Ex-GOP strategist slams Trump for 'assassination instructions' against McConnell: 'It's beyond the pale. Every Republican ought to be able to say so.'
Drew Angerer/Getty Images, Joe Maiorana/AP Photo
- Conservative pundit Scott Jennings said Trump had sent "assassination instructions" about McConnell.
- Jennings said "every Republican ought to be able to say" that Trump's post was "beyond the pale."
- "This is bad for the party," Jennings said.
Conservative pundit Scott Jennings said "every Republican" should be able to disavow former President Donald Trump's "assassination instructions" against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Jennings, a former GOP advisor and McConnell aide, was referring to a Truth Social post from October 1, in which Trump escalated his long-standing feud with the Kentucky senator. Trump accused McConnell of opposing him because he has a "death wish." Trump also leveled a racially charged insult at McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary for the Trump administration, calling her McConnell's "China loving wife, Coco Chow."
Trump's salvo came after McConnell voiced support for changing the way Congress counts electoral votes.
In an appearance on CNN on Sunday, Jennings said Trump's post contained "assassination instructions" directed at McConnell and "blatant racism" against Chao.
"I mean, if you read that whole thing out loud, if you were on the street, and you heard someone muttering that on a street corner, you wouldn't say, 'Hmm, let's hand this person the presidency or the Republican nomination for president,'" Jennings said. "You would say, 'Call 911.' Because it sounds like an unhinged, deranged person has gotten loose and is out on the street and may be a danger to themselves and others."
He added that the insults against McConnell were "beyond the pale" and that "every Republican ought to be able to say so."
"This is not good for the party. It's not good for him," Jennings said, referring to Trump.
Jennings also weighed in on Sen. Rick Scott's hesitation to condemn Trump for writing the post, saying Scott was likely "unprepared" for the question. During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, host Dana Bash asked Scott if Trump's comments were acceptable — to which Scott said it is "never, ever okay to be a racist," but stopped short of slamming Trump.
"But there's something very easy about this. And what's easy is to say: 'This is not good. It's not helpful. It's not good politically. It's not good personally. This is bad for the party, bad for the country,'" Jennings said. "And it's not becoming of a former president and somebody who wants to have the job again."
Representatives for McConnell and a spokesman at Trump's post-presidential press office did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.