Mitch McConnell obviously has never met a conservative populist (AKA Trump-supporter) he liked.  That clearly is indicated by his gratuitous defense of GOP turncoats Cheney and Kinzinger.  Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, in what was an effective statement on McConnell's harsh words for the GOP base,  indicated by her closing paragraphs, how egregious were McConnell's harsh words for the MAGA patriots.

Via Townhall:

I firmly believe we are the big tent party, and that disagreement amongst Republicans is welcome and can make us stronger. But what Cheney and Kinzinger are engaged in goes much further than any policy disagreement.  These two have permitted their party affiliation to be weaponized to allow the Democrats gross overreach and abuse of power. In short, they never should have agreed to be part of a committee where Republicans were denied representation. 

As I have repeatedly stated, violence is not legitimate political discourse — whether in the U.S. Capitol or in Democrat-run cities across the country – and neither is abusing Congress' investigatory powers for political gain. Media outlets pretending that the RNC believes otherwise are doing so in bad faith, and their lies should be called out for the cheap political stunts they are.

That is the statement that McConnell should have made.  Instead, not unlike Cheney, his denunciation of the RNC's censure of Cheney and Kinzinger could have been based on a Pelosi handout, with talking points for anti-GOP propagandists.  

The Republican Senate leader had to know he would get favorable treatment in The New York Times for denouncing the RNC — allowing for his possible disappointment that his anti-GOP statement got only the second lead, not the lead, in the February 9 print edition:

Party Censures/Earn a Rebuke/By McConnell 

And underneath that headline was this subhead:

Leader Calls Jan. 6 a/"Violent Insurrection."

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 license.

What more do the Democrats need for anti-Republican propaganda during the midterm congressional campaign than Cheney's attacks on congressional Republicans, bolstered by McConnell's attack on the RNC for censuring Cheney and Kinzinger?

Here is the sentence containing the Democrat-propagated lie that the Capitol Hill intrusion, January 6, 2021, was a "violent insurrection" repeated mindlessly by the blundering Republican leader in the U.S. Senate for the New York Times to blare out:

It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That's what it was.

That's what it was not!  No one tried to prevent "the peaceful transfer of power."  The January 6 demonstrators — by far most of them — were concerned about the wrongful transfer of power.

But it wasn't enough for McConnell to identify with the radical Democrats who are weaponizing "Jan. 6" in a desperate bid to hold Congress in next November's elections.  He had to defend the vicious attacks by the turncoats on Republicans, declaring that Cheney and Kinzinger merely have different views from most GOP officials', and that it was not in the purview of the RNC to censure such views.

What rot.  Only an experienced pol paralyzed by hatred for Donald Trump could spout such nonsense.  McConnell, if he were not unbalanced by his support for the swamp, should have expressed sentiments in accord with Ms. McDaniel's response to criticism of the RNC's reasonable action against Cheney and Kinzinger.

One senses that Mitch McConnell has thrown down the gauntlet: "It's either Trump or me.  If Trump remains the titular head of the GOP after the midterm elections, I'm out of here."

In that case, the Trump base would have all the more reason to support the conservative-populist MAGA movement next November and beyond.  As for leadership in the Senate, Rand Paul or Josh Hawley would be a welcome change from denizen-of-the-swamp McConnell.