McConnell Releases His Grip On Power
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 29 February 2024
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
McConnell says he still has "enough gas" in the tank to thoroughly disappoint his critics. The soon-to-be former leader intends to serve out the rest of his term which continues through January 2027.
McConnell's Congressional career began back in 1984 when Ronald Reagan was President. The Kentucky republican has long embraced Reagan's conservatism and view of American exceptionalism.
Today's Republican party is one Mitch McConnell played a key role in shaping. Yet as he gets ready to step down from leadership, McConnell seems out of step with the direction the party is heading.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Here in the US, the average age of retirement is 61. |
| 0:04.0 | Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky celebrated that birthday more than 20 years ago. |
| 0:08.0 | And on Wednesday afternoon, he announced that, while he still isn't ready to retire just yet, he will no longer lead Republicans |
| 0:15.2 | in the Senate. |
| 0:16.2 | I still have enough guests in my tank to thoroughly disappoint my critics, and I intend to do so with all the enthusiasm with which they become accustomed. |
| 0:27.0 | He recalled the beginning of his congressional career back in 1984 when Ronald Reagan was president. |
| 0:34.3 | If you would have told me 40 years later that I would stand before you as the longest serving |
| 0:40.6 | Senate leader in American history. |
| 0:44.0 | Frank, I would have thought you'd lost your mind. |
| 0:48.0 | Consider this. |
| 0:50.0 | Today's Republican Party is one that Mitch McConnell played a key role in shaping, even if he seems |
| 0:56.4 | out of step with many aspects of the party today. From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. It's Thursday, February 29th. |
| 1:11.5 | This message comes from NPR sponsor SAP Concur. |
| 1:15.0 | Stuart McClain, CFO of Brother UK, |
| 1:18.0 | shares how SAP Concurs Audit and Expense Tool supports their work across multiple offices. audit and |
| 1:24.1 | expense tool supports their work across multiple offices. |
| 1:28.1 | Across Europe we have a presence in 17 countries which obviously involves 17 different tax regulations |
| 1:31.3 | 17 different fiscal authorities, you know, and this makes life complicated for us. |
| 1:37.4 | But actually with SAP concur, we're able to configure the system correctly for each of those |
| 1:41.6 | countries. We're able to configure the audit rules |
| 1:44.8 | correctly for each of those countries. So actually it gives us a lot of |
| 1:47.9 | efficiency and good governance as well. So actually for us a solution like |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.