THE PRICE OF POWER

The power player you barely know.

Senate Majority Leader McConnell has long made plain his disdain for Donald Trump. He brings his contempt to the next level in this deeply researched biography by Tackett, a veteran journalist. The Kentucky senator calls Trump “this sleazeball” and “not very smart, irascible, nasty, just about every quality you would not want somebody to have.” So that raises the question: Why in the world would McConnell not only keep Trump’s political future alive by voting to acquit him in the impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack but also endorse him in the 2024 election? Tackett offers insights into how this ruthless tactician navigated his career. McConnell has always looked ahead, unsentimentally and rarely daunted by contradictions, criticism, or even personal slights—Trump has publicly mocked “Old Crow” McConnell and taken racist shots at the senator’s wife, Elaine Chao, the former Transportation Secretary—with an eye on doing whatever it takes to assume or retain power. McConnell’s evolution, as chronicled by Tackett, might surprise readers: He had been a passionate advocate of civil rights, an ally of public employees in a tough 1977 race (later conceding he was ashamed of his “open pandering for labor support”), a champion for strict campaign finance limits, and a scold for the notion that every Supreme Court nominee deserved an up-or-down vote. History will note his refusal to allow even a hearing on President Barack Obama’s 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland, a power move by the ultimate power player. What makes this biography so fascinating is the fulsome access McConnell offered Tackett, a journalist he had not known beforehand. A student of history, McConnell took a chance on giving an unsparing, credible account of his remarkable life. Tackett delivers.

A superb insider’s portrait of the sphinx of the Senate.