Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and President Joe Biden may come from opposite sides of the political spectrum, but that does not mean McConnell will paint Biden as a villain.
McConnell recently called Biden a “good guy” — a sentiment former President Donald Trump doesn’t share.
According to The Hill, Trump has tried to villainize Biden, saying he was the “corrupt mastermind behind schemes to steal elections and persecute political opponents,” per the outlet.
McConnell has endorsed Trump for president, but claims there are a slew of reasons why Biden should not be president.
“I know Joe Biden pretty well. He’s a good guy; I like him personally,” McConnell said in Louisville Tuesday.
McConnell was referring to the more than 20 years he and Biden spent in the Senate and the deals they worked on when Biden was vice president.
Even though he may like Biden the man, he doesn’t like Biden the politician.
For example, he never believed Biden’s efforts to portray himself in 2020 as a moderate.
“I never thought he was moderate in the Senate, but he ran as a moderate,” he said. “But as soon as the president got elected, he pretty much signed up with the far left of the Democratic Party, which has created another set of a problem for all of you who are in business.
“This has been a regulatory nightmare by this administration,” McConnell said.
McConnell said there’s no need to tear down Biden on a personal level — something Trump does regularly.
Trump regularly calls Biden “Crooked Joe” and has accused him of stealing the 2020 election, and taking drugs before the State of the Union address.
Al Cross, director emeritus of the Institute for Rural Journalism at the University of Kentucky said McConnell may be sending a message to moderate Republicans.
These are Republicans who don’t like Trump but need to focus on the policy differences between the candidates instead of their personalities.
“What McConnell might be trying to do here is appeal to Republicans who really don’t like Trump — just as he doesn’t really like Trump — but maybe aren’t fully focused on the policy differences and would be more inclined to vote for Trump, given that stark contrast,” Cross said.
McConnell said Biden can be defeated by focusing on how he is handling the economy and inflation, and his failure to stop the massive surge of migrants across the southern border.
