McConnell, Trump bury hatchet with eye on GOP takeover

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and former President Trump made efforts on Thursday to bury the hatchet and end their long-running feud as GOP confidence grows that the party could win both chambers of Congress and the White House this fall.

It was uncertain initially whether McConnell would even attend the lunch meeting hosted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) with Trump, given more than three years of acrimony between the two leaders stemming from Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.

Their relationship hit a low point in 2022 when Trump declared McConnell had a “death wish” because of his support for bipartisan legislation and mocked his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, as McConnell’s “China loving wife” and “Coco Chow.”

 Yet, McConnell sat close to Trump at a big rectangular table decorated with red tablecloth and warmly applauded when Senate Republicans presented the Trump with a birthday cake a day before his 78th birthday.