{"id":124863,"date":"2024-11-12T05:48:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T22:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=124863"},"modified":"2024-11-12T05:48:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T22:48:55","slug":"rick-scott-seeks-trump-mantle-in-fight-for-senate-republican-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=124863","title":{"rendered":"Rick Scott seeks Trump mantle in fight for Senate Republican leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"\">WASHINGTON \u2014 A looming battle among Senate Republicans over who to pick as their next majority leader is turning into an early test of how much power President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s \u201cMAGA\u201d movement will exert in his second term.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The three-way fight to replace outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pits Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., against Sen. John Cornyn, a former McConnell deputy, and underdog candidate Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The battle will gauge the staying power of long-serving senior Republicans grounded in an institutionalist view of the Senate, like Thune and Cornyn, against an emboldened pro-Trump wing looking to smash any vestiges of the old GOP as he returns to power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Scott&#8217;s seeking to claim the latter mantle and told NBC News in an interview Monday that he&#8217;ll push \u201cthe Trump agenda\u201d if elected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI talk to all my colleagues, and they are clear what they want and know we need to change. They want to be treated as equals, want to be part of a team. They know I have a great relationship with Trump and the speaker of the House, and I am a business guy. And I will get the Trump agenda done,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">MAGA influencers online have started an online pressure campaign seeking to sink the current and former McConnell deputies \u2014 and boost Scott \u2014 ahead of a candidate forum on Tuesday and an expected closed-door election on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TuckerCarlson\/status\/1855344652422951054\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> Scott is the \u201conly candidate who agrees with Donald Trump\u201d and claimed the other two contenders \u201chate Trump and what he ran on.\u201d (Thune and Cornyn have been critical of Trump in the past, but both endorsed Trump this year.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Billionaire Trump benefactor Elon Musk also <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1855702328571253103\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">endorsed<\/a> Scott, saying Monday: \u201cThe new Senate Majority Leader must respond to the will of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., one of Trump&#8217;s top allies on the Hill, encouraged senators to elect Scott to the position. \u201cThe Republican conference should choose a leader who represents the\u00a0People, not the same good ole\u2019 boy way it\u2019s been done for decades,\u201d Greene said in a statement to NBC News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">But it\u2019s far from clear that the campaign will succeed. The Senate is a famously insular body that is relatively detached from populist fervor, giving members six-year terms and usually operating on seniority. It would be unusual for Scott to leapfrog two colleagues who have served much longer, cultivated deeper relationships and have each paid their dues in pursuit of the job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Most importantly, the election will be held by secret ballot. Unlike votes on legislation and nominations \u2014 as well as the vote for speaker of the House \u2014 votes for Senate leadership are anonymous. That means relationships will be paramount and the online pro-Trump army won\u2019t know how members voted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIt\u2019s a loud online presence that doesn\u2019t ultimately add up to votes in the Senate,\u201d said one Senate Republican aide, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the race\u2019s dynamics. \u201cAnd senators are reacting negatively to this.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__yAWZ0 styles_medium__OMa6x\"><picture class=\"styles_image__1qciH\" data-testid=\"picture\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241111-rick-scott-se-1122a-49d701.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241111-rick-scott-se-1122a-49d701.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241111-rick-scott-se-1122a-49d701.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241111-rick-scott-se-1122a-49d701.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241111-rick-scott-se-1122a-49d701.jpg\" alt=\"Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., attends the America First Policy Institute's America First Agenda Summit in 2022\" height=\"1667\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__Pe5JC\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Tom Williams \/ CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"\">Most notably, Trump himself hasn\u2019t weighed in as all three candidates seek to show their pro-Trump bona fides.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Scott called Trump in May to ask him for his support in the leadership race, which he said he would appreciate, and his goal is to pressure Trump into announcing his support ahead of Wednesday\u2019s election, according to two people with knowledge of his thinking. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In interviews since Election Day, Scott said he and Trump have been communicating by text.