I have a hard time deciding who is worse, Donald or Mitch. One is dumb and dangerous, the other is shrewd and hazardous. Donald moves with involuntary reflexes, Mitch crawls like a snake. One chokes with chunks of his victims the other savors only gourmet hors d'oeuvres. So – who will be?
I don’t know – but what I am certain is that both of them make a good pairing and the Republicans vultures love to glide along both of them waiting for their feast – the left-overs.
It’s a very sad situation especially when you have a Democratic Party whose only interest seems to be brooding wannabes presidents instead of doing their duty and impeach Mr. Trump.
37
thanks but I'll keep guns and will never vote for liberal who doesn't know how or care to actually learn about firearms. also witch the NRA does a lot of good by teaching safety but typical of liberals to not acknowledge that just that all guns are bad.
I do not understand how it is legal for one man to unilaterally deny Senators a chance to even debate new bills. This is not his job and certainly was never what the Founders envisioned. Many of the measures he so completely tosses into the trash have genuine bipartisan support. Why hasn’t he been impeached for dereliction of duty?
2962
@Alexandra Hamilton
How is it legal? Article I, section 5. "Each house may determine the rules of it's proceedings".
Under the current rules the rules can only change at the start of a session or with a 2/3rds majority.
The answer is for Democrats to win the Senate in 2020 and correct the rules.
216
This is not democracy.
162
@Fred Tilley
And the House has the GOP "Hastert rule". Similarly undemocratic. In her first speakership Pelosi rejected it. Not clear this time.
36
I think his pride comes from the fact that he believes people think his wife digs him, and is not just using him as a political stepping stone.
19
If there ever was an example for term limits, it’s Mitch McConnell.
89
As much as I dislike this administration it's never ok to criticise a person's appearance. You lost me at number 3.
20
... and none of this bothers him. is there no longer a duty to the country?
23
It only takes a handful of Republican senators to end this travesty. But they won't.
Maine enables this situation with the pitiful Susan Collins.
She's up for election in 2020, Maine.
Want to do something useful to the nation by tossing her?
72
While Mitch McConnel stocks the courts with party apparatchiks for generations to come, we on the left get the added bonus of having good writers write stories about how awful it all is. I think the Mitch supporters get the better end of this deal.
21
I think it's fair to comment on his looks only inasmuch as it is just another factor he is missing as a leader. He doesn't speak particularly well, his voice is rather annoying, he has never struck me as intelligent or sensitive, he has zero charisma, he is definitively ugly, he seems to lack any vision -- so how on earth did he become Senate leader? I find him to be startlingly unpatriotic and with the revelations about Chao's dealings in China I question his loyalty.
I do believe that evil exists, and I think it has found a home in Washington, D.C.
52
Why does one person have the power to block legislation
voting ? Is there no way to override this?
29
Isn't it well past the time that sardonic opinion is left to late night? Ms. Collins is gifted, funny. Donald J. Trump and his mendacious enablers are not.
How about one column applying that considerable gift and speculating on the prospects that these traitors be treated as the historical Revolutionary War loyalists and deported.
Tar and feathers optional.
13
There is a secession movement afoot in California, but it hasn't gained much traction yet.
5
Trump is a symptoms and Mitch McConnell the illness. He is a good old southern boy from Kentucky. McConnell has been in the Senate for 35 years. It is time for home to go. He doesn’t care about our democracy and he doesn’t care about his constituents in Kentucky.
32
Next to getting rid of Trump, McConnell losing his seat next November would be best of all.
47
Let's just hope that the Senate isn't turtles all the way down.
And please add a similar quiz, Gail, about what Wendy Chao saw in Mitch McConnell that drew her to him? [Please don't include the awful hypothesis that because she went to Mt. Holyoke, a women's institution, she was ready to take the first offer of anyone vaguely resembling a human male].
6
Ditching Mitch is about 8 years overdue: let's remember that, after Dems lost control of Senate in 2010 (or before that ?), Mitch the B has stated unabashedly that : 1. his job as Senate majority leader is to unseat Obama, 2. Senate's job is to stop legislation coming from the House. There was no outrage at that time at the idiotic things that M the B said, so smack talk went unpunished/unnoticed well before the arrival of Trump. The Founding Fathers have put a lot of thought in drafting the Constitution, and it took more than 200 years of before Mitch and Donald finally found fatal flaws in that Constitution, and ways to abuse their power without punishment. The greatest achievement of Mitch is not putting conservatives everywhere, but thrashing this Constitution. Good job, despicable Mitch !
27
He has been in the Senate since 1985. This 77 year old white man is the perfect example for term limits. He has too much power and is destroying our democracy. He’ll back Trump on any insane idea so long as conservative judges get approved.
He is one of the most unpopular Senators. Kentuckians need to vote him out.
If you don’t know about his wife, Elaine Chao, I encourage you to read the recent NYT article about Chao and her family’s business.
See:
morningconsult.com/senator-rankings/
nytimes.com/2019/06/02/us/politics/elaine-chao-china.html
24
This article on Salon was an eye-opening explanation of how his ability to control what bill are sent to the floor results in an outsized amount of power and influence. Mitch McConnell is an insult to the American people and the idea of democracy itself:
https://www.salon.com/2019/03/11/its-time-to-check-the-senate-majority-leaders-power-mitch-mcconnell-doesnt-represent-the-people/.
18
If the Democrats want leverage on Mitch, it must start investigating the corrupt wife Chao. Lets see how fast Mitch will begin to move legislation along from the House for consideration in the Senate. The Democrats control the House, start holding hearings into wife Chao's activities in regard to her family's shipping interests in China. Make Mitch sweat. Now is the time for hardball.
36
It would be wonderful if we could get Obama to move to Kentucky and run against Mitch.
12
Ditching Mitch is about 8 years overdue: let's remember that, after Dems lost control of Senate in 2010 (or before that ?), Mitch the B has stated unabashedly that : 1. his job as Senate majority leader is to unseat Obama, 2. Senate's job is to stop legislation coming from the House. There was no outrage at that time at the idiotic things that M the B said, so smack talk went unpunished/unnoticed well before the arrival of Trump. The Founding Fathers have put a lot of thought in drafting the Constitution, and it took more than 200 years of before Mitch and Donald finally found fatal flaws in that Constitution, and ways to abuse their power without punishment. The greatest achievement of Mitch is not putting conservatives everywhere, but thrashing this Constitution. Good job, despicable Mitch !
5
Mitch McConnell, more than trump, has permanently damaged our beloved country.
23
Hey Gail, how about if you do a regular column on the most corrupt people in our government.
I think it could be very enlightening !!
9
By the time he's done, all of us will be just like Kentuckians, poor and miserable and the country worthless. He's an awful lot like a slumlord...destroying his own property for the buck he makes while it all falls down.
22
Henry Clay is spinning in his grave.
4
"America is not a country, it's a business."
8
Mitch McConnell thinks he's a Niccola Machiavelli, but he lacks both class and savoir-vivre.
He has destroyed the Senate as much as Trump the presidency.
There's little hope to unseat him next year because Kentuckians would most likely re-elect him. But if Democrats win the Senate, his influence win be diminished.
11
Liberals who are inclined toward heroism and self-sacrifice should seriously consider moving to red states and voting in those states.
10
This is a gift from the 'low information' voters of Kentucky.
