Trump freaks out as fighter pilot prepares to oust McConnell from office in 2020

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is in danger of losing his 2020 reelection bid to former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath, and Trump is freaking out.

“Why would Kentucky ever think of giving up the most powerful position in Congress, the Senate Majority Leader, for a freshman Senator with little power in what will hopefully be the minority party,” Trump wrote Tuesday night. “We need Mitch in the Senate to Keep America Great!!”

And McConnell may need all the help he can get.

Trump was rushing to defend McConnell just hours after McGrath announced her candidacy. And just hours after Trump’s panicked tweet, the McGrath campaign announced the largest 24-hour fundraising effort in U.S. Senate history: $2.5 million. Every dime came from online donations, with the average contribution totaling $36.15.

The record-breaking haul “is a sign of just how deep Democratic antipathy toward McConnell, the Senate majority leader, runs in the Trump era,” NBC News reported.

And it’s not just Democrats who are unhappy with McConnell — it’s also most of his own constituents in Kentucky.

According to recent polling, McConnell is the least popular senator in the entire country, approved of by a mere 36% of Kentuckians.

McConnell’s tenure as Senate majority leader has been marred by incessant, relentless obstruction of virtually all legislation. He had to be shamed into meeting with heroes who risked their lives to help on the day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

McConnell has made it his mission to protect Trump at all costs. He even refuses to take up legislation to protect America’s election security or to ban candidates from soliciting foreign assistance on campaigns.

McGrath narrowly lost her 2018 bid for a Kentucky House seat, and faces an uphill challenge in taking on McConnell in a state that supported Trump by 30 points in 2016.

While polling guru Nate Silver gives McConnell the edge in 2020, he cautions that “it’s not a foregone conclusion and his status as party leader could give him problems that a ‘generic’ Republican might not have.”

Less than 24 hours after McGrath announced, Trump is already panicking at the possibility that one of his biggest defenders in the Senate could be forced into retirement.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.