Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday condemned former President Trump’s dinner with Nick Fuentes, an outspoken white supremacist and antisemitic organizer.
McConnell usually tries to avoid provoking any conflict with the former president, with whom he hasn’t spoken in nearly two years, but on Tuesday he let loose with pointed criticism.
“There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy and anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view … [is] highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States,” he told reporters at the start of his weekly press conference.
McConnell’s comments came a day after Senate Republicans across the political spectrum criticized Trump’s decision to host Fuentes and Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, at his dinner table at Mar-a-Lago shortly before Thanksgiving.
McConnell’s comments represented some of his most direct public criticism of Trump since excoriating him on the Senate floor at the end of his second impeachment trial for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Ye has also provoked controversy for making numerous antisemitic statements.