Nothing we can do about it.
12
One of my greatest disappointments regarding McConnell is that his noble Irish/Scots name, one that is relatively common, can't carry the same historical and neologistic weight as "Quisling."
3
Consider the state that Mitch represents. KY is known for horse racing, bourbon, tobacco, fried chicken, coal mining and college basketball. It's nearly 90 % white. Almost 15 % of the population is on food stamps. It's the 15th fattest state (31.6 % of the population is obese). 18% of high-schoolers are obese in Kentucky, ranking first (or should we say, last) in the entire country. It's ranked 45th in education.
It amazes me that they support him given the fact that he isn't married to a white woman. Or is it ok since she is rich?
His constituents are exactly the people who should be voting him out of office. But they won't. The best the rest of the US can hope for is that they all die of heart disease, black lung, chirrosis or diabetes before they vote for Mitch 2.0.
9
When democrats rule, and they will, I want only one thing: to destroy McConnell and his ilk.
9
If the Dems ever get back control of the Senate, I would impeach anyone who lied during a previous confirmation hearing.
10
Mitch McConnell will go down in history as a traitor to American democratic ideals and values.
23
Yes. It is time for Mitch to go away. Far far away. Enough. He is the primary catalyst for the dysfunction and utter irresponsibility demonstrated by this Republican senate. If they ever had a moral high ground they certainly don't have one now. If the only way you can win is by lying cheating and stealing then you need to move out of the way. Its time for America to be better than that.
A.Durand
Canaan, NY
8
You left out the Obama sanctioned Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, who agreed to open a huge metal works factoring in KY after Mitch fast tracked the stalled federal judicial confirmation of the wife of the lobbyist who introduced Deripaska to McConnell.
That lobbyist? Former disgraced Senator David Vitter of LA.
His wife? Wendy Vitter, former chief counsel for the arch diocese of New Orleans.
13
Mitch McConnell. Americas Grand Ayatollah? Like in the Islamic Republics?
A Kentucky elected self appointed interpreter of God's will on earth?
Let the people speak. But if it's something Mitch disagrees with, then it goes nowhere. And that's the final word? In America?
9
When he isn't playing Trump's chief sycophant, he's the ring leader of the Harrumphing Hypocrite Republicans.
Speaking of impeachment, is it just a coincidence that Mitch started playing Russian Roulette by doing a deal with Oleg Deripaska for a $200 million investment into an aluminum mill in Kentucky?
7
I absolutely hate Mitch McConnell.
I just do not understand what deformity in a person's brain leads them to act with such a galling lack of integrity.
16
As far as I can tell,McConnell is the most dangerous man in America.
15
I absolutely hate the guy, he's a disgrace and the poster child of hypocrisy. Defined: Hypocrisy is the contrivance of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, while concealing real character or inclinations, especially with respect to religious and moral beliefs; hence, in a general sense, hypocrisy may involve dissimulation, pretense, or a sham.
8
Multimillionaire from the poorest state in the country with the most people on welfare -foods stamps.
Teribble schools - rampant drug and alcohol abuse:
These poor misfits are happy with their guns and bibles and self imposed ignorance.
Mitch is the perfect shepherd to keep fleecing them
They love it! AND the rich horsey set are getting away with murder.
10
McConnell gives politics a bad name. A legislature should legislate, not sit on bills just to promote power.
8
I'm struck by how similar he is to Kenneth Widmerpool in A Dance to the Music of Time. Makes me wonder about his childhood and the schoolyard where he must have been made to suffer. Now he has power and can redirect his anger and hate by taking his perceived enemies in his jaws and shaking the bejesus out of them. It would be sad if it weren't so dangerous, and disastrous
for Democratic governance.
5
Yes, the man is corrupt and his wife is also!
4
The issue of his wife being Sec of Transportation has not been examined nearly enough. It's an outright conflict of interest when one branch of governent has an interest in the success of another. Why would he interfere w budget issues that could impact his household income? It's outrageous and the news media have completely dropped the ball on this. Tippy should have to recuse himself on any vote impacting the executive branch, and not be allowed to play a role in scheduling or not scheduling votes on these issues.
8
If he is so bad why do his constituents keep voting h in? And why does his obviously intelligent and accomplished wife put up with it? There must be something good about him
1
He and his wife are not public servants. They are self-serving, corrupt, sickening sycophants. Get them out of DC.
Send Elaine to Kentucky with Mitch. Maybe they'll get a little taste of Fox News racism up close and personal. Meanwhile, Mitch is busy looking for his next million. He'll probably get into the pot business like Boehner. No morals.
8
There was a time when a most men tried to leave a heritage of good works behind them. Now things are different. It seems Mr. McConnell like Adolf Hitler desire only to be remembered and whether if is for good or bad is of no consequence.
This is truly a unique individual totally willing to saddle his family with a history of total and complete unfairness. I wonder what his grandchildren ( or great grandchildren ) will think.
4
There seems to be a growing consensus among those in the Media Establishment [May I re-coin a phrase?] that Mitch McConnell doesn't particularly like democracy.
—
I decided to google, "Mitch hates Democracy," and got a fairly long list of posts that seem to subscribe to that viewpoint.
***
Now, I used the term, "Media Establishment," by way of making an apology; that is to indicate, that as a general reader and casual consumer of news media, it's really not my place, from my lowly perch, to judge Leader McConnell in such a crass and personal way.
—
But others have already said what I suspect to be the case; that is, what I understand, ”just from reading the news."
***
Let's say for sake of argument that various members of the Media Establishment are indeed correct, in their rather wild assessment of the Senate Majority Leader.
—
Then I say, that Mitch McConnell:
1. Should not be a Senator.
2. Should never have been elected.
3. Should be thrown out of the Senate immediately. [Is that possible? I'm showing my ignorance.]
4. Should never be allowed to participate in government, at any level, ever again.
--
Does that sound too extreme?
***
What about our US Constitution--isn't it all about how to set up and "run," as it were, a Democracy?
--
What if my “crass remarks,” are not too far off base?
Then I think that America is facing a Constitutional, and perhaps, even an existential crisis.
1
We carp and complain about McConnell and Trump to the point where even to an old diehard Liberal, it sounds like whining. We need action. We need to DO something.
Lawrence Tribe's op ed in WaPo offers a way to get started without resorting to impeachment, which will not get Trump out of office:
"And the House, unlike any grand jury, can conduct an impeachment inquiry that ends with a verdict and not just a referral to the Senate for trial — an inquiry in which the target is afforded an opportunity to participate and mount a full defense." And further ... "The House, assuming an impeachment inquiry leads to a conclusion of Trump’s guilt, could choose between presenting articles of impeachment even to a Senate pre-committed to bury them and dispensing with impeachment as such while embodying its conclusions of criminality or other grave wrongdoing in a condemnatory “Sense of the House” resolution far stronger than a mere censure. The resolution, expressly and formally proclaiming the president impeachable but declining to play the Senate’s corrupt game, is one that even a president accustomed to treating everything as a victory would be hard-pressed to characterize as a vindication."
Now there's an action worth taking.
3
What a jerk! He’s acting just like Harry Reid.
1
Think campaign finance reform and term limits. I'd vote for the candidate that adds this to their platform and gets the job done. That will cure a lot of ills.
