Donald Trump has reportedly dismissed Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s bid to be the Senate’s GOP leader, privately telling allies weeks before the election that it is “not serious,” sources told Axios. Scott, a right-wing firebrand, has pushed hard to be the majority leader in the days since the election, in which Scott won his re-election race and the Republicans seized control of the Senate. A senior Trump campaign official denied that the president-elect made the comment about Scott, telling Axios that he “hasn’t weighed in on the leadership race and anyone who says differently is wrong.” Scott is among several Republicans who have sought to put together the support necessary to replace Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, who announced earlier this year that he would be stepping down from the GOP leader role after almost two decades. The frontrunners, according to The Associated Press, are John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas; they join Scott in trying to lock up the necessary votes ahead of a Nov. 13 secret ballot. Scott counts among his backers the far-right MAGA conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who interviewed Scott on her show and wrote on X in October, “We the loyal MAGA BASE are going to revolt against a Cornyn or Thune leadership installation.”
