Donald Trump’s hearty endorsement of pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by September has undercut efforts by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other key Republicans to question President Biden’s strategy. 

More broadly, the former president has focused the nation’s attention on China as the United States’s premier national security concern, putting pressure on Senate Republicans to support legislation Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to move to respond to Beijing’s growing influence and power. 

McConnell is the most powerful Republican leader in Washington, but he doesn’t have the same unrivaled platform that he did when he was in the same position — head of the minority opposition in Washington — at the start of former President Obama’s tenure. 

GOP strategists say the base is with Trump, not McConnell, which gives other Republicans incentive to follow his lead, especially if they are looking to run for the White House in 2024 if Trump forgoes the race.

“The grassroots are with Trump on this so therefore the party is with Trump on this issue,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. 

He said, however, that McConnell is playing the traditional Republican role of pushing a muscular national security stance, adding, “Republicans have traditionally been stronger on it than Democrats.”

“Unfortunately, McConnell is not seeing the larger picture, which is any time we’re not focused on China, we’re losing,” O’Connell said. “The biggest threat in the 21st century to America and all of humanity is China, and anytime you’re hanging around the Middle East for more than 20 years, you’re not focused on China.” 

Read more from Alexander Bolton at The Hill

Republicans are wrestling with the future of their party after the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. While a faction of Republicans wants a clean break from the former president, the vast majority remains loyal to Trump, indicating that reports of the death of Trumpism within the GOP may be greatly exaggerated.

In a statement Tuesday, Trump reasserted his influence over the party and tore into Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"Trump does not control the GOP, the grassroots control the GOP...and these folks love Donald John Trump. That is the reason Trump has so much influence," said Republican strategist Ford O'Connell. "So until the grassroots sour on Trump, this is his party."

Conventional political wisdom suggests a candidate can't get elected without support from the grassroots. These are the voters who attend party meetings and vote in every primary election. If the grassroots haven't found a reason to turn on Trump by now, there's little reason to believe they will before the midterm election. That means the Republican Party's electoral fate is inextricably tied to Trump, for better or worse.

O'Connell said the idea of a third party was "beyond a stupid fantasy" and noted that the parties that lose always go through a period of soul-searching to figure out why they didn't win.

"One of the great misperceptions out there is that parties stay static," O'Connell noted. "It's a two-team match and the parties are always reinventing themselves."

Read more from Leandra Bernstein at WZTV

After four years of moving in virtual lockstep with Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell used his final day as Senate majority leader to make a clean break with the outgoing president.

In a speech on the Senate floor on the eve of Joe Biden’s inauguration, McConnell, the chamber’s top Republican, placed the blame for the violent January 6 siege on the Capitol squarely on Trump.

Yet with the Senate trial due to begin this week, McConnell is striking a very different tone. Just one week after blaming Trump for the riots, he joined 44 fellow Republicans in backing a Senate motion declaring an impeachment trial unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in the White House.

“The Republican party is the party of Donald John Trump for the foreseeable future,” says Ford O’Connell, a former Republican congressional candidate in Florida and a Trump ally. “The base of the Republican party loves Trump, and the base has that power over elected officials in Washington.”

In his final days in office, Trump briefly toyed with the possibility of forming a “Patriot party”. But his allies now say the former president has gone off the idea, given the US system makes third parties exceedingly unlikely to succeed at the national level.

“The idea of a third party, while it sounds enticing in theory, in practicality it is a disaster,” says O’Connell. “It is the quickest way to make sure that you never get to power again.”

Read more from Lauren Fedor at the Financial Times

President Donald Trump's decision to pull U.S. troops from Syria, clearing the way for Turkey's assault on Kurdish allies who helped in the fight against the Islamic State, has created a rare rift with congressional Republicans who have sharply criticized the decision.

For the president, the timing is poor.

Trump's move has helped unite Democrats and Republicans against him at a moment when he needs conservatives in Congress to fend off a fast-moving impeachment inquiry looking into the president's efforts to push Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of his top political rivals.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and a close Trump ally, has been one of the harshest GOP critics of Trump's decision, tweeting last week that abandoning the Kurds would "put every radical Islamist on steroids.”

Other GOP senators, including Marco Rubio of Florida, Cory Gardner of Colorado, and Mitt Romney of Utah, have joined Graham in blasting the president's pullout.

If the Democratic-led House decides to impeach Trump, the Senate would have to hold a trial with senators acting as jurors.

Removal from office would require at least two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 votes.

But another Republican strategist, Ford O'Connell, said he didn't think the Syria issue would make GOP lawmakers any less likely to defend Trump on impeachment.

