Despite McConnell’s strong endorsement and pleadings, the Senate border compromise failed. Are we on the cusp of a 

From NBC News. Within 48 hours of the release of a long-awaited immigration and foreign aid bill he had championed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Republican conference rejected his pitch to support it, knifed the deal and left it for dead.

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Just four Republicans voted for it. In the end, even McConnell backtracked and voted against the package that he had helped develop.

It was a jarring moment on Capitol Hill that pointed to a changed landscape: The Kentucky Republican, a one-man power center for more than a decade, is seeing his influence with fellow senators wane as his party continues to transform into the right-wing populist mold of Donald Trump. The former president, who fiercely opposed the border deal and has long pushed fellow Republicans to turn away from McConnell, is cruising to a third consecutive GOP presidential nomination. …

The collapse of the package leaves U.S. aid to Ukraine at risk of ending completely. McConnell, who is accustomed to having GOP senators follow his strategic guidance, has been pleading with them for months not to let Russian strongman Vladimir Putin make incursions into Europe, lest it upend the global order the U.S. has led since World War II. Those pleas have fallen on deaf ears with conservative lawmakers and voters, who align with a Trump wing that has turned against giving Ukraine money and weapons to defend itself. …

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called McConnell’s moves to reach a border and Ukraine deal a “big tactical error.”

“It was a huge mistake. And I think he’s always cared more about giving money to Ukraine than he has about any other issue,” Paul said of his fellow Kentuckian.

Paul, who holds isolationist foreign policy views, has frequently found himself among a fringe minority of Republicans while McConnell’s positions have commanded the support of most colleagues. Lately, that dynamic has evolved. …

‘It surprises me’

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said he was shocked that McConnell was not able to get more Republicans to coalesce around the bill.

“He didn’t just bless the deal. He wrote the deal,” Murphy, the lead Democrat in those negotiations, said. “… But it’s really worrying that a deal that was written and endorsed by the minority leader gets four votes from his caucus.”

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who was elected in 2010 to replace Joe Biden, said that in those nearly 14 years he has never seen a McConnell-backed deal collapse so quickly with the GOP.

“It surprises me,” he said.

But Trump’s hammering of the deal, while he uses immigration as a campaign issue, and his demands that Republicans reject it won the day. …

McConnell’s diminishing sway goes beyond Ukraine and immigration. After Republicans won control of the House in 2022 and elevated Trump allies to run it, McConnell said he would stay out of negotiations to fund the government and lift the debt ceiling, instead telling House Republicans and President Joe Biden to figure it out. …

Senate GOP becomes Trumpier

Conservatives in the House have now become accustomed to throwing rhetorical grenades at McConnell, accusing him and others who work with Democrats of being part of a “uni-party.” …

During Trump’s presidency, the Senate GOP was filled with staunch McConnell allies who enabled the Republican leader to approach legislative conflicts with the then-president from a position of strength. But many of them have since been replaced by Trump loyalists or they’ve changed to become more Trump-aligned themselves. McConnell’s once-functional relationship with Trump broke down after Jan. 6, 2021. Although he voted to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial, McConnell gave a blistering floor speech holding Trump “practically and morally responsible” for the “failed insurrection.” …

Even among right-wing Senate Republicans, attacks on McConnell were unusual for the vast majority of his tenure as leader. Today, they’ve become common. On Tuesday, six Republicans held a news conference and took turns bashing McConnell and his leadership team: Sens. Rick Scott, of Florida; Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin; Mike Lee, of Utah; Ted Cruz, of Texas; JD Vance, of Ohio; Eric Schmitt, of Missouri; and Roger Marshall, of Kansas.

Many of them openly questioned whether McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader, should stay in his job. …

As our Senate goes through changes, share this article to encourage people to pray.

(Excerpt from NBC News. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – Mitch McConnell, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)