Yes, Mitch very much should be at the top of the list of deplorables - along with his wife, Steve Bannon, FOX news and Rupert Murdoch, the Koch Brothers, Devin Nunes, Alex Jones, Shawn Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Javanka, and of course, Trump himself.
What have we done to deserve these folks, and how have they so effectively managed so hoodwink nearly half the country into believing that they have the answers? And to follow them down the rabbit hole to near autocracy at this point?
It was shocking to realize, as she states, how unfair it is that one man, elected just by just the plurality of folks in in a regressive voting state like Kentucky, can wield that much power over our whole electoral process?
How is that democratic representation? It seems that it's time to change a lot of things, beginning with these outdated procedures we have to live with in Washington? Or maybe the system is just too broken to fix?
26
@Margo Wendorf
It's not too broken to fix, and it's definitely worth fixing. But, as you say, there are some glaring problems that need to be solved, and soon.
11
Mitch McConnell just might be the best example of what's wrong with American politics today.
27
"Ditch Mitch" and "Dump Trump" - will certainly be the best that could happen to the country in 2020.
33
I will donate early and often to any democratic challengers that take on mitch in 2020.
Once a clear opposition to mitch is set, heck I may take some time off and head to Kentucky to volunteer for the political campaign that opposes him.
Anything I can do to boot him from his post will be time well spent and will be my gift to my children to “retire” this coward from Kentucky and rid him from national politics forever!
19
McConnell is a power addict.
His actions have made the Supreme Court illegitimate.
By refusing to make a bipartisan statement about Russian attacks prior to Election Day, he helped the Russian attack on our democracy.
The toxicity of McConnell's addiction has poisoned our democracy.
27
@G.E. Morris
He is pretty good at greed to.
Everything he does is meant to make him money.
4
The same party that crows about states rights has pushed initiatives in every state possible to allow vast sums of outside money to influence state political elections. The Koch brothers spent a tidy sum killing mass transit in Nashville, TN. Why do they care about traffic in Nashville? They don't. They just want to give black eyes to every possible democratic, progressive initiative and the politicians behind them. This is modern republican strategy. Republicans have spun themselves a web of money and influence, and in the center of the web sits McConnell, propped up by power hungry billionaires from around the world. What a fetid, predatory creature. What a broken, corrupted system of money and influence. Someone get a medic!
14
fetid indeed... and how ironic that the president was going to drain the swamp.
2
He's quite effective at what he does and has way too much power.
4
Mitch McConnell and Newt Gingrich are the two most reprehensible politicians in my memory. That so many can stand the stench is remarkable.
20
Why, bless his heart!
4
Clearly not a patriot. Needs to think about Country before party and self.
6
"There are well over 100 House-passed bills sitting around gathering mildew in Mitch’s limbo. What do you think that place looks like?"
It looks like the morgue, except instead of DOA the bills are Killed on Arrival...
8
McConnell has done as much profound damage to our democratic institutions as any other individual in recent history, Trump included.
He is the distilled essence of what the Republican Party has become. Self serving. Anti-democratic. Obsessed with the acquisition and retention of power. Self-righteous. Smug. Arrogant. Uncaring and disrespecting of anyone who disagrees with him.
18
Oh if only we could vote on this. If it's possible that there is anyone up there with the likes of Trump, Graham, Bolton or Miller it's McC. Not sure how he sleeps at night.
1
isn't there a Senate ethics office?
274
Senate ethics is an oxymoron
42
@simon
I would guess that it’s not very effective, essentially neutered.
The first order of business by the Republican controlled Congress after the 2016 election was to attempt to disband the Ethics Committee.
There was a huge outcry, and they abandoned the plan.
I wonder why they would want to do away with the Ethics Committee.
Just kidding.
34
@simon Run by Mitch. He like Trump, thinks himself above being investigated by a peon.
25
I wholeheartedly agree with Ms Collins’ (and hundreds of other commenters’) abhorrence and outrage concerning the motives, behaviors and dire consequences of McConnell, his wife, and their large cast of GOP collaborators. However....despite how intensely I dislike and have no respect for the lot of them, I would prefer we avoid attacking or making fun of people on the basis of their physical characteristics. To me, as tempting as it may be in this case, it is a school-yard tactic and we shouldn’t encourage it even for a cheap chuckle. With problems this big, why engage at that juvenile level?
Yes I do know that political caricatures have a long history. Unfortunately, in the context of the way Trump endlessly and boorishly tries to put people down based on looks, using the old reptile jokes to lead off and close this article isn’t especially creative, funny or helpful. Not to my worried ear, that is.
3
I thought the article on Elaine Chao actually showed how complex her situation really is. for example, she supports the law that says only American carriers can carry freight between US ports. That denies her family's company an opportunity.
As for Mitch, even he seems to be developing a backbone for standing up to Trump. Perhaps even he will develop some redeeming features. So far, of course, he has done as much to destroy our country as anyone, so I am not holding my breath.
1
The only way to get rid of Mitch McConnell is to get rid of the GOP Senate Majority. That means no bystanders or protest votes next year.
13
It'll not be easy. He may be the least liked Senator ever, but he has more "dark money" than the Spawn of Satan. His wife Elaine Chao, Trump's.secretary of transportation (Chao family) has an estimated 7.2 billion dollars - most of it shrouded in tax havens. Don't underestimate the dark side.
In computer terms; he is the equivalent of a computer bot that can automatically scan his environment and propagate himself. He trolls democracy, spidering (a computer term) up with similar bots to launch malicious and harsh attacks. If one of the servers or channels becomes disabled, the botnet simply switches to another a botnet.
Perhaps he is a Zombie? Zombie computers are those that are connected and don't know that they are being used. The owner is unaware. They are operated remotely and unknowingly.
6
If we were ever so fortunate to have term limits set for Congress the law that will enact them must be named in honor of mitch.
The mcconnell provision or the mcconnell limit. Something that bears his name so we never forget how completely awful he is as a human, that we have been forced to limit Congressional terms due to his abuse of power.
It’s like a disease that bears someone’s name.
The connotation with “mcconnell” will forever be associated with abuse of power, racism, greed and dishonesty.
A fitting tribute!
7
Let's just say that when I watched the new "Deadwood" movie, I did a lot of fantasizing about the Senator character in the middle of the third act.
2
Mitch's bill limbo looks like the waiting room from "Beetlejuice". I only wish I could upload a picture or clip.
1
Mitch and his base deserve eachother.
3
I am going with Spawn Of Satan.
14
I think if a bill passes one chamber, it should automatically be brought to a vote in the other chamber. That doesn't mean it has to pass, because of course it can be voted down. But I don't think anyone, D or R, should be able to sit on bills like this.
12
Same with judicial appointments. If there is a vacancy, fill it in a timely manner. No excuse, well, no good excuse, for sitting on them.
4
dirty, dirty, dirty
5
McConnell is the classic example of why all politicians in this country should be term limited. He has way too much power and will probably die in office so could be Senate leader for another decade deciding which judges get confirmed to the federal bench nationwide including the Supreme Court. Our Founding Fathers would never have approved of this abuse of power.
6
@c-c-g
I think it would be better to have strong oversight and prosecution if they stray from their oath of office.
Mitch knows that there is no one to hold him accountable.
That’s why he betrays the country at every opportunity.
If he faced the prison time that he has earned, he wouldn’t be so openly corrupt.
