Donald Trump received his 78th birthday gift a day early — a handshake from his longtime adversary, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, summing up the Republican Party’s complete submission to its presumptive presidential candidate.
The twice-impeached 45th president and newly convicted felon returned to Capitol Hill on Thursday for the first time since his supporters beat police officers and smashed their way through the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
A rendition of “Happy Birthday” by House Republicans contrasted with calls from more than three years ago to “hang Mike Pence” from Trump’s crowd as they acted on his plea to “fight like hell” after weeks of promoting false claims of election fraud. Eager to please their champion and create an optimistic omen for November, House members paid tribute to the former president with a bat and game ball they won after defeating Democrats in Wednesday’s annual Congressional Baseball Game. There was a distinct impression of subordinates paying homage to a strong leader.
Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio, a former 2016 primary challenger now seen as a possible GOP vice presidential candidate, called it “putting the team back together” as GOP senators feted Trump just two weeks after he became the first former president to be convicted of a crime. Another 2016 foe, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who endured Trump’s insults to his father and wife, rose to his feet to applaud his rival.
But the most striking image of the day was a handshake between McConnell and the former president captured in a photo by The New York Times’ Doug Mills that encapsulates an era. The veteran Kentucky senator has never hidden his disdain for Trump, though he has always sought to preserve his power and has not taken steps to impeach him in Senate trials following his two impeachments. The dislike has been mutual, with Trump calling McConnell an “old crow” at rallies and making racist comments about McConnell’s wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
In January 2021, McConnell said: “The crowd was fed lies. They were provoked by the president.” He said Trump was morally and practically responsible for the attack on his beloved Capitol.
On Thursday, after meeting with Trump for the first time since that infamous day, he described their meeting as “absolutely positive,” during which the former president shook McConnell’s hand in both of his. It would strain credibility to believe McConnell has denied his private disdain for Trump. But he told reporters who asked him about their meeting: “I can’t think of anything to tell you that was negative.”
The exchange between McConnell and Trump was a fitting emblem for a day Trump choreographed to show unity in his party — despite thousands of votes cast in the GOP primary for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for several months after suspending her campaign.
“There is tremendous unity in the Republican Party,” Trump said. “We want to see the borders. We want to see a strong army. We want to see that money is not wasted all over the world.”
Trump’s powerful assertion of his party was an example of the power projection he worships, which often requires the submission of followers. And it also showed what Republicans who want their power are prepared to do to keep it. The show of adoration on Capitol Hill was also another reminder that there will be no price for Trump to pay in his own party for trying to destroy democracy in order to stay in power. And it was likely a preview of the respect for Trump’s autocratic instincts and the zeal for revenge that America can expect from Republicans in Washington if he regains the White House — even from those in a branch of government supposed to constrain presidents.
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts as he is applauded by Republicans at the Republican Senatorial National Committee headquarters in Washington on June 13, 2024.
Another of Trump’s potential vice presidential picks, Ohio Senator JD Vance, was asked how some top Republicans who had condemned Trump after Jan. 6 could meet and applaud him now.
“No real Republican with any credibility in the party is still impeaching him,” said Vance, who was not yet elected at the time, adding that some of Trump’s critics in the chamber were supportive. “I think it’s a good thing and the Republican Party is in a good place.”
Vance is not wrong. Almost every major Republican who stood against Trump in 2021 has left or is on his way out the door. Utah Senator Mitt Romney is retiring. Former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney was ousted from the leadership of the House of Representatives and then Congress for telling the truth about his election lies. Former House Speaker Paul Ryan slammed Trump this week for breaking his oath to uphold the Constitution. But his comments on Fox News came in the midst of a comfortable retirement, all his ambitions long gone.
Lawmakers who stood by Trump on Thursday didn’t necessarily do so because they like him. His huge popularity in the GOP base means they know they can kiss their political future goodbye if they choose not to. This is also the case when Trump’s expulsion violates the normal codes of conduct expected of a presidential candidate.
Trump’s return to Washington came a day before he turned 78, the age at which President Joe Biden — who his predecessor says is too old to serve — took office after defeating him in the 2020 election. Their race in 2024 is neck and neck, according to polls, with each seeking to make the race a referendum on the other’s sole mandate. The Biden campaign quickly sought to capitalize on Trump’s return visit to a city he left scarred and traumatized by the Capitol riots, releasing a new campaign video showing scenes of the attack.
“There is nothing more sacred than our democracy, but Donald Trump is ready to burn it all down,” said a broadcaster in the ad, which is airing in battleground states.
Biden, 81, was thousands of miles from Washington when Trump appeared, attending the G7 summit in Italy. It’s the second trip abroad in two weeks that he’s using as an allegory for a US presidential season he’s trying to cast as a fight to save American democracy. Unveiling a series of new plans to boost Ukraine diplomatically, militarily and economically, the president recalled that the US and its allies had repeatedly been asked whether they would stand by a country that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to wipe off the map.
“We will say it again, yes, again and again and again we will stand with Ukraine,” Biden said, standing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The slew of initiatives to institutionalize Western support for Ukraine unveiled at the summit are a clear attempt to hedge against the possibility that Trump could return to power on Jan. 20, 2025. The former president often hung out with Putin while in office. and he said he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours – a feat that could only be achieved by ending Russia’s territorial gains after its brutal invasion
President Joe Biden joins G7 leaders as they gather to watch a parachute drop at San Domenico Golf Club – Borgo Egnazia during the first day of the 50th G7 Summit in Fasano, Italy, on June 13, 2024.
Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton warned Thursday that Biden could not guarantee that the 10-year pact covering military training, intelligence cooperation and other areas he signed with Zelensky on Thursday would last.
“I think it’s delusional, though, for anyone to think that Trump would be associated with it. If Trump is inaugurated at noon on January 20 of next year, at about five in the afternoon he could have completely dismantled this deal,” Bolton told CNN International’s Bianna Golodryga.
If Trump is elected and leaves Ukraine, he will complete the transformation of a Republican Party that once prided itself on defending democracy around the world and that, under President Ronald Reagan, won the Cold War.