Interactions with Trump are insignificant fraction of Mitch McConnell’s extraordinary career | Opinion

I feel sorry for John David Dyche, a former friend whose political identity consists of hating Donald Trump and apparently growing impatient with Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell’s refusal to die.

He’s so impatient, in fact, that Dyche declined an offer, he claims, to pre-write an obituary of McConnell because he wanted to hate on him now, while he’s alive to read it.

If you don’t know Dyche, his relevance fully revolves around McConnell. They collaborated on a book once but have had little to no contact for many years, a fact which I’m sure Dyche would prefer folks not know so that he can continue to be quoted as some sort of expert on McConnell’s thinking and tenure in office.

Trump’s presidency occupies 10% of McConnell’s total time in the US Senate, even as it inhabits 100% of Dyche’s thoughts.

But Trump does not define McConnell’s service, as Dyche argues. It’s McConnell’s longevity—and the fruits thereof—that mark his time as the longest serving Kentucky senator and longest serving party leader in Senate history. As we do with other historical figures, we will long debate and discuss McConnell’s actions and whether they were inherently right or good.

But McConnell’s legacy will be pinned to his expert representation of Kentucky and his remarkable staying power at the top of his conference rather than his interactions with Trump.

McConnell has served with seven presidents. No matter their party, he’s always had a few operating principles: gain as much ground as possible for the conservative movement, advantage his home state, and maintain America’s role in the world as the premier pro-freedom superpower.

Did this align McConnell with Trump on many occasions? Of course. They worked together to cut taxes and achieve an enduring originalist majority on the Supreme Court, two huge motivators for Republican voters. As I told the New York Times a few years ago, McConnell was indeed “the principal enabler” of the Trump agenda, as the former president would’ve accomplished little of substance without McConnell’s assistance.

Dyche, I suppose, would’ve preferred McConnell stand on a street corner wearing a #neverTrump sandwich board instead of shape the Trump presidency, where possible, into something positive.

While Trump was vastly different than any other president McConnell worked with (and certainly holds views at odds with McConnell’s), the veteran Kentucky pol did what he always does no matter who occupies the White House – agree and advance when you can, disagree when you must, and never lose sight of the greater goals that motivate your service. McConnell’s ability to shape events from his perch in the capitol is why TIME Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World three times, including last year.

Dyche is certainly not alone in wanting the Republican Party to revert to a pre-Trump attitude. But that’s not happening anytime soon and McConnell, despite his legislative influence, possesses no special power to make it so. He often says that serving as Senate Republican Leader is like working as the groundskeeper at a cemetery – everyone is under you, but no one is listening.

A joke, but truer than the broken-brained critics want to believe. No congressional leader is a dictator, and there’s something to be said for McConnell’s maintaining his leadership position through the violent political undulations that have roiled the GOP since 2010.

McConnell broke with Trump on numerous occasions, most notably after Jan. 6. But there are many other instances where McConnell stood up for traditional conservatism against Trump’s position—the importance of NATO, countering Russia aggression, and American exceptionalism; trade and tariffs; condemning white supremacist violence in Charlottesville; preserving the Senate filibuster; and the usefulness of American foreign aid, just to name a few.

If McConnell followed Dyche’s wishes and retired to his living room to curse the darkness and write the occasional op-ed, who does Dyche think would fill the void? We live in Kentucky, not California. McConnell has become the most steadfast and reliable voice of the Reagan-era Republican Party, even as the new GOP increasingly considers the Gipper’s worldview to be ancient history.

I don’t know whether Trump will become president again. But no matter who wins this unwanted 2024 rematch, McConnell will remain a conservative voice of reason who withstands the kooks and conspiracy theories emanating from both ends of the political spectrum.

Scott Jennings is a Republican strategist, a Senior CNN Political Contributor, and longtime personal friend of Mitch McConnell.