6
Considering the fact that the Commonwealth of Kentucky will re-elect McConnell every 6 years, we need more than Gail's list of his sins. We need an authoritarian on the art of corrupt Senator removal to suggest some remedies. Also, is there a way the Senate can force McConnell to release a bill passed by the house for a Senate vote? If such a law exists, how many of the 100 votes are needed to pass this demand?
2
What I can't understand is: how can one man have so much power in a democracy?
Everything about this article tells us that one man can essentially prevent any important decision to be even considered.
Do we live in a democracy or not?
I guess I should be thankful I don't have to fear a visit from the death squad... yet
9
He’s one of, if not the most destructive influences of democracy.
8
It's hysterically funny to hear folks complain about Mitch McConnell's refusal to hold hearings on Merrick Garland. He was following the rule articulated by Joe Biden '91 and extended by Chuck Schumer '07 in a bid to deny Republican presidents the ability to appoint a Supreme Court Justice up to 18 months prior to an election.
Mitch simply used their playbook and beat them at their own game. Since Schumer is your senator, get mad at him. He enabled everything McConnell is doing as Leader.
(Cue evil laugh: Mwuahahahaha)
2
The fact that Mitch McConnell has received millions of $$$ in "gift money" from his wife's father, who owns a major shipping company that has a tiny office in the USA and exclusively operates in China -- that also donates heavily to his campaign the the Kentucky GOP -- is really a slap in the face of democracy R.I.P. Then add to the fact that his wife is now Trump's Sec. of Transportation using her position in every way possible to enhance her father's business in China. I see how little Trump administration cares to move forward with that $1 trillion infrastructure promised voters to make our roads, bridges, railways, water and air quality better. It's been tax cuts for the uber-rich, followed by appointing hundreds of conservative judges. Still waiting for any real benefits of this presidency.
13
Reid did the exact same thing when he led the Senate. The Republican House passed all sort of bills - that went nowhere. As long as the rules give the power to the Leader of the Senate, that is what is going to happen.
And it doesn't really matter who is in the chair - the Garland non-event would have happened regardless of the Republican leader there. And you can be sure that the next Democratic leadership will use the same power and not change it. the reason why a lot of the odd rules never change in the Senate - is that everyone knows eventually their side gets the perks - or the problems.
1
I’m confused about the definition of a “liberal”. So, as I understand it, a person will automatically be branded a liberal if they despise obvious government corruption by members of the GOP. Conservatives are people offended by Democrats, even when the Democrats aren’t corrupt but just think differently.
I would have thought it patriotic and showing love of country to despise obvious corruption by any government official, regardless of party, but “no”, guess that’s not so based on the labeling system I’ve experienced. Additionally, I’ve found that a person who investigates suspicious behavior by public officials will be labeled a liberal and hated for reporting their findings if the object of corruption is a GOP member and that these new conservatives will turn a blind eye as long as they’re benefiting from the suspicious behavior. This wasn’t always the case.
If you tell me you disagree with this analysis, explain how long it took you to read the Mueller report and how often you read anything contained in the Congressional Record instead of relying on FOX News, some conservative pundit or internet gossip and if you ever find yourself thinking about how nice it would be to understand why someone thinks or feels differently than you do on some issues but agrees on many others but still might vote Democrat without being a bad person.
9
It is passed time for term limits: 2 terms for Senators and 6 terms for Representatives. I'd also support 1 and 3.
3
I always wonder why he does what he does? What motivates him? I honestly believe that he’s exacting revenge for the South’s loss in the Civil War. That’s the only explanation.
14
You don't mention the millions in campaign funds Mitch and the gop received from Russian oligarchs.
616
@M H
Incredibly, prominent GOP senators like McConnell, Graham, Cruz, Cornyn, Burr, Johnson, and Thune are all in lock-step support of trump’s kowtowing to Putin’s demands for US sanctions relief on Russian oligarchs and their business interests. Romney is among them. It shows just how deeply and all pervasively the trump administration’s self-serving corruption which dramatically threatens national security has taken hold. Under normal circumstances this kind of abject support of blatant political meddling in full view would sound alarms all over the place. But a kind of public nonchalance about these developments seems to have settled in, emboldening these senators to sense that they can turn a blind eye to activity bordering on treason with impunity, which is extremely troubling.
99
@John Townsend
Now that's my idea of a worthwhile hearing......
Let's see your taxes Mitch......
Of course he loves trump...he has the same
penchant for cruelty.........aside from him being a crooked representative of the people of Kentucky.
I'll buy your Bourbon again when you stop voting for this guy.
55
@John Townsend
I’m am very interested in finding out about Russian contributions to American politicians.
83
Yes...Mitch McConnell is a sad amoral and corrupt Republican that will break any rule of Constitutional delcaration to keep power. In a functioning Democracy, McConnell would be removed from power and probably prosecuted for conspiracy, corruption, bribery, and worse.
But the really larming thing is Barak Obama and how he allowed McConnell to rule over him and once his term was up, Obama vanished and disappeared. Obama proved to be more spineless than even Robert Mueller.
Obama says to rely on voting to cha nge things....in otehr words, Obama isn't a leader worth spit. He wants the people and the grass roots tofight all the battles while he sits back and lectures and hob nobs with billionaires.
McConnell's continued run has been enabled by failed Democratic leadership and especially the likes of Obama, Joe Biden, and the Clinton's.
Why isn't Obama running for the US Senate to take McConnell's majority away?
Why isn't Joe Biden running for the US Senate to take McConnell's majority away.
Why isn't Hillary running for the US Senate to take McConnell's majority away?
The problem is the Democratic Party is NOT a party....it's just a pot of money where politicians go to fund part of their campaigns. The DNC is an empty shell....a shell created by the Demopublican Clinton's.
3
It's beyond my comprehension how McConnell's constituents continue to reelect him. He is not in the Senate to do what's right for the country but to satisfy his own ego. Don't Kentuckians have more patriotism than this?
A lesson to take away from his tenure as Majority Leader is that Senate rules are in desperate need of overhaul.
How dare he just bury bills that have wide bi-partisan support? How dare he not even bring a Presidential Supreme Court nominee to a vote? How dare he state that his most important goal is to deny Barack Obama a second term?
I was certainly under the impression that our elected members of Congress were there to do the business of this country. McConnell is doing the business of McConnell. The Democrats HAVE to take back the Senate and banish this imposter, because that's exactly what he is, into his dark corner of history.
10
Without empathy the very idea of morality becomes a moot topic.
Empathy is broached in Genesis and eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The Mitch McConnells have been with us before there were primates. We know the knowledge of good and evil is part of the nature or nurture discussion and we know Fetal Alcohol Disorder means no amount of nurturing can cure the absence of empathy and the absence of a chemical informed knowledge of good and evil in a developing brain.
The antonym of liberal is authoritarian. McConnell's power stem from a total lack of understanding of our Bible which even 2500 years ago understood empathy was incumbent on our eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
When Hannah Arendt wrote of the the banality of Evil she did so with an understanding that too many of our fellow citizens never had the opportunity to enjoy empathy as an essential part of our humanity.
Turtles are a part of my local ecosystem but even as I do what I can to ensure their survive I suspect that they like McConnell are devoid of empathy and the ability to comprehend good and evil.
