Donald Trump, the twice-impeached former president, demanded Thursday that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suffer the same fate if he plays ball with Democrats on the debt ceiling.
Trump, speaking to conservative radio host John Fredericks about the idea, suggested Democrats must “have something” on McConnell, but did not specify what he meant.
“It’s crazy what’s happening with this debt ceiling. Mitch McConnell keeps allowing them to have it,” Trump said. “I mean, they ought to impeach Mitch McConnell if he allows that. They, frankly, Mitch McConnell ― something has to be ― they have something on him. How he approves this thing is incredible.”
There’s some constitutional debate as to whether a member of Congress can be impeached, but that’s largely a semantic argument. They can be removed with a two-thirds majority vote in the chamber where they serve, which appears to be what Trump wants.
The ex-president’s remarks come as the U.S. Treasury nears its mandated $31.4 trillion borrowing limit. Democrats are eager to find a way to raise the cap to avoid disturbing financial markets and damaging the country’s credit rating. However, some GOP leaders are threatening to use the issue as a bargaining chip, saying they’ll only work with Democrats on raising the ceiling if they cut spending to various Biden administration programs, including climate change mitigation and social support programs.
That’s despite their support for raising the ceiling under Trump, who in 2017 said the debt ceiling “complicates things” and is “really not necessary.”
With the GOP posing a serious threat to Democrats’ control of Congress during next week’s midterm elections, some Democrats have called for the party to plan on holding a lame-duck session after the election to vote on raising or even eliminating the debt ceiling.
McConnell has declined to comment on the issue ahead of the midterms.
Trump also said during the radio interview that he regrets ever endorsing McConnell and promised that if he’s ever president again, he’ll block him from being majority leader. Instead, Trump said, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) should get the job.
“Rick is a hard worker. He should be able to beat him,” he said, cementing his icy relations with the Kentucky senator.
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