McConnell won't seek reelection in 2026, ending long tenure as Republican power broker | Jefferson City News-Tribune

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

59% : One common denominator among them -- their professed loyalty to Trump and his agenda.
41% : They joined forces to reshape the Supreme Court when Trump nominated three justices and McConnell guided them to Senate confirmation, tilting the high court to the right.
37% : Before their falling out, Trump and McConnell pushed through a tax overhaul largely focused on reductions for businesses and higher-earning taxpayers.
36% : McConnell, a diehard adherent to Ronald Reagan's brand of traditional conservatism and muscular foreign policy, increasingly found himself out of step with a GOP shifting toward the fiery, often isolationist populism espoused by Trump.
33% : He's seen his power diminish on a parallel track with both his health and his relationship with Trump, who once praised him as an ally but has taken to criticizing him in caustic terms.
32% : A momentary thaw in 2024 when McConnell endorsed Trump didn't last.
28% : McConnell also guided the Senate -- and Trump -- through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals.
27% : Trump filled the vacancy once he took office, and McConnell later called the stonewalling of Garland's nomination his "most consequential" achievement.
6% : McConnell still champions providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid to fend off Russia's invasion, even as Trump ratchets up criticism of the country and its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
4% : He and Trump were partners during Trump's first term, but the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for "disgraceful" acts in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by his supporters.

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