No matter how low your opinion of Senator Mitch McConnell — and his chronic, cowardly cynicism — he still somehow finds a way to shock and amaze.

This week, The Associated Press reported on excerpts from a new biography of McConnell written by Michael Tackett, the AP’s deputy bureau chief in Washington. According to Tackett, the Republican senator from Kentucky privately called Trump “stupid,” “bad-tempered,” a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist,” and said of the 2020 election that the American people had had enough of Trump’s “misrepresentations” and his “daily stream of lies and “fired him.”

McConnell even expressed support for special counsel Jack Smith’s efforts to hold Trump accountable for his actions on January 6. If the former president “hasn’t committed any criminal acts,” McConnell told Tackett in an interview, “I don’t know which one is.” In addition, McConnell made it clear that he believes Trump “inspired” the violence that took place on January 6, saying : “I just hope he has to pay a price for it.”

Still, McConnell’s personal antipathy toward Trump hasn’t stopped him from doing the one thing that could prevent Trump from paying some price for his actions on Jan. 6: approving his bid for another term in the White House.

If Trump wins in November, he will undoubtedly drop the prosecution that led to his indictment — the one McConnell says he privately supports.

It’s not as if Trump has shown McConnell any appreciation for his dedication. Trump has repeatedly and publicly slandered McConnell, calling him an “Old Broken Crow” who, he says, is “VERY close to Biden, the Democrats and of course China” (an accusation that will undoubtedly come as a shock to the president come). Biden and his fellow Democrats). Trump has also spewed anti-Asian invective at McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who is of Chinese descent and served as transportation secretary in the Trump administration.

Trump’s adoring fans have followed suit. Although McConnell secured passage of Trump’s 2017 tax cut bill and oversaw the Republican Party’s takeover of the Supreme Court and overturning Roe v. Wade, he was met with thunderous boos from delegates at this summer’s Republican National Convention. And here’s the best part: Party stalwarts heckled McConnell when he pledged the Kentucky delegation’s support for Trump’s presidential bid.

As much as Trump and his supporters vilify and attack him, McConnell’s commitment has been astonishingly consistent. As Tackett’s new book shows, McConnell almost voted to convict Trump after his second impeachment. Had he done so — and rallied enough Republicans behind him — Trump would likely have been prevented from ever running for public office again, and the Republican Party would have been rid of a man whom McConnell privately called “despicable.” considers.

McConnell couldn’t get through and instead criticized Trump’s actions on January 6 after he voted to acquit Trump. It was that action that led to the former president’s now incessant personal attacks.

It would be one thing if McConnell’s support for Trump were driven by personal ambition. That would be terrible and cynical — but it is consistent with the attitude of many other Republican politicians, including Trump’s own running mate JD Vance, who have publicly supported Trump even as they have privately vilified him.

Indeed, McConnell referred to this gap in sentiment when asked to comment on his personal remarks. “Whatever I’ve said about President Trump,” he said in a statement, “pales in comparison to what J.D. Vance, Lindsey Graham and others have said about him, but we’re all on the same team now.”

Allow me to translate that: We’re all a bunch of cynical, worthless cowards who will subjugate our private judgment to our public ambitions. But at least we are united in our cowardice.

Unlike Vance and Graham, however, McConnell’s political path is nearing an end. He will step down as leader of the Republicans in the Senate at the end of this year and is unlikely to seek re-election in 2026. He doesn’t have to worry about alienating Trump’s supporters.

The only possible explanation for McConnell’s continued resignation to Trump’s humiliation is apparently that, as a lifelong Republican, he cannot imagine speaking out against a Republican president. For McConnell, loyalty to his party is greater than his support for his country.

McConnell’s arc reminds me of a story I heard four years ago about Senator Lamar Alexander, from McConnell’s neighboring state of Tennessee. During Trump’s first impeachment trial, Alexander hesitated about supporting Democrats’ calls to subpoena witnesses who could directly testify to Trump’s crime. Alexander, who had never been a dyed-in-the-wool conservative and had already announced his retirement, didn’t have to worry about confronting MAGA-enamored voters in Tennessee. Yet he still voted against the subpoenas.

When I asked a Tennessee political observer why Alexander was unable to do the right thing knowing he wouldn’t face the wrath of voters, he told me that every time Alexander attended a local GOP event or even something as unpleasant as a Rotary event Club meeting he would be reminded that he sided with the Democrats against Trump. Why, he suggested, would Alexander want this aggravation?

The same probably goes for McConnell. If he hadn’t endorsed Trump or supported his conviction in 2021, everyone in Kentucky would remember that about him — even after McConnell’s years of unwavering devotion to the Republican Party.

There has been a fierce debate in political circles for years about who or what is responsible for Trump’s political rise. But make no mistake: There is a singular explanation for Trump’s continued viability as a candidate: a party of cowardly and cynical politicians who would rather support a narcissistic, ill-tempered and despicable liar than do what they know is right.