Why upcoming GOP primaries may not double as Trump-McConnell proxy wars

Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell.
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB,MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump has been "unreachable" to anyone outside his limited inner circle since he left office last month, but that's about to change, Politico reports.

In the near future, Trump will begin vetting candidates at Mar-a-Lago to make sure "every open GOP seat in the 2022 midterms has a MAGA-approved contender vying for it," three people familiar with the strategy told Politico. Trump's plan to forge ahead has some folks concerned about a brewing war within the Republican Party, especially after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tore into Trump after he voted to acquit him in his impeachment trial, and Trump responded in turn with a scathing statement criticizing his former ally. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), for instance, said he's more worried about 2022 "than I've ever been ... I don't want to eat our own."

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.