In an increasingly public split within the Republican Party, Vice President JD Vance sharply criticized Senator Mitch McConnell on Tuesday for opposing Elbridge Colby, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead policy strategy at the Pentagon.
Colby’s nomination quickly turned into a flashpoint among conservatives after McConnell broke ranks, becoming the only Republican to vote against him. The decision triggered swift backlash from Trump allies and right-leaning commentators, many of whom accused McConnell of undermining the former president’s agenda.
Taking to social media, Vance didn’t mince words. “Mitch’s vote today—like so much of the last few years of his career—is one of the great acts of political pettiness I’ve ever seen,” he wrote in a scathing post on X (formerly Twitter).
The condemnation didn’t stop there. Businessman Nate Morris, a Kentucky native and longtime GOP donor, weighed in, saying, “Elbridge Colby is one of the best foreign policy thinkers in the GOP, and it’s pitiful to watch Mitch McConnell continue to stand with Democrats to sabotage President Trump. The next senator from Kentucky must be someone fundamentally different—it’s time for a change.”
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) echoed the sentiment with a simple but telling response: “I’m glad things are changing.”
Conservative media outlets and activists also chimed in. Breitbart News, in a post to its followers, referred to McConnell as the “China-linked Senator,” while others went further. One user in Texas labeled McConnell a “traitor,” a reflection of the anger swirling within MAGA-aligned circles.
Despite the internal GOP clash, Colby was confirmed by the Senate in a 54-45 vote, largely along party lines. Most Democrats opposed the nomination, continuing their trend of resisting Trump-era picks.
McConnell defended his vote in a lengthy statement, warning that Colby’s appointment could “do irreparable damage” to long-standing military alliances. Without citing specific concerns, he argued that nominees to key defense roles should strengthen, not endanger, America’s international partnerships.
Colby, a vocal advocate for a shift in U.S. military focus from Europe and the Middle East toward the Indo-Pacific, has long argued that confronting the rising threat of China should be the Pentagon’s top priority. With defense officials having issued similar warnings for over a decade, McConnell’s opposition struck many as outdated or out of step.
The tension between McConnell and Trump supporters deepened further this week, as the senator marked the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine with a pointed critique of Trump’s foreign policy stance—without naming him directly.
Referring to recent comments where Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a dictator without elections” and appeared to downplay Russia’s role in the conflict, McConnell said, “Putin’s aims would not stop with Kyiv even if Ukrainian forces surrendered their weapons.” He added that minimizing Russia’s responsibility “reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of negotiations and leverage.”
Though McConnell also criticized President Biden for what he described as “half-measures” in Ukraine, he made clear that any attempt to morally equate Russia’s actions with those of Ukraine would be “both costly and embarrassing.”
With the GOP caught between two very different visions of American leadership, the debate over Colby’s nomination has done more than elevate a defense official—it has put the party’s future direction firmly in the spotlight.
