WASHINGTON — If Republicans flounder in their effort to recapture the U.S. Senate less than two months from now, an inevitable blame game will commence over who’s most responsible for their midterm belly flop.
GOP political professionals stand ready to point at Donald Trump, who deposited primary endorsements in six of the most competitive general election contests. But the former president’s MAGA base will likely rebel against such a judgment and reach for other scapegoats. And a relatively innocuous comment made by Mitch McConnell about candidate quality will hand Trump and his backers just enough ammunition to try to shift blame onto the Kentuckian, who remains unpopular with the Republican base across the country.
McConnell, who loathes to litigate internecine party fights in public, could be somewhat shielded by boiling animus among some operatives at Rick Scott, the Floridian who helms the National Republican Senatorial Committee and harbors presidential ambitions.
