Topline
Former President Donald Trump is “highly unlikely” to win a second term in the White House after he controversially met with Kanye West and white supremacist political activist Nick Fuentes, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested Tuesday, the latest Republican to chide the former president’s meeting last week.
Donald Trump speaks alongside Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) during a meeting about … [+]
Key Facts
McConnell didn’t mention Trump by name, but said, “There is no room in the Republican Party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy,” and any politicians who meet with people advocating for those positions, “in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States,” during a weekly press briefing.
It marks a shift for McConnell regarding Trump’s presidential run, after saying in April that he has “an obligation to support the nominee of my party.”
McConnell declined to answer reporters’ questions Tuesday about whether he would support Trump’s 2024 run for president, according to Politico.
McConnell the latest in a string of Republican officials to speak out about the meeting with West and Fuentes, following House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Trump’s own former vice president, Mike Pence, who called Fuentes a “white nationalist, an anti-Semite and a Holocaust denier.”
Contra
Trump, who earlier this month confirmed he will run for president again in 2024, has defended his choice of dinner guests by saying he wanted to “help” West, whom he called a “seriously troubled man.” Trump denied knowing Fuentes, describing him as a friend of West’s who the rapper brought along unexpectedly. Trump called the meeting “quick and uneventful.”
Key Background
West—who last week announced his own 2024 presidential bid—has come under fire in recent months for making bizarre, anti-Semitic comments that have led to businesses slashing ties with him, including Adidas, without which West is no longer a billionaire, according to Forbes’ estimates. Fuentes is an outspoken Gen-Z right-wing political activist who gained notoriety after he attended the 2017 Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has made “numerous anti-Semitic and racist comments” on social media, the Anti-Defamation League has said.
Further Reading
McCarthy Denounces Trump’s Meeting With White Supremacist—Joining These Other Republicans (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/11/29/mcconnell-suggests-trumps-reelection-highly-unlikely-after-meeting-with-white-supremacist-nick-fuentes/