"They've compartmentalized it largely as a policy difference with Trump," O'Connell said of the Syria pullout. "They knew that he's been saying this and he prides himself as someone who tries to deliver on his promises."

Republican senators have concluded they can't win in 2020 without Trump on the ballot, O'Connell said. He pointed out that every Senate seat up for election in 2016 was won by the party whose presidential nominee also captured that state.

"They recognize that their ability to hold the Senate after 2020 depends on their political livelihood," O'Connell said.

Read more from Christal Hayes and Ledyard King at USA Today 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is keeping a low profile amid the growing impeachment battle surrounding the White House over President Trump’s political dealings with foreign governments.

A potential Supreme Court vacancy in 2020 will turn into a “battle royal” if Senate Republicans flip the script and nominate a conservative judge during a presidential election year, pundits tell the Herald.

“Both sides would be fighting it out as if it’s Armageddon,” pollster John Zogby said Sunday. “Democrats would be saying, ‘This is the end of the world and the end of America as we know it.’ It would be a battle royal.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 86, who’s firmly seated on the left, appears to have survived another cancer scare. On Friday, it was announced doctors discovered a malignant tumor on her pancreas.

It was the second time Ginsburg, who had surgery to remove cancerous growths from her lung in December, has been treated for cancer in less than nine months.

Her health remains a constant concern for both liberals because the court is expected to shift right for decades if President Trump were to get the ability to nominate someone to replace her. The conservative court would have a 6-3 majority.

David Axelrod, who was senior adviser to President Barack Obama, tweeted: “If there is a SCOTUS vacancy next year and @senatemajldr carries through on his extraordinary promise to fill it — despite his own previous precedent in blocking Garland — it will tear this country apart.”

But Ford O’Connell, a GOP national pundit, said a Supreme Court nomination battle could actually boost Trump in 2020.

“Because Republicans control both the Senate and White House, it’s well-within their right to appoint a new judge,” O’Connell said. “I really think it would help Trump more with enthusiasm from voters.”

Read more from Rick Sobey and Sean Philip Cotter at the Boston Herald

Progressives say Democrats could face backlash from their grassroots if they don’t impeach President Trump.

Some days House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) thinks Trump should be impeached, other days he waffles.

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is all in on starting the impeachment process.

American University’s Allan Lichtman, who has correctly predicted the last nine presidential elections, says “Democrats only have a shot at the White House if they begin impeachment proceedings against Trump.”

So what exactly has spurred Democrats new-found fervor to take out Trump ahead of the 2020 presidential election?

The Democrats will almost uniformly tell you the tipping point was former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 10-minute statement at the end May, where he implied that Trump might have committed obstruction of justice and that the only recourse for Democrats to hold Trump allegedly accountable would be to open an impeachment inquiry.

For those who didn’t read the 448-page Mueller report and who don’t follow politics like a shut-in living in their parents’ basement, Mueller didn’t offer any new facts about the investigation and fielded no questions at his May 29 press appearance.

So how should we sum this up legally for the layperson? Mueller did not provide any obstruction of justice evidence as it relates to the investigation into Trump-Russia collusion, a crime that Trump did not commit. And if you want to be truly cynical about it, one could argue that it is pretty hard for Trump to obstruct an investigation into something that never happened.

But don’t tell this to the Democrats on Capitol Hill, many of whom are champing at the bit. They believe Mueller has given them enough to take down Trump and to overturn the abomination known as the 2016 presidential election once and for all. To that, I say roll the dice, because public opinion is overwhelmingly on Trump’s side.

For those keeping score at home, the House of Representatives has only impeached 19 individuals in the history of the Republic — 15 federal judges, one senator, one cabinet member, and two presidents (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton). And we all know how the Clinton impeachment turned out for Republicans; not only was he acquitted by the Democratic-controlled Senate on charges of perjury and obstruction of Justice, but Clinton’s approval rating jumped 10 points.

Now I’m sure House Democrats over the course of the next few weeks and possibly even months will try their best to manipulate public opinion on impeachment in their favor by holding a series of made-for-TV show trials on the Muller report and whatever other Trump-centric controversies they can concoct. Apparently they intend to enlist former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean in their perpetual “Hate-Trump” circus.

But just think of what 10 points, or even half of that could do for Trump. Not only would he almost certainly be reelected, he might just become a candidate for a presidential monument in D.C. That would truly drive his detractors berserk beyond even Trump’s lifetime.

Read more from Ford O'Connell at The Hill

Many Americans are focusing on the 2020 presidential but the Senate races could be more important as Republican control is up for grabs. The party is seeking to hold onto its slim majority with 12 key seats being tested in this cycle.

