Political Notebook: Here’s why Trump tensions in D.C. aren’t hurting McConnell in KY
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is an expert at avoiding questions he does not want to answer.
He showcased this talent on his most recent tour of Kentucky. When asked if he’s concerned that a significant portion of the Republican base doesn’t believe the 2020 Presidential election was valid, McConnell instead talked about how he hopes to block the policy goals of President Joe Biden.
It wasn’t a surprise.
Elected officials who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump are on the outs, urged on by Trump’s frequent designed-for-but-not-allowed-on Twitter statements. Meanwhile, a group of 100 “prominent Republicans” are threatening to leave the party if something isn’t done about Trump’s continued hold on the rank and file.
Wyoming Rep. Liz. Cheney made a fiery speech in the House chambers, denouncing Trump’s lies about the validity of the election, saying Republicans couldn’t let him lead the party backwards. She was booed and then voted out of her leadership role on a voice vote.
In Kentucky, the day of the vote on Cheney was a blue-bird day. The sun was shining. State Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, was on the treadmill.
“We’ve got enough issues going on at the state level that I don’t really worry about what’s going on in Washington D.C.,” Thayer said. “Honestly, we don’t really talk about it. The election is over and we’ve moved on.”
That is the general message of the Kentucky Republican establishment.
Nearly five months after President Joe Biden was sworn in, Republicans in D.C. are still dealing with the aftermath of the election and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Meanwhile, Kentucky’s elected Republicans have managed to stay mum.
There have been no shakeups in state leadership and no Trump faction has emerged to displace the Chamber of Commerce-style Republicans who have largely held power in the party for the past few decades.
“We’re not full time, the media spotlight isn’t on us like in D.C.,” said state Sen. Wil Schroder, R-Wilder. “I always think to some extent we’re the farm team and people are always going to pay attention to the majors.”
That is not to say there is not tension within the Republican Party. Like a pot of water on a hot stove just before it’s about to boil, some bubbles have started to rise to the surface.
In January, after McConnell said Trump “fed lies” about the election to the mob who stormed the Capitol, a group of county party chairpersons led an effort to force McConnell to support Trump.
It ultimately failed but hasn’t gone away.
The guy who led the effort, Nelson County Republican Party chairman Don Thrasher, is speaking to a group of conservatives at a buffet in Elizabethtown on Saturday with the stated goal of winning enough seats at the county party level to help shape the overall vision of the state party.
“Are you tired of cancel culture? Politics as usual? Wicked Democrats working with RINO Republicans holding us hostage?” the meeting invitation says. “Conservatives, liberty folks, constitutionalists, Trump supporters, libertarians, one and all — we have an opportunity that happens once every four years.”
Thrasher, who lost a primary challenge to Rep. Chad McCoy, R-Bardstown, in 2020, said he doesn’t consider his wing of the Republican Party the Trump wing, but the “America First” wing.
“We’re pushing more for the America First label than the Trump label,” Thrasher said. “I think the America First movement would be a better way of expressing it.”
While Thrasher is critical of state legislative leadership in Frankfort, he said his intra-party push is an attempt to get the Republican Party out of McConnell’s grip. He said state lawmakers were quiet about the election because they were walking the line between supporting McConnell and supporting Trump.
“They didn’t want to go against McConnell and they didn’t want to go against Trump,” Thrasher said. “McConnell completely controls the statehouse with an iron fist.”
Republican control of Frankfort has helped shield lawmakers from a debate over McConnell. Unlike in Washington D.C., lawmakers didn’t have to take a vote on whether they felt Trump should be impeached. They didn’t have to take a vote on whether to certify the election in states where Trump cried voter fraud.
Even at the Republican State Central Committee meeting where Thrasher was trying to force McConnell’s hand, his motion was ruled out-of-order, shielding lawmakers from having to choose between McConnell and Trump.
But when one party has total control, factions always arise.
The current split isn’t pro-Trump and anti-Trump — the former president is widely popular in Kentucky and any Republican that publicly opposed him probably wouldn’t be able to keep their seat.
Instead, it’s the religious conservatives and the economic conservatives.
Tensions between the two groups sometimes bubble to the surface, like during the debate on historic horse racing, as the religious conservatives took a stand against a bill that attempted to legalize what are effectively slot machines at race tracks throughout the state.
“There are Republicans in my caucus who I disagree with on almost everything,” said Rep. Adam Koenig, R-Erlanger, who often pushes bills to expand gambling. “And that’s OK. We both represent our districts well.”
In the early years of their supermajority, Republicans have largely been able to present a front of unity. This past session, they were able to quell pushes to impeach Beshear by pushing petitions through an impeachment committee. There were abortion bills for the religious conservatives and tax break bills for the economic conservatives.
Thayer said the “something for everyone” approach has helped to keep the big tent unified.
“I still think we’re a center-right party,” Thayer said. “And we’ve proven with our numbers that we’re a big tent party. We don’t have the problems that Democrats have in their party right now.”
There is still the question of the future. If Thrasher and his allies get their way, a new, Trumpier brand of Republican would be installed in county parties across the state. With more strength, the “America First” wing of the party could start pushing those in Frankfort even further to the right.
Koenig said that for a long time the Republican Party has been modeled in the image of Ronald Reagan’s conservative vision. But Trump turned out a new kind of voter, one upset with the status quo in politics who wanted to see change.
The two visions may be bumping against each other.
”The fact of the matter is are we in the future going to be the party of Ronald Reagan or the party of Donald Trump?” Koenig said. “I believe there is room for those who came to the party recently because of Donald Trump to be happy in the party of Ronald Reagan.”
Schroeder said Trump’s influence on the party is still strong — he cited his own support for a bill to cap the price of insulin as an example of how Trump’s stances have shaped the views of the party — but that he doesn’t see it usurping the type of father figure Reagan has become for the Republican Party.
“I guess we’re still so close to the Trump Presidency that it’s hard to say,” Schroeder said. “I don’t think Reagan is going away anytime soon.... I don’t really think Trump is taking his place.”
