McConnell says Trump is ‘unlikely’ elected after Kanye-Fuentes dinner

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump’s dinner with an outspoken anti-Semite and white supremacist disqualified him from office.

« First, let me say that there is no place in the Republican Party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy, » McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters on Capitol Hill.

The 80-year-old GOP Senate leader was answering questions about a dinner party last week at the 76-year-old former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, at which the anti-Semitic hip-hop star Kanye West and white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes both broke bread with Trump.

McConnell said anyone meeting such people is « highly unlikely » to become president.

« Anyone who meets people holding this view, in my opinion, has a very slim chance of being elected president of the United States, » McConnell said.

“And that would apply to all party leaders who will be looking for offices,” McConnell added.

Asked if he would support Trump if the former president wins the 2024 GOP primary, McConnell reiterated his remarks that there is no room in the party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy.

Trump has come under fire from several top Republicans since the contentious meeting in Palm Beach.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday condemned Trump for having dinner with Fuentes, telling reporters outside the White House, « I don’t think anyone should hang out with Nick Fuentes. »

McCarthy added that Fuentes, “has no place in this Republican Party. I think President Trump came out four times and condemned him, and didn’t know who he was.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called Trump’s dinner Monday a « disgusting » affair.

“There is no bottom to the extent to which he is willing to degrade, and the country, for that matter,” Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said of Trump. « Dining with these people was disgusting. »

Former Vice President Mike Pence also denounced his former boss for dinner, but did not call Trump a racist or an anti-Semite.

“President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, anti-Semite and Holocaust denier a seat at the table,” Pence said on NewsNation Monday. « I think he should apologize for that and speak out against these individuals and their hateful rhetoric without reservation. »

“That being said…I don’t believe Donald Trump is an anti-Semite. I don’t believe he’s racist or bigoted,” Pence added. « People often forget that the president’s daughter converted to Judaism, her son-in-law is a devout Jew, her grandchildren are Jews. »

The former president claims he didn’t know who Fuentes was when he agreed to sit down with him and Kanye for dinner, and he sought to distance himself from the far-right extremist after West claimed that “Trump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes. ”

« Kanye West really wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago, » Trump said last week. « Our dinner date was supposed to be Kanye and me only, but it happened with a guest I had never met and knew nothing about. »