McConnell takes aim at ‘isolationist’ colleagues in scathing D-Day essay

Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned of the parallels between current global tensions and those of the 1930s in an essay on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. 

“American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines joined allies and took the fight to the Axis powers not as a first instinct, but as a last resort,” wrote the Kentucky Republican in an op-ed for the New York Times on Thursday. “They ended a war that the free world’s inaction had left them no choice but to fight.”

The Republican leader has previously made clear his intention to focus the rest of his time in the Senate on championing support for Ukraine, following his lengthy stint as party leader. He announced his plan to step down from the leadership role in February but has yet to say whether he will seek Senate re-election in 2026. 

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Sen. Mitch McConnell sought to remind readers of the similarities between now and the 1930s. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

According to him, when D-Day is reflected on, people are quick to forget that the significant toll was incurred “because European powers and the United States met the rise of a militant authoritarian with appeasement or naive neglect in the first place.”

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, 4,414 Allied troops died, 2,501 of whom were American. In addition, over 5,000 were wounded, per The Associated Press. 

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U.S. troops disembark from landing crafts during D-Day on June 6, 1944. (Imperial War Museum/AFP via Getty Images)

McConnell continued, claiming little is remembered about “influential isolationists” who he said convinced Americans “the fate of allies and partners mattered little to our own security and prosperity.” His jab was likely in reference to his colleagues who have been outspoken about their apprehension to foreign intervention, particularly as it relates to Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific. 

He added that “powerful political forces” minimized the danger growing across the globe, refused to help allies, and sought to stop the country from defending what he characterized as “national interests.”

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The Republican leader has pledged to focus his time on aiding Ukraine. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“Of course, Americans heard much less from our disgraced isolationists after the attack on Pearl Harbor,” he wrote. 

The Dec. 7, 1941 Imperial Japanese Navy attack on the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, served as the precursor to the U.S. officially declaring war the following day. 

“Today, America and our allies face some of the gravest threats to our security since Axis forces marched across Europe and the Pacific,” explained McConnell.  

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In this photo released by the U.S. Navy, USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. (U.S. Navy via AP)

Similarly, “some of the same forces that hampered our response in the 1930s have re-emerged,” he claimed. 

He took aim at a faction of his own party, writing, “Some vocal corners of the American right are trying to resurrect the discredited brand of prewar isolationism and deny the basic value of the alliance system that has kept the postwar peace.”

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“It should not take another catastrophic attack like Pearl Harbor to wake today’s isolationists from the delusion that regional conflicts have no consequences for the world’s most powerful and prosperous nation,” he warned. 

“With global power comes global interests and global responsibilities,” McConnell stated.