Can Tulsi Gabbard survive Senate scrutiny?

She's under the radar at the moment, but the Old Crow works quietly.

Dec 05, 2024

When Donald Trump’s trial balloon to name Matt Gaetz attorney general popped after just eight days, Mitch McConnell reacted with his trademark restraint. “I think that was appropriate,” the lame duck GOP leader said of Gaetz’s withdrawal.

McConnell never publicly outlined his opposition to the aberrant former Florida congressman becoming the nation’s chief law enforcement officer — because he didn’t have to. Kentucky’s senior senator was among a cadre of GOP senators who privately locked arms to convey that Gaetz couldn’t get to 50 Senate votes, even with an incoming Republican majority. And MAGA fans knew it.

“You gotta give the devil its due,” Steve Bannon told The Dispatch, referring to McConnell, before lamenting to Puck, “What’s going to hold us back is Mitch McConnell.”

Now, as Pete Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of defense teeters on the brink on Capitol Hill amid allegations of sexual misconduct, an open question in Washington is how far McConnell will go to preserve the Senate’s role to “advise” on the president-elect nominees and which among them looks most vulnerable to a quiet killshot from the “Old Crow.”