August 14, 2023: Mitch McConnell’s political endgame

The Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News, Daily News, Politics, Government

3.9 • 699 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2023

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Republican Minority Leader McConnell says he is working to preserve the United States’ identity as a strong, visible presence internationally and within NATO. But with Donald Trump now the de facto party leader, that’s no longer a popular position to take. The senator’s declining health only adds further complication to his endeavors. Host Ryan Lizza talks with Politics Bureau Chief Jonathan Martin about his newest piece about McConnell’s political endgame. Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza talks with Senior Columnist and Politics Bureau Chief Jonathan Martin.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Presented by Climate Power
0:02.0	Good morning, everyone. I'm playbook co-author, Ryan Liza. It's Monday, August 14th.
0:08.0	This morning, I want to dig into one big thing, and that is a 5,000-word piece by Jonathan
0:13.7	Martin in Politico magazine this morning with a very classy Helsinki dateline. The piece is a deep dive into what Mitch McConnell is up to right now.
0:24.4	The headline, McConnell in winter, inside the GOP leaders attempt to thwart Trump. The Kentucky
0:30.7	Republican is doing all he can to bolster Ukraine, preserve NATO, and help his party maintain
0:37.0	its reignite roots.
0:39.4	Jonathan's been working on this piece for weeks and weeks, has traveled widely, sat down with
0:43.9	McConnell, did a ton of reporting.
0:45.9	We're not going to get into every juicy detail in the piece, but please check out the
0:49.5	newsletter and the full piece at Politico.com.
0:52.7	And joining me now from the road.
0:54.9	So forgive the spotty cell reception is the Politics Bureau Chief and Senior Political
0:59.7	Columnist Jonathan Martin.
1:01.6	Jonathan, good morning.
1:02.7	Hey, how you don't, pal?
1:04.0	All right.
1:04.6	So what is Mitch McConnell doing at this point in his long career?
1:09.6	Well, he is fighting for the Reaganite tradition of projecting American strength abroad.
1:16.7	And that is kind of out of vogue campaign to wage right now for the obvious reason that
1:22.9	the party is led by somebody who is a proud nationalist, Donald Trump. But for McConnell, this is effectively
1:30.8	his last mission. He's not up for reelection until 2026. It seems rather unlikely he to pursue
	...

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