4
"McConnell knows exactly what he is doing -- the pause, the smile, etc. -- and how his comments will be covered and treated. He simply doesn't care. In his mind, the chance of Trump nominating a third conservative justice in a single four-year term is well worth the vitriol he will get from Democratic activists and the negative media coverage his clear flip-flop will cause ... he understands he will never win re-election with 80% of the vote. Or maybe even 60% of the vote. He is willing to be hated and win with 50.1% if need be, if it accomplishes his longer-term goals -- the biggest of which is a conservative transformation of the judiciary. He is willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. And he could care less whether he gets called a hypocrite, which, on this issue, he quite clearly is. Or whether Democrats pledge to beat him next November. He's seen it all before. And he's still standing." (Chris Cillizza, CNN, 29May2019) A safe seat and the resulting arrogance lead directly to abuse of power, for which Mr.McConnell is the poster boy. Party above country. Also, I wonder how Mr. Kavanaugh sleeps at night. The victim of his sexual assault tells the whole world a very believable story (a search on "Kavanaugh assault" returns nearly 5 million hits). And his appointment is the result of a clear abuse of power by Mr. McConnell. What does he tell his two daughters?
10
So unlikable on every level. His dismissing of Mr. Obama prior to his inauguration was confirmation of the growing self-absorption of Mitchy: "I will do all I can to make Mr. Obama a one-term President." Not jobs. Not the economy. The Alabama-born McConnell fixated on the African-American President whose vote total in 2008 is number one all time. His support of a tax plan that aided only corporations and the wealthy showed his true allegiance as well. He and his equally morally-challenged wife gave themselves a giant tax cut while doing next to nothing for the average American.
6
When he was trying to destroy healthcare reform, and there were protests outside his office, McConnell had people in wheelchairs removed from their chairs, dragged out of the hallway, and thrown into a wagon that took them to jail.
McConnel most certainly does not belong in our Senate - let alone as the "majority leader" of whatever this GOP is calling itself these days.
If there's a place BENEATH Satan's, McConnell belongs there instead.
Leave plenty of room for Trump and his other Court jesters while you're at it. After all, Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort's jail cell is kinda tiny.
8
Without Mitch, there would be no Donald.
10
Did the Dems have anything close to a strategy? Oh, yes, I forgot: Hillary is going to win and all will be well. After all, she is running against a clown. We will fill the Scalia Supreme Court seat, and then Ginsburg will retire and we will fill her seat. Now, wasn't that easy? God help us all if Trump is re-elected. Here's another great strategy: Push Joe Biden for the nomination and let Trump make Swiss cheese out of him. That will work.
3
Spawn of Satan is apt.
Mitch has no conscience. A man with no conscience is capable of real evil. As leader of the Senate majority he took an oath to uphold the Constitution. An oath that he hasn’t fulfilled. When he refused to allow an up or down vote in the Senate for Merrick Garland he was not following the norms and dictates of the Constitution, which allows the President the right to nominate and have an vote in the Senate. Mitch has always put party before country. He is self serving to his core. Sees no conflict in having his wife serve in the Cabinet. When he refuses to recuse himself from voting for favorable shipping regulations and laws that profit his in-laws he is not true to our Constitution, only to himself.
YES, IT’S TIME TO DITCH MITCH.
2
Dare I say that McConnell is worst than Trump? He, alone, set the stage for the Supreme Court's shift in balance. If Roe v Wade is overturned, McConnell will be the reason. He is also the reason for so many conservative judges we now have in the court system.
4
I have not found one positive comment about Mitch. Is his odiousness one thing America can agree upon?
5
Rather, in a ditch, where he belongs before he completely strips our country of its democracy.
3
Mitch McConnell is up for re-election in 2020 for US Senator from Kentucky. No clear Democratic candidate has emerged to challenge him yet but it it ESSENTIAL that all those who abhor McConnell donate to the campaign of his Democratic opponent. McConnell is THE number one roadblock to any legislation that benefits the PEOPLE of the USA. Nobody outside of Kentucky ever voted for him but the entire country suffers as long as he is Senate majority leader. Get. Him. Out!
7
How did it come to pass that the Senate vests so much absolute, authoritarian power in the majority leader? Is there no mechanism by which other Republicans might override McConnell's intransigence?
6
Thank you Gail, for putting McConnell in the spotlight.
I hope that the media will keep the focus on him regularly to make his betrayal of country famous.
He has earned it.
14
I've been a political appointee to a Federal agency, worked on Capitol Hill, and otherwise been involved in the Washington political arena for a very long time. I can honestly say that McConnell has caused more damage to the country and our democratic institutions far more than anyone I have ever seen or can think of in our history (Newt Gingrich is high on the list, but he didn't serve as long). The only question is whether Trump surpasses McConnell's damage to the country. I suppose time will tell.
18
At the end of the day, he's hardly alone. He represents the entire GOP. They support him. His decisions are those that the party support.
So, don't blame McConnell. Blame the GOP.
285
Blame them all.
47
@Nick Well, Nick, sometimes it helps to put a face on it.
45
@Nick
Blame McConnell and the GOP for quashing legislation that does not fit with their fascist conservative agenda.
20
I'm not sure that Satan is as evil as Mitch McConnell.
11
It is obvious to any sentient person that McConnell has been complicit in hijacking the will of the American people to accomplish his personal goals. The good news is that he will not be in power for much longer. The bad news (among others) is that he has crammed the federal judiciary with reactionary Trump judges that will now have life-time appointments. Moreover, the Senate, which typically and historically has been the chamber for serious deliberation, (under McConnell) has eliminated the traditional method for reviewing these life-time appointments, in lieu of a slam dunk, fast track, TWO HOUR review. This is patently absurd and a disservice to the American people. Two hour review for life-time appointments? This reeks of desperation to get the getting while the gettings good (i.e., prior to Trump's possible defeat in 2020). Given the low quality of Trump's nominees (remember the one who had never been in a courtroom before but said that he was a fast learner?), this is going to be a disaster moving forward with so many federal judges out of step with society.
McConnell needs to pay a price for the damage that he has done to our country. As his new boss is so fond of threatening to put people in jail, perhaps that is where McConnell will ultimately find himself (maybe, in a cell next to his boss).
7
Term limits for all. The shorter the better.
3
Your analysis is dead on, with one omission: he just doesn't care what people think of him or how history will treat him. In this, he's worse than Gingrich but is a perfect match with Trump who shares McConnell's profile but, in a sense, is less capable of this sort of sustained power-grabbing behavior.
8
Politicians like McConnell are doing their, greedy, level-best to turn our fragile US democracy into a "federated oligarchy" where the wealthy purchase the law to best suit their own greedy desires for money and power.
What saddens me most are the average citizens who are truly uninformed enough to think that voting for basically any republican at this point in time is anything except a vote for continued inequality in a supposed land of equality... We can do so much better than this and we need to do so much better than this!
My opinion of the guy is (A) - this is the guy who blocked Garland and gung-ho for irrational, hurtful firearms policies in the US...
6
"What’s your opinion of Mitch McConnell?"
The time when McConnell is lying in state in the Capital Rotunda cannot come soon enough even though such honor would be undeserved. As unseemly as it might be, when that happens then I will be just a bit relieved knowing McConnell won't be leading the Republican charge to trash the Constitution anymore.
