President Joe Biden's policies, not his personality, should be what costs him the election, according to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who calls him a "good guy," rather than following former President Donald Trump's "Crooked Joe" characterization of him.
"I know Joe Biden pretty well. He’s a good guy; I like him personally," the Kentucky Republican, who spent more than 20 years with Biden in the Senate, told a Louisville audience this week, reports The Hill.
However, McConnell said he never believed Biden's efforts to portray himself during the 2020 election as a moderate, as he was never a moderate when they were in the Senate, and said his administration has created a "regulatory nightmare" after he "signed up with the far left of the Democratic Party."
Trump has accused Biden of several crimes, including stealing the 2020 election from him, engaging in underhanded business dealings with his family, and taking drugs to enhance his performance before the State of the Union address in March.
Saturday, while speaking in Philadelphia, Trump asked if he should "be tough and nasty" with Biden or "be nice and calm and let him speak" during Thursday night's debate in Atlanta.
McConnell, though, said that if Biden is defeated, "the principal reason that will occur is two unforced errors: one, the $2.6 trillion creating the inflation, and the other, basically, opening the border."
Meanwhile, McConnell and Trump fell out after the then-majority leader congratulated Biden on winning the 2020 election, waiting until after the Electoral College voted before he recognized Biden as the president-elect. Until this year, Trump and McConnell reportedly had not spoken since 2020.
Biden and McConnell also worked together closely when Biden was vice president under President Barack Obama, including hashing out a deal to make 98% of Bush-era tax cuts permanent. They also worked on a deal raising the debt ceiling to avoid a federal default in the summer of 2011.
McConnell has also supported several of Biden's bills after he became president, including a $1 trillion infrastructure package in 2021 and investing in the domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry in 2022.
Al Cross, director emeritus of the Institute for Rural Journalism at the University of Kentucky, said McConnell, who he has been observing for years, may be trying to appeal to Republicans who don't like Trump, "just as he doesn't really like Trump," to focus instead on policy differences and become "more inclined to vote for Trump, given that stark contrast."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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