Why Mitch McConnell Might Not Get a Donald Trump Reprieve  Philip Elliott 5 hrs ago

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© Greg Nash—The Hill/Bloomberg/Getty Images Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) speaks during a Senate Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 2021.

During non-pandemic times, Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri organizes a lunch each Tuesday to update his party members on upcoming votes, policy and issues they should study-up on. The Republican Policy Committee confabs are typically cordial affairs, steps from the Senate chamber and without the intra-party divisions that often feature in more ideological segregated meetings during the rest of the week. Presidents, Vice Presidents and Cabinet members sometimes pop in. On the Senate side of the Capitol, these gatherings are the biggest of the big tents of the Republican Party. And the food tends to be pretty good.

Come 2023, those Tuesday lunches could get a lot spicier. This week, Blunt announced he will be joining at least four other Republicans in retiring when his term ends after next year’s election. The new crop of GOP lawmakers lining up to replace them, from Alabama and North Carolina to Ohio and Pennsylvania, could include more divisive figures, with some already campaigning in the style of former President Donald Trump. Just when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell thought himself finally rid of the 45th President, Trump and his image may be the party’s most plausible way back to power.

Blunt is a solid conservative, sporting an 86% lifetime rating over 23 years with the American Conservative Union scorecard. 

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