President Trump on Thursday took a swing at Senator Mitch McConnell’s battle with polio after the 82-year-old lawmaker voted against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
McConnell — who credits advances in polio treatment with saving his life after he was stricken by disease as a toddler — was the sole Republican to oppose Trump’s nominee for that significant cabinet position.
The Kentucky senator cited RFK Jr.’s skepticism about vaccines as the primary reason he couldn’t toe the line for Trump in this instance. That apparently did not sit well with the president.
“I don’t know anything about he had polio,” Trump said when asked during a Thursday press conference if he understood McConnell’s position.
Asked if he had some reason to doubt McConnell’s lifelong claim about overcoming polio, Trump continued expressing skepticism.
“I have no idea if he had polio,” the president said defiantly.
He went on to dismiss his interparty rival as a diminished figure who’s now only a shadow of the powerbroker he’d been since entering the Senate 40 years ago. McConnell announced last year that he’d retire from Congress in 2027.
“He’s a… very bitter guy,” Trump claimed.
Trump offered no explanation as to why he might have reason to question the well-vetted personal health story McConnell has told throughout his life.
McConnell had not responded to Trump’s comments as of Thursday evening, though he explained his opposition to RFK Jr.’s appointment in a statement published earlier on his Senate website.
“I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world,” he said. “I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles.”
With News Wire Services
