Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell listens to Donald Trump in 2017 (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

I joined Ireland’s RTE Radio 1 on Thursday to analyze the US Supreme Court, Donald Trump’s legal troubles, and the imminent departure of the GOP’s Sen. Mitch McConnell from front-line politics.

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Speaking with Claire Byrne, I evaluate the significance of the Supreme Court agreeing to hear Trump’s plea for immunity from felony charges, in the federal case over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

I explain how the significance is not in Trump hoping to win the case, but in delaying any verdict or even trial — in this and the other three criminal cases, with a total of 91 felony counts — beyond the November election.

Then I evaluate McConnell’s that he is stepping down as the top Republican in the Senate in November, after a historic 17 years as either the chamber’s Majority or Minority Leader.

While the health of the 82-year-old is likely a cause, so are the changing political dynamics: McConnell could outmaneuver Democrats, but in the end he hasn’t been able to check the Trumpists and hard right Republicans.

I think McConnell’s tired of the fight, not against the Democrats but against those within his own party.

We’re in a position where a group of Republicans in the House are blackmailing the US Government — and, of course, the people of Ukraine by saying, “We don’t care what happens to you in the Russian invasion. We’re going to posture until Donald Trump is elected.”