2 reasons Republicans are done with McConnell

Democrats have long abhorred Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for the many ways he has bedeviled them, but the gravest threat to his leadership is now coming from inside his own party. On two recent occasions, McConnell froze while talking to reporters, raising questions about whether the 81-year-old can still perform his duties, and some Republicans appear to be unsheathing their knives to take out one of their most effective party leaders ever.

There are two reasons for this that go beyond concerns about McConnell’s health, one more obvious and one less so. At a moment when the primary GOP argument against President Biden is that he’s too old to serve a second term, some believe they can win points by saying they pushed out their own aging lion. More importantly, McConnell’s most dramatic feats of partisanship are in the past, and a party still in former president Donald Trump’s thrall is ready to be rid of him.