The math seems to favor the Democrats. Twenty-two Republican seats are among the 34 up for re-election next year; 12 of those slots are in key states. If President Donald Trump loses re-election, Democrats need to flip only three seats to regain the Senate. If Trump wins, the party needs four.

With Trump as president and Democrats holding onto the House, and regaining the Senate, they are sure to stymie his agenda. But if a Democrat wins the White House — and the party controls both congressional chambers — they will undo Trump's record and push through their own legislative programs.

In many ways, the battle for control of the Senate is more important than for the White House, Republican strategist Ford O'Connell tells Newsmax.

"Essentially, Mitch McConnell is the last line of defense against socialism," he says, referring to the Kentucky Republican and Senate majority leader, who is also up for re-election next year.

"You block socialism if Trump wins," O'Connell adds. "If Trump loses, but McConnell's still in power, you still block socialism.

"It's an if-then: Trump helps McConnell keep the Senate. But if Trump goes down, then McConnell's got trouble."

Two other political observers, however, say 2020 will be a "top-down" contest, with the party winning the White House also taking Congress.

O'Connell tells Newsmax: "In Alabama, the Republicans should win unless [Roy] Moore's the nominee. Doug Jones is going to be out.

"A bad nominee can hurt you more than a good nominee can help you."

Read more from Todd Beamon at Newsmax

Republicans are seizing on the Democratic fight over expanding the Supreme Court as they look for leverage in the 2020 White House fight.

The intra-party debate is seen by Republicans as a political gift that could pay dividends after several presidential candidates signaled they are open to adding justices to the bench or imposing term limits.

GOP strategists and conservative activists say the progressive push to expand the Supreme Court fits nicely into the broader Republican narrative about Democrats swinging too far to the left. And it’s an issue they view as a political boon.

Long considered a fringe idea, reforming the nation’s highest court has vaulted into the spotlight with the backing of progressive outside groups and high-profile leaders like former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served during the Obama administration.

GOP lawmakers are quickly moving to weaponize the fight by introducing legislation that would force Democrats to go on the record on a constitutional amendment to keep the number of Supreme Court justices at nine.

An amendment is likely to go nowhere in the Democrat-controlled House. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hasn't weighed in on the current Supreme Court fight, or the prospect that he would bring legislation on the issue up for a vote. He previously dismissed talk of expanding the courts as Democrats “scrounging through the ash-heap of American history” for their ideas.

“McConnell is very savvy about these sorts of things and he knows … that he wants to have all this stuff documented before Democrats have a nominee,” said Ford O'Connell, a GOP strategist.

O'Connell added that forcing Democratic senators to vote on a constitutional amendment, even though it has little chance of being enacted, would allow Republicans to help define the Democratic Party before they are able to unite behind a 2020 strategy.

“A lot of this stuff that is being thrown around the Democratic primary, the Republicans want to capture now regardless of who the nominee is because the nominee will then try to pivot, duck, dodge and dive this stuff,” he said. “If Trump and the Republicans can define the Democrats before the Democrats have a nominee that’s how they’re going to win this race.”

Read more from Jordain Carney at The Hill

Senate Republican leaders are focused on passing legislation that appeals to independent and swing voters in the final weeks before the midterm elections — instead of throwing red meat to the base of the Republican Party.

It’s a unique strategy from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has publicly acknowledged that Democrats could win back control of the upper chamber this fall. McConnell’s game plan contrasts with the election-year rhetoric and tweets of President Trump, who has highlighted divisive issues such as immigration.

The Senate will return to work on Wednesday to take up an array of bills with bipartisan support — such as the Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services spending bill, opioids legislation and the Water Resources Development Act. Also on the agenda is the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization and the conference report for the farm bill, as well as conference reports for the seven appropriations bills the Senate passed before taking an abbreviated August recess.

It’s not an agenda designed to stoke political fights and rev up the base, a favorite tactic of past congressional leaders — especially before a midterm election. Instead, it’s meant to show voters, especially swing and independent voters, that Senate Republicans are a steady hand on the levers of government.

GOP strategists say that winning over  independent voters will be crucial to knocking off Democratic incumbents in pro-Trump states where voters don’t register by party, such as Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and Tennessee.

“McConnell is basically trying to dot the i’s and cross the t’s and avoid crisis and show Republicans, when in charge, can govern,” said Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist. “The argument Trump is saying is that to get the agenda to go forward, I need replacements. You need to show the group you have can govern.”

He added it’s important to appeal to moderates and independents because “the Democratic base is just as fired up” as pro-Trump conservatives.

Read more from Alexander Bolton at The Hill