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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the taciturn Republican leader, watched stoically from across the Capitol two years ago as Speaker John A. Boehner resigned rather than contend with mounting troubles, restive conservatives and a band of renegade Republicans looking to oust him. Now it is Mr. McConnell who has a target on his back. His party is smarting from losses at the ballot box last week in Virginia, New Jersey and off-year races across the country. A trio of Senate Republicans who are not running for re-election have gone rogue and feel no compunction to fall in line behind him. The Republican nominee for Senate, Roy S. Moore, has just been accused of improper sexual and romantic conduct with teenagers. And Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, is vowing to depose him, telling The New York Times that “I have an objective that Mitch McConnell will not be majority leader, and I believe will be done before this time next year.” Mr. McConnell, he added, “has to go.” [How to listen: If you don’t see an audio player on this page, or if you would like to subscribe to “The New Washington” at no charge, follow the instructions at the end of this article.] To that, Mr. McConnell laughed. “You can write that down,” he said in an interview on Friday. “I laughed. Ha-ha. That’s a perfect response.” Villainized by the president’s populist wing, Mr. McConnell nonetheless is pressing forward with a conservative agenda that he hopes will give Mr. ... Link to the full article to read more