Sometimes I get asked about @senatemajldr McConnell. He of course realizes that Trump is a hideous human being & utterly unfit to be president. MM was willing to do business with Trump in the '16 GOP primary to ensure that Ted Cruz, whom MM loathes, was not the GOP nominee. /1

McConnell, like all sane people, never thought Trump would win. For Trump to lose & GOP to hold the Senate was MM's optimal outcome. He would've been THE most powerful Republican with Hillary as both a perfect partisan foil & someone he could do business with when he had to. /2

When Trump won & McConnell, who has no ideology except his own political power & prosperity & was up for reelection in 2 years, saw the Red Hat cult's political power he knew he had to appease, submit & co-opt. MM has always been willing to do whatever is necessary to survive. /3

Trumpist true believers like Bannon & Hannity would have loved to purge McConnell. There were some early hints Trump might give MM a nickname & try to bring him down. So MM, ever the Republican shape-shifter who becomes whatever the party is at any given time, took action. /4

He endured booing & humiliation to introduce Trump at a Red Hat rally in Louisville. MM was relieved when McCain sank "repeal & replace," which was a slogan out of McConnell's PR shop that never had an actual plan. He gave Trump wins on judges, justices & reckless tax cuts. /5

McConnell has never cared about deficits. To him, tax cuts are political candy & tax increases are political suicide. By morphing into the "principal enabler of the Trump agenda" MM not only survived, but helped secure his right flank back home. Then Bevin lost so no primary. /6

Now McConnell is campaigning on what he & Trump have done together. But I'm betting MM secretly hopes again that Trump loses, he is reelected (a virtual certainty) & the GOP keeps the Senate. MM would be THE most powerful Republican & could begin rehabilitating his reputation. /7

If Sanders wins McConnell can be the man who saved America from socialism. If Biden wins MM can block him on much, but also do deals with him. MM once dreamed of a legacy built on big bipartisan accomplishments. That might be possible to partially purge the taint from Trump. /8

If Trump wins & McConnell is reelected the dynamic will be dramatically different. PRESUMABLY it would be last term for both. Not needing Trump & his Red Hat cult for reelection MM could break in a legacy-salvaging attempt. Trump will surely provide plenty of provocations. /9

Seeing Daniel Cameron succeed him is high priority legacy item for McConnell. MM began in politics as a liberal, pro-civil rights Republican. To mastermind & choreograph the ascension of Kentucky's first African-American Senator might restore some of MM's soiled reputation. /End