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">But Scott was coy when asked by NBC News Monday if he thinks he has Trump\u2019s support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI welcome anyone\u2019s support. He supported me in 2022 in my run against Mitch McConnell,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">When asked if he is seeking the president-elect\u2019s endorsement, the senator responded, \u201cI am not going to talk about private conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee and Trump\u2019s daughter-in-law, noted Scott has been &#8220;very loyal&#8221; to the former president in an <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bennyjohnson\/status\/1856057956380336600?s=46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interview<\/a> with pro-Trump pundit Benny Johnson on Monday. She stopped short of endorsing him for the job but suggested that voters who like Scott and think he should run the GOP conference should contact their senators.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">&#8216;Thune&#8217;s race to lose&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">Scott is less popular among his colleagues than Thune and Cornyn; in 2022 he received just 10 votes when he unsuccessfully challenged McConnell for the top job. Thune and Cornyn have well-established relationships as leaders in the conference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Cornyn&#8217;s office touted a total of $415 million raised for GOP senators and candidates over his 22-year tenure in the Senate, aided by two terms as the National Republican Senatorial Committee chair.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">This cycle, Cornyn&#8217;s office said he raised about $33 million raised for GOP candidates. A source close to Thune touted a similar dollar figure for the 2024 election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIt\u2019s Thune\u2019s race to lose,\u201d said Mike Davis, a pugnacious Trump ally who previously served as a top aide to Senate Republicans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">But Davis said the price of admission for that job will be to advance Trump\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThe Senate Republicans \u2014 particularly Senate Republican leadership \u2014 must understand that the American people put President Trump back in the White House with his America First agenda. And any Republican leader candidate who does not agree with that should get the hell out of the way,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Scott, who just won a second six-year term, said in an interview his victory in Florida shows that Republicans don\u2019t need to moderate their views.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe never moderated our positions and we continued to win,\u201d Scott said in an interview Friday. \u201cNow if you look at the country, we are the center of the Republican Party. \u2026 The whole country is headed in our direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Even before last week&#8217;s elections, Scott had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/congress\/meet-mike-johnson-house-speaker-inner-circle-senate-trump-officials-rcna128571\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sought<\/a> to become a bridge between House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his Senate GOP conference and push Mitch McConnell out of relevancy. And with Republicans on track to hold on to a narrow House majority, Scott sees his bond with the Louisianan as an edge in the leadership race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A handful of sitting senators have publicly backed him: Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. Some of them, like Rubio, Hagerty and Tuberville, have been floated for senior positions in the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">And out of the three senators in the running to succeed McConnell, Scott was the only one who did an interview on the Sunday shows this weekend, where he touted his \u201cclose relationship\u201d with the speaker during a Sunday interview on Fox News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The interview and MAGA online campaign were intentional moves to project a flood of support for the newly re-elected Floridian and put pressure on Thune, who is considered the frontrunner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Trump has made <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1855692242981155259\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one public demand<\/a>: the next GOP leader should support his ability to make \u201crecess appointments\u201d to temporarily install personnel without Senate confirmations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI\u2019ve spent eight months carefully listening to my colleagues about their vision for the next chapter of the Senate Republican Conference, especially as we hit the ground running with President Trump,\u201d Thune said in a statement to NBC News. \u201cOne thing is clear: We must act quickly and decisively to get the president\u2019s cabinet and other nominees in place as soon as possible to start delivering on the mandate we\u2019ve been sent to execute, and all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments. We cannot let Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats block the will of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Cornyn <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JohnCornyn\/status\/1855730861028569391\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vowed<\/a> that if Democrats block Trump\u2019s nominees, \u201cwe will stay in session, including weekends, until they relent. Additionally, the Constitution expressly confers the power on the President to make recess appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"endmark\">Scott, meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenRickScott\/status\/1855693759281053758\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">responded<\/a> to Trump on X: \u201c100% agree.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/congress\/rick-scott-seeks-trump-mantle-fight-senate-republican-leader-rcna179588\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 A looming battle among Senate Republicans over who to pick as their next majority leader is turning into an early test of how much power President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=124863\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}