Senate leader, Mitch McConnell voted against impeachment of Trump on Saturday but proceeded to publicly denounce his actions which he believed led to the Capitol riot on January 6. He called it “a disgraceful dereliction of duty.” This was his most scathing remark against Trump.

However the aftermath was that he angered a lot of pro-Trump supporters in the Congress and in his constituency. On Sunday, his home newspaper The Lexington Herald-Leader said that he had contorted himself into a strange pretzel-shaped politician who was hated by everyone.

On Sunday, he told Politico that he was focusing on the future of the GOP. He said that his goal was to have Republican nominees who would win in November. He said that the only thing he cared about was their “electability.”

Although he said that he was not predicting that the president would support people who couldn’t win, he said that he thought that “electability” and not who supports who was the critical point in GOP nominations.

When asked if he would support the former president if he seeks a re-election bid in 2024 he prevaricated by saying that he was focused on ‘22.

There is a deep divide between the members of the Republican Party.

Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia said that she was committed to McConnell but admitted that there were huge rifts in the GOP between loyal Trump followers and people like her. She hoped that the loyalists “stick with us.”

Andy Biggs, a representative for Arizona, who also heads the House Freedom Caucus, said that many Republicans were upset with McConnell and that Trump’s influence on the members was still strong.

McConnell had also supported Rep. Liz Cheney when she faced censure for voting to impeach Trump. Cheney is up for re-election and is poised to face a strong uphill battle in Wyoming as Trump loyalists rally around to campaign against her.

McConnell said that the future of the party will be determined in places like Wyoming in 2022.