5
I'll go with d) traitor.
9
You make a very persuasive case that McConnell's spouse, Elaine Chao, is the worst cabinet member.
Still, the recent news that Betsy DeVos's brother, Eric Prince, joined up with Saudis, Emirates, and Russians to aid Trump's campaign makes clear that Betsy was given the Secretary of Education post not because of any qualifications, but solely as a Trump payoff to her brother and his mercenary business.
So I'd say it's a very close race between Chao and DeVos --and that's not even considering so many other Trump cabinet Schlumps (at State, Commerce, etc....)
7
The position of Senate Majority Leader is not mentioned in the Constitution. At this point, McConnell has turned the position into its own branch of government, acting as a check against all the others as needed according to his partisan needs and unbalancing the entire system.
There's been lots of talk about Congress being broken, but it's broken b/c the Senate Majority Leader can kill legislation by himself with no other legislative input. We desperately need a Constitutional amendment requiring that any bill passed in the House must be voted on in the Senate.
The Founders intended the legislators to have a role in legislation and not for every bill to be passed only with the authority of one man with an extra Constitutional role.
14
I just went to Amazon to see if there were any biographies of Mitch McConnell. I typed in "Mitch McConnell biography" and this is the first book that popped up:
"How Democracies Die" by Levitsky and Ziblatt (2018)
That title pretty much sums up Mitch McConnell's contribution to America.
Down the list was another book about Mitch, titled "Mitch McConnell Is a Chinless, Hypocritical Coward," by Domingez (2018)
13
Mitch McConnell can show no work product for the decades he has been in Congress. He has never looked at a real problem that our nation has and sought to solve it. His only function has been to collect money for campaigns. And, he has been incredibly successful having developed the perfect embouchure for smooching the butts of lobbyists and their clients. No one else in Congress has his total lack of self-respect in this regard. Then he passes about money to his fellow senators to help them with their campaign funding or reduce their debts and, of course, expects their votes to return him again and again to leadership positions and support his legislation that preys on the middle class.
11
Add the smugness at his own total lack principles. There are no words that haven’t been said.
15
Power at any cost. That's how McConnell sleeps at night. And his constituency loves him.
218
No we do not!!
25
@MistyBreeze
He has a 38% approval rating among KY voters. How does he stay in power? I know Republicans who vote along party lines no matter who the candidates are; they don't even bother to ask. They just know the Dems are "evil" or "stupid" or whatever they're told every day without evidence. Who's telling them this? FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, megachurch pastors, the NRA, the Pro-Life movement, the Russians... nobody good.
37
It is McConnell who is responsible for the destruction of our democracy and his entire caucus is in violation of their oath of office to the US constitution. Trump is the boil raised by his brand of hyper partisan politics that works only to reinforce the maintenance of power and certainly not in the interest of the people. How on earth we could be led by a miscreant from a backwater is a true mystery. All efforts should be taken to remove him from office so we may see a return to democratic principles by our elected officials.
17
Great column! But the "how" of how we 'ditch Mitch' needs to be addressed more. Americans have to vote out Republicans from the Senate! It's that simple. So how do we make the case for that?
Gail makes a great start in listing the many bills Mitch is stifling in the Senate. Like all morally and intellectually corrupt Republicans McConnell supports the extremism of "free markets" that are unregulated rather than free to others' access, as well as the extremism of the NRA. He doesn't want taxes necessary to pay for the government people want because he's (typically) beholden to Grover Norquist and the "read my lips" mantra HW Bush was hypocritical on.
Oh, and he, like most Republicans is hypocritical on . . . just about anything you can find--from SCOTUS judges to climate change to health care. Why haven't Dems removed him by now? In part, because they offer nothing as clearly supportable as Republicans do--tho the so-called GOP never seems to deliver.
5
I have a question.
Is there really nothing that Barack Obama could have done to censure Mitch Mc Connell for refusing to acknowledge his (Obama's) Supreme Court pick? Did the President really have to just let that one roll?
Is there not a process of impeachment for the Leader of the Senate for gross dereliction of duty, and if so, why was it not invoked?
It seems to me that Mc Connell and the Republicans would not have let such a thing to slide. They would have gone to the mat with it, as they did with Bill Clinton.
Why didn't the Democrats?
12
@VM Stone They assumed Hillary would win.
1
They did not realize the Russians were controlling the vote. HRC was the best most qualified candidate in history. I hope the convention drafts her.
3
We need to recognize that we're at war and should start acting like our lives depend on change.
10
the man who broke democracy.
11
Everyone in Congress should be reviewed regularly to evaluate their actions in relation to their oath of office.
There needs to be oversight.
Mitch McConnell would have been gone a long, long time ago.
He has been getting away with murder.
The murder of democracy and the murder of the country.
20
Mr. McConnell is an object example of the complaint that legislators make policy to the benefit of their donors, not their voters.
Take from that what lessons you must.
9
If the comments from subscribers in Kentucky are to be believed, voting McConnell out of office is a fantasy. Bolstered by Russian money, and those illegal donations so publicly rewarded, McConnell will retain his seat unless someone does their homework and arrests him for conspiracy to defraud the government.
The real solution is to take the Senate.
While the media and Democratic Party continue to obsess about the Presidency, the facts are that if we fail to get the Senate, our country will continue to decline for the foreseeable future.
Winning the Senate means everything.
As for Mitch McConnell, he can best be described in one word:
Traitor.
29
@Chickpea
This is only possible in a corrupt government.
McConnell knows that he is completely safe from investigation or prosecution as he willingly sells out his country.
He is a traitor.
3
He is worse than Trump. He blocks legislation on arrival from the house not even letting senate vote on Republican unpopular measures. It's long past Time the senate gets rid of him. I give him an A. on GC Test
3
Mitch, Mr. Obstruction, has done more damage to the USA and the Constitution than any politician in history, perhaps including even Trump. Trump wouldn't have unchecked power if it weren't for Mitch, so that's why I say he's possibly worse than Trump. The fact that one representative, from a low population state like Kentucky, can singlehandedly derail the US political system, as a Senator, is beyond disturbing and infuriating.
12
Evil: Profoundly immoral and wicked, according to an online dictionary. Seems like it applies to McConnell, based on the narrative laid out in Gail Collins' column. Unfortunately, since there really is no higher power, he'll probably thrive in our country until nature takes its course.
12
At some point the tide will turn as it always has in history. Self serving selfish service public servants eventually get their due. It goes against nature for one man to continue being so blatantly self serving and hypocritical. The waiting is hard but I am confident he will get what he deserves politically.
6
How did we ever allow someone in his position to have so much power? This must be corrected, it is undemocratic.
9
In 1880, in his novel, "Democracy," Henry Adams captured the essence of Mitch McConnell--and his relationship with Donald Trump.
"....This is the season when the two whited sepulchres at
either end of the [Pennsylvania] Avenue reek with the thick
atmosphere of bargain and sale....Wealth, office, power are at auction. Who bids highest: who hates with most venom? who intrigues with most skill? who has done the dirtiest, the
meanest, the darkest, and the most, political work? He shall
have his reward..."
456
I detest McConnell.
However, when our Democratic Party had the Presidency, House and Senate under Obama our folks didn't have anything like the courage of their convictions that this man has. He has the power and the "intestinal fortitude" (guts) to use it.
