shows how many lawmakers seem nervous about opposing Trump’s picks.

“Mitch McConnell doesn’t answer to anyone, certainly not Donald Trump,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts). “His votes make that clear. The rest of the Senate Republicans know the kind of threat that Tulsi Gabbard poses, and in a world where they weren’t afraid of Donald Trump, she never would have made it through the first round of hearings.”

Some liberal groups have told activists to target McConnell ahead of GOP nomination votes that they are opposing – a stunning turn of events for a man who was until very recently in charge of the Republican agenda.

“Mitch McConnell is one of the people most responsible for the peril that our country is in right now – so our expectations are low but our members aren’t going to let up,” said Britt Jacovich, a spokesperson for MoveOn, a liberal grassroots advocacy group. “The fact that he’s a key vote target to stop the Trump agenda says a lot about how the modern Republican Party has completely surrendered to MAGA,” Jacovich continued.

“His constituents in Kentucky would be well-served if he showed more spine to fight back against Donald Trump and Elon Musk.”