Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says that after he leaves his current role as the Senate Republican leader, he'll continue to work to combat “isolationism” in his party.
Mr. McConnell announced earlier this year that he would step down as the Republican leader at the end of this Congress, though he will serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in 2027.
In the interim, he says, continuing to bring his colleagues around to his way of thinking about foreign policy will be his focus.
“Even after I leave this job, I’m not leaving the Senate—and this is my principal interest, pushing back against isolationism,” Mr. McConnell said during an April 28 interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
He referred to ongoing Republican conflicts over the United States’ proper role in the world as “a family dispute.”
Until around 2016, many Republicans took a hawkish attitude toward foreign entanglements, exemplified by the administration of President George W. Bush.
Much of that shift came after 2016 when a new breed of populist Republican, led by former President Donald Trump, began to question prior U.S. interventions and alliances.
However, another sect of the Republican Party—typified by the old guard like Mr. McConnell and younger faces like former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley—has continued to push for a strong, U.S.-dominated global diplomatic and military order.
The most recent display of these ongoing divisions in the party came during the battle over the foreign aid package, particularly in its $61 billion in funding for Ukraine.
In the House, more Republicans opposed the package than supported it, while in the Senate around a third of Republicans—15 members—opposed the foreign aid package.
This element of the party, Mr. McConnell suggested, is “isolationist.” Fighting against this tendency in the party, he said, will be his primary focus after he becomes just another rank-and-file Senate Republican next year.
Mr. McConnell admitted to differences between himself and President Trump on foreign policy, proclaiming himself a “Reagan Republican” on geopolitical issues, citing President Ronald Reagan’s oft-repeated maximum of achieving “peace through strength,” which President Trump also cites in his policies.
During the interview, he was asked by anchor Kristin Welker, “What is your message to the isolationists in the Republican Party?”
“That Ronald Reagan had it right,” Mr. McConnell replied. “You get peace through strength. And I would say to the Democrats, they’ve got a problem on the left. It’s not just us having an isolationist discussion.”
Mr. McConnell reiterated a point he has made on other occasions, saying that the final vote tally for the foreign aid package made him optimistic that, at least in the Senate, Republicans were coming around to his way of thinking about the issue.
“I think our members are focusing on the facts and the facts are that this is in our best interest, it is not some charitable contribution to Ukraine,” Mr. McConnell said, arguing that the funding for Ukraine really only serves U.S. interests.
Ten more Republicans supported the foreign aid package last week than supported previous Ukraine funding.
This point, Mr. McConnell said, suggests that “the party is heading in a different direction from them,” citing the “isolationists.”
However, despite Mr. McConnell’s optimism, the issue is far from settled among rank-and-file Republicans.
Following the passage of this aid package for Ukraine, many Republicans have predicted that Congress would never pass another Ukraine funding package.
Criticism of Ukraine aid is especially prevalent in the lower chamber, where many Republican members—including a majority on the most recent vote—have opposed almost all Ukraine aid brought to the floor.
Senate Republicans will elect a leader to replace Mr. McConnell in November.