When we take back control I hope we stop dithering around and step on the Republican minority as they have done to us. Democrats prefer to hound good people like Al Franken out of office. It's a shame.
10
I think the man is just flat-out awful. In 2014, I donated to his opponent and I live in California (weirder still, I'm originally from Indiana). Imagine my chagrin when they called the election for McConnell about 10 minutes after the polls closed in Kentucky.
7
mitch is the real culprit in all of those so called republican folks.
4
Frankly I think "spawn of satan" pretty much describes this man. He denied a Constitutionally elected President his pick for the Supreme Court while NOW saying he would vote to confirm in the same circumstances. He has tried multiple times to strip millions of their health insurance. He supports the current president ignoring thousands of pages of evidence that he has colluded and obstructed justice. He voted for a "tax cut" that is costing working class Americans millions while now trying to cut social security and medicare because he is SO concerned about the deficit. He is a fraud. He is ignoring his Constitutional duty in order to personally enrich himself and his wife and her Chinese shipping company. Yeah...spawn of satan sounds right to me.
9
Gail, it's not just McConnell we need to bounce out of office. It's all the other Republican Senate sheepies who egg him on or let him get by with his outrages.
The disgusting speculation now is that William P. Barr wants the next Supreme Court seat.
Vote, vote, folks, to create a huge blue wave in 2020.
9
Mitch McConnell is exhibit A as to why we need TERM LIMITS!
10
@Sallie
I would prefer oversight and prosecution for crimes against the country.
3
McConnell along with the president and sycophants are a total disgrace to this country. How they continue to thrive is utterly beyond me, but they do, to the nation's detriment.
7
If you're tabulating votes, I choose A) Spawn of Satan.
9
Ms Collins. I'm a long-time reader of your column and am in awe of your talent as a writer. I would simply ask that you don't become what you hate.
The name calling is just base and will certainly bring on more of the same.
2
I have to vote for “spawn of Satan”.
7
Spawn of Satan. There is no circle in hell deep enough for this evil man.
8
Yes indeed, Dante apparently could not, even in his wildest imagination, foresee a creature like McConnell.
That's not actually Mitch's shadow. It's his boss, Satan.
8
He's garbage. Bad for the country. Boycott Kentucky until they vote him out of office.
12
Please, let this be true: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/01/24/this-is-the-guy-who-could-beat-mitch-mcconnell-in-2020/
1
The most damning thing about Mitch McConnell is that he'll take this column as an indication that he's doing his job well—a job that he defines as a scorched earth blitzkrieg to retain power and advance a conservative "Christian" agenda before demographic trends render the GOP extinct.
11
I've long thought that the reason he looks perpetually scared is that, since he's elected in Kentucky is presumably therefore a religious man to appeal to the voters there, he knows exactly where he's going after he dies.
5
Follow the money train, myopic Mitch only sees as far as his pay masters want him to.
8
It should be "pitch Mitch" along with "ditch Mitch." "Pitch" as in pitchfork - which is what he wields as an instrument of the Devil GOP and the Trump Administration. The separation of children from their parents at the border has to be one of the most egregious and evil acts our country has committed in years. "Pitch" as in asphalt - which McConnell has buried the country in with a do-nothing Senate unwilling to put country above their own self-interests. McConnell, too, has fallen under Putin's efforts to divide and weaken the United States. Woe to us if we have four more years stuck in this morass. There will be no country as we know it left.
4
McConnell is lucky enough to be representing a state where the voters can be relied on to vote against their own interests.
Black lung has been increasing despite the number of miners being far lower than in previous decades. Kentucky's trying to kill them off.
https://www.npr.org/2018/03/31/598484688/kentucky-lawmakers-limit-black-lung-claims-reviews-despite-epidemic
Kentucky is one of the states that benefited more than any other by the Obamacare laws - so they re-elect Mitch based on his vows to kill it, and they elect a governor who vows to do the same.
9
I agree with Ms. Collins and with Ed below. Not only does he undermine any moral, responsible decisions, he is one of the two 'Satans' who are rapidly destroying this country... and he's been at it for years.
4
Yes, yes, yes! Let's ditch Mitch. Oh, please, please, please. Let's get our country back.
5
The story about Elain Chao and her family business should play more prominently in this story. When I read that, I understood how Trump gets his way. It would be very easy for the Justice Department and the Commerce Department to initiate investigations into how Chao's family business operates, not to mention by any number of ethical investigation agencies. Even after the article, no followup or noise about it. Why? The agreement between McConnell and Trump is very simple, McConnell does his bidding and his family's business continues its corruption. Now, I am sure a little digging would probably find a few more fine examples of this sort of arrangement with other "principled" members of the Republican/Conservative/Evangelical Axis. That is the Mafia way, the New York Real Estate Tycoon way.
16
The president is subject to override by congress. McConnell has absolute power and cannot be overridden.
4
Nancy Pelosi is turning into the Democrats' Mitch McConnell. How is it that these two have such power over their respective branches of Congress?
1
@Dadof2 Yes. Boycott the bourbon industry. I stopped drinking it 2 years ago and sent the two producers I'd been buying for years emails (Makers Mark and Knob Creek) stating that as long as McConnell was in office I would no longer buy ANY bourbon. Money talks!
12
Ardbeg 10 is waiting patiently for you. Come on in; the water (of Islay) is fine.
Thank you, Gail for bringing the story to the forefront.
Sadly, many are buying into the Trump/McConnell narrative that the “Dems”’are “do nothing” and just in that “witch hunt”.
Mitch daily defines and exemplifies “power grab and keep”.
And, with his wife’ conduct and abuse of power/access, these two exemplify what is wrong in Washington.
Now, if we can just get the rest of the press and citizens to understand that Mitch is single-handedly holding up our country and good, solid legislation.
True that former Leader Reid pulled a few of the same tricks; however, legislation did get done and the work of our government did get done.
Now, we have one man, and it is not Trump, more powerful than all the rest...
Yes, DITCH MITCH!
7
@DM
What Reid did or did not do is not the issue now, even if it doesn't come close to McConnell's antics.
And it doesn't come close.
McConnell and the Republican Party are dreadful. Making a prediction: McConnell will aid Trump in ending term limits for the President at the end of Trump’s second term. Trump will be President for the rest of his life.
3
Rather than castigate Mitch McConnell, the author should focus on the death of bipartisanship in the Senate. Long before Senator McConnell, Harry Reid elevated partisanship over policy. Senator Reid routinely refused to bring bipartisan legislation to the floor. Senator Reid even introduced the the nuclear option, allowing confirmation by majority vote, for presidential appointees and federal circuit and district judicial nominees. This death of civility occurred, in short, long before the Republicans assumed majority status.
3
@Christopher Rillo
And what have you got to say now, since that "majority" required, per republican dictate, is even lower.
1
I believe that Mitch's governing philosophy is: Party Over Country. If its good for the Republican party, and bad for the country - Mitch will opt for the Republican side. Hence, when Mr. McConnell runs for the Senate in 2020, POC signs should be used to denote his overall governing mentality.
7
I have been saying just this for many months. McConnell is as evil as trump. Neither of them deserve anything but utter contempt.
17
McConnell is a disgrace to American values.indeed, he is a disgrace to all we used to stand for. He is so corrupt that it makes us seethe with anger so strong that we will do everything we can to defeat him in his re-election bid. Goodbye you corrupt, self-serving loser.
