New Reports: McConnell’s Efforts To Thwart Trump “Not Going According To Plan” As “Formidable Contenders Have Spurned Mr. McConnell’s Entreaties”

New York Times: “The Senate Republican leader has been worried that Mr. Trump will tap candidates too weak to win in the general election”

A wave of news coverage is highlighting how Mitch McConnell is “desperately maneuvering to try to thwart [Trump]” – but that “it’s not going according to plan” as Senate Republicans suffer humiliating recruitment failures and “clashes between Republican leaders and the candidates Trump has embraced have been playing out across the country with growing ferocity in recent months.”

See for yourself:

New York Times: Inside McConnell’s Campaign to Take Back the Senate and Thwart Trump
By Jonathan Martin
February 13, 2022

Senator Mitch McConnell is working furiously to bring allies to Washington who will buck Donald J. Trump. It’s not going according to plan.

• For more than a year, former President Donald Trump has berated Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, savaging him for refusing to overturn the state’s presidential results and vowing to oppose him should he run for the Senate this year.

• As Mr. Trump works to retain his hold on the Republican Party, elevating a slate of friendly candidates in midterm elections, Mr. McConnell and his allies are quietly, desperately maneuvering to try to thwart him.

• In conversations with senators and would-be senators, Mr. McConnell is blunt about the damage he believes Mr. Trump has done to the G.O.P., according to those who have spoken to him. Privately, he has declared he won’t let unelectable “goofballs” win Republican primaries.

• History doesn’t bode well for such behind-the-scene efforts to challenge Mr. Trump.

• A handful of formidable contenders have spurned Mr. McConnell’s entreaties, declining to subject themselves to Mr. Trump’s wrath all for the chance to head to a bitterly divided Washington.

• Last week, Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland announced he would not run for Senate, despite a pressure campaign that involved his wife. Mr. Ducey… has repeatedly said he has little appetite for a bid.

• Mr. Trump, however, has also had setbacks. He’s made a handful of endorsements in contentious races, but his choices have not cleared the Republican field, and one has dropped out.

• The Senate Republican leader has been worried that Mr. Trump will tap candidates too weak to win in the general election, the sort of nominees who cost the party control of the Senate in 2010 and 2012.

• Mr. Trump has made clear he wants the Senate candidates he backs to oust Mr. McConnell from his leadership perch, and even considered making a pledge to do so a condition of his endorsement.

WATCH – MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Trump-McConnell Rift & Recruitment Failures

• Mika Brzezinski: Mitch McConnell was hoping that popular Republican governors would help him retake the Senate — but so far that plan doesn’t seem to be working.

• Joe Scarbrough: You either bow to the kingmaker, as [Trump] likes to think of himself, or he destroys you… So if you’re a successful governor like Chris Sununu or Larry Hogan… why do you want to risk that?

• Jonathan Lemiere: [McConnell]’s fear, according to people close to him, is that he will…lose a seat because he got saddled with radical Trump candidates.

WATCH – MSNBC: “Republican Party Split Over Trump”

• The problem [McConnell’s] had is it’s pretty tough to recruit candidates in this environment. There’s still significant concern in the Republican Party about coming out and actually speaking out against Trump.

• He’s had some frustrations in New Hampshire, he may not get Doug Ducey in Arizona… He’s got a problem in Georgia… So again it’s really an uphill battle for him.

Washington Post: A weakened Trump? As some voters edge away, he battles parts of the Republican Party he once ran.
By Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey
February 13, 2022

• Clashes between Republican leaders and the candidates Trump has embraced have been playing out across the country with growing ferocity in recent months.

• The former president’s power within the party and his continued focus on personal grievances is increasingly questioned behind closed doors at Republican gatherings, according to interviews with more than a dozen prominent Republicans in Washington and across the country.

• Trump and his endorsees now find themselves fighting against some elected GOP leaders, donors and party officers intent on navigating the party slowly away from him and his false election claims. Among voters, polls have shown Republican-leaning independents turning from Trump.

• In states such as Alabama, North Carolina and Alaska, Trump’s endorsed Senate candidates trail in fundraising or have been challenged in early polls.

• On Friday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee held a fundraiser for major donors at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Florida. Trump spoke to some of the committee’s top donors over lunch … But he later falsely told guests the election was stolen and insulted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), according to a person with knowledge of his comments.

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