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Mitch McConnell, who loathes Trump, thought he was being Solomon-like, rejecting impeachment on a silly technicality, then declaiming on the Senate floor that Trumps lies led to the Capitol riot.

But to his surprise and dismay, McConnell who sees himself as the great protector of the Senate garnered jeers for his hypocrisy, not praise for his courage. After Merrick Garland, everyone knew McConnell could do what he wanted on the Senate floor; he was not bound by mundane procedural matters.

By coddling Trump on his election fakery, the Republicans gave it so much oxygen, it led to tragedy.

Trump, the supreme ingrate, wasnt grateful for McConnells nay vote. He promptly composed a masterpiece of spleen, a statement threatening to primary Mitchs candidates and calling him a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack who lacks political wisdom, skill and personality. Trump wanted to pile on the bile with a snippy line about McConnell having too many chins and not enough smarts, but shelved it.

McConnell should be an object of scorn. Trump could not have done anything without him. Each used the other for his own purposes. Trumps achievements for conservatives, refashioning the Supreme Court and getting a tax cut, were really McConnells.

Former Guy, as President Biden called Trump, then turned his choler on Nikki Haley, who revved up for 2024 by telling Politico that Republicans should take the good Trump built and jettison the bad. Nikki, Nikki, Nikki. You thought youd get a Mar-a-Lago audience after that?

Ted Cruzs truckling may be the most jarring, given Trumps attacks on Cruzs wife and father in the 2016 campaign. But Ive always said the story of Washington should be titled Smart People Doing Dumb Things. Cruz wouldnt even study with people from what he called minor Ivies while at Harvard Law School but didnt think twice before leaving Texans starving, freezing and dying to go catch some rays in Cancun and then blaming his daughters.

Well see if Trump can sustain this king-in-exile routine without the infrastructure he once had. Consider his asinine election challenge with all those crazy lawyers. Ever the shrew, all he has left now is his forked tongue.

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Opinion | Donald Trump, the Untamable Shrew - The New York Times