(RightIsRight.co) – Republican members of the US Senate are “angry” with both former President Donald Trump and party leader Sen. Mitch McConnell because the widely anticipated “red wave” in last week’s midterms “never materialized,” according to a report.
Because of the worse-than-expected election results, a “group of angry” Republican senators has launched a “last-minute challenge” to stop the GOP leadership elections, which are scheduled for Wednesday, The Washington Times reported.
Wednesday’s vote was supposed to be an easy win for 80-year-old McConnell, hoping to be elected as the Senate’s Republican leader for a ninth term.
However, the report cited a Republican aide revealing that the GOP senators sought to pose “a robust challenge” to the party election. The challengers are set to meet on Tuesday behind closed doors.
“We are all disappointed that a Red Wave failed to materialize, and there are multiple reasons it did not,” the “disgruntled” senators said in a letter circulated to their colleagues, obtained by The Times.
“We need to have serious discussions within our conference as to why and what we can do to improve our chances in 2024,” they added in the document penned before it became clear that the Republicans failed to retake the Senate.
The report pointed out that “another faction” of the Republican Party blamed former President Donald Trump for the mediocre election results.
Some Republican figures have called upon Trump to put off an announcement he vowed to make on November 15, in which he would probably make his 2024 presidential candidacy official.
They are concerned that Trump’s formal presidential run could hurt the chances of Republican challenger Herschel Walker against Democrat incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia’s runoff election on December 6.
Those Republicans angry at Trump have pointed out the inadequate “quality” of the MAGA candidates he endorsed for the midterms.
“Those who are most closely aligned with the former president underperformed,” argued Republican US Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on Sunday.
“Those who are talking about the future or who had managed their states well, they overperformed,” Cassidy said on NBC News’ program “Meet the Press.”
Meanwhile, GOP US Senators Rick Scot of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin also called for putting off the party leadership election until December to evaluate the midterm “missteps.”
Johnson, who won a third term in the midterms but only by a single percentage point, spoke on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures” that holding leadership elections now would be “preposterous.”
He also blasted those Republicans who last year helped pass Democrat President Joe Biden’s $1.2 billion infrastructure package, which has “helped trigger high inflation,” according to the report.
“We had a number of our colleagues join Democrats, spending like drunken sailors [on the Biden infrastructure bill],” Johnson argued.
Senate Republicans pin blame on Trump and McConnell for red wave fizzlehttps://t.co/5LYdKLzTQh pic.twitter.com/oqd57mHd2Q
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) November 13, 2022
