A month after endorsing Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is still not totally secure in his commitment.
In an interview on Bloomberg Politics' "Masters in Politics" podcast, McConnell declined to rule out withdrawing his support for Trump, saying the businessman needed to stop attacking minorities and start using scripts in public appearances.
“I'm not going to speculate about what he might say, or what I might do. But I think it's pretty clear and I've been pretty clear publicly about how I think he ought to change direction and I hope that's what we are going to see,” McConnell said. For now, though, McConnell said he would still back Trump and said he would be perfectly fine with Trump appointing the next Supreme Court justice.
Republicans have condemned Trump's recent attacks on Gonzalo Curiel, a federal judge overseeing lawsuits against Trump University. Trump has said that Curiel, who was born in Indiana to Mexican parents, was treating him unfairly because of his Mexican heritage.
McConnell, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, was asked several times whether Trump's comments were racist. While he said he disagreed, he declined to describe Trump's rhetoric as racist.
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who is facing a tough re-election campaign, withdrew his endorsement of Trump this week. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) described Trump's comments as racist but said he will still vote for him.
Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.
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