9
Demographically speaking, it would be easier to explain a Republican House and Democratic Senate, given the systematic gerrymandering and takeover of state legislatures by Republicans these past several years. But instead, we have the opposite.
One could say that this state of affairs traces its origin to the fact that following the Civil War, the North assumed its values would spread westward, while those of the South would stay confined to the South. But what really happened was that the values of the North and the South spread to the West in equal measure.
And along with the gradual abandonment of power by Congress in favor of an assertive Executive Branch, we have a similar assertion of power by the Senate vis-a-vis the House. The Senate's power to confirm justices and cabinet picks has gone from formality to glaring power asymmetry versus the House.
And finally, the population of federal government agencies by aggressive political appointees (sources of power that didn't exist when the founding fathers conceived of three equal branches), and the takeover is complete.
Thus the fact that Democrats control only the House (along with a minority of state governorships) today represents probably no more than 10% of the total political power in the U.S. With 90% of the power in the hands of Republicans, there are no short cuts available to Democrats - just a long hard slog to regain some political power from the ground up.
5
@Polyglot8
"Demographically speaking, it would be easier to explain a Republican House and Democratic Senate, given the systematic gerrymandering and takeover of state legislatures by Republicans these past several years. But instead, we have the opposite."
Perhaps that tells you that Gerrymandering is not nearly as prevalent as Dems suggest????
1
He can flippantly smile when he calls himself 'The Grim Reaper' and casually say if there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court near the end of this 'so-called' president's term, he'd of course, fill it. Yet, know this, the day of reckoning will come in the here or the hereafter. Justice will be served. He will not be so flippant or casual when the grand reaper separates the wheat from the chaff.
7
There is no diff between Xi of Communist party of China and Mitch of GOP. Both are drunk with power and have put their party over country.
9
Isn't the real problem that we now live in an oligarchy? 45, Mitch and Cornyn are just appointees from the dark money folks?
12
McConnell and Chao will be remembered as enabling grifters and gutterers of American democracy. History will judge McConnell's decision to not even allow Merrick Garland a hearing for the Supreme Court the beginning of the end of the American experiment. He has no shame, apparently no moral conscience. His only allegiance seems to be to the NRA (hence the common horrific mass shootings, a uniquely horrible American nightmare) and the far right. Trump's shoe shine boy.
14
Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. is public enemy number one. He single-handedly stole a Supreme Court Justice of the United States from a duly elected President of the United States. He has the gall to now joke, that under the same circumstances of a vacancy opening on the court during a presidential election year, he would fill it. Hypocrite is thy middle name. He also vowed to use his power as Senate Leader, to obstruct President Obama at every turn and to limit him to one term. The American people saw it differently and elected him to a second term, but it was really the American people who suffered the stone walling of needed legislation that would have benefited their lives.
McConnell is again using his office of Senate Leader to block much needed legislation from a Democrat majority House of Representatives. At least allow robust debate on the Senate floor for issues vital to all Americans.
There is nothing but contempt for this vile individual. It is never to late to at least boot him from his perched as Senate Leader. History will not be kind to him for his many dirty deeds, and rightfully so much deserved. The sooner we can get rid of old Mitch, the better. Good riddance!
19
Democrats should work hard to pick up this seat in 2020 and send McConnell packing. He has his own agenda.
8
Thank you N.Y. Times for your recent detailed descriptions of Mitch and Elaine’s money-grubbing shenanigans.
I now begin to understand why she married Mitch, and why Boeing’s planes are dropping from the skies.
10
The comments for this piece are exactly like every comment in McConnell’s Twitter feed. Hardly a positive one in the bunch.
3
I've already given some bucks to the Ditch Mitch campaign.
Every word is true, Gail. How can one man make the decision not to put forward for a vote more than 100 bills passed by the other arm of Congress, the House. Can the fact of co-equal branches of government, so created by our Founders, be so set aside or just not respected? No wonder the imposter in the Oval Office thinks he's an autocratic ruler.
And how did he get his wife a cabinet post to promote her family's interests? Of course, with the autocrat in the White House openly promoting his businesses and "brand" with nary a whimper from one Republican, it's not surprising that McConnell gets away with such self-serving behaviour.
9
Now we need a standout star in Kentucky to take him on.
7
It would be my bet that a majority of folks in Kentucky don't read the NYT or attempt to find news channels that are unbiased. Personally, I think BBC World News America does a pretty good job!
3
The sad part is that he has a 50% disapproval in Kentucky, but I'd be shocked if he isn't re-elected in 2020.
6
If the folks in Kentucky don’t like Mitch that much, maybe they could help get him unelected and open the gates for the passage of legislation that would benefit all of us. We’re counting on you, Kentuckians!
4
@Andy
ditchmitchfund.com
Join us in our effort to make sure that doesn't happen, the work started long before today.
I am donating to his opposition, and I will canvas and make phone calls in Kentucky, if the Dems or some other group organizes it.
Apparently, it takes a country to get rid of this guy.
9
I know we shouldn't make fun of appearance, but can't we at least say the man has a character as weak as his chin?
6
McConnell routinely sits at or near the bottom in terms of Senators' approval ratings in their states. Why he isn't the prime target of Democrats escapes me.
https://morningconsult.com/senator-rankings/
4
A disgrace to the nation and to the human race.
8
McConnell is a disgrace to Americans, and Kentucky should be ashamed of him, rather than continue to re-elect him. Shame on the State of Kentucky. That McConnell had the nerve to not allow Obama's nominee for Supreme Court justice to proceed for eight months--what if another justice had passed away in the interim?--says it all. I think I will support his opponent, if McConnell runs again. I think it's brilliant that, in his interviews, Dem. presidential candidate Michael Bennett often remarks about what a snake McConnell is. Just in case some folks don't realize it.
5
"Spawn of Satan" doesn't come close. There are no words for this man. I think he may be worse than Cheney. Where Cheney occasionally showed some aggressive qualities McConnell mostly just comes off as sneaky. But again, there isn't a word for this degree of sneakiness or evil.
7
in light of Georgia's effective abortion bad, many companies (film and others) are promising/threatening Georgia boycotts.
Freely admitting I've never been to Kentucky and besides bourbon, horses and corrupt politicians I have no idea what the economy is based upon but why doesn't the rest of the US impose a Kentucky boycott until he is forced out of office? Would be sauce for the gander, I think.
6
Psychopath is the only word to describe McConnell. Care nothing about other people, especially does not care about the American People. Cares only about satisfying the billionaires and corporations that give him money. Truly the most corrupt person in Washington, and that's in a Washington that includes Trump,the most corrupt 'president" in history. He is the shame of Kentucky.
11
I have utter contempt for the people of Kentucky for repeatedly sending this creep to the us senate.
10
Mitch is a cheater, traitor to my beloved USA.
He has handily hurt America and american dream more then anyone else in the history, just for the sake of his own power.
9
McConnell is a more disgusting human being then Trump. It’s time for the rest of us to lean on Kentucky voters to do the right thing and get this troll out of office. One of the commenters here from Kentucky wrote that the only reason McConnell is kept in office by voters there is because he feigns an anti-abortion stance. Wake up, Kentucky. McConnell is infinitely more immoral than some poor woman who has an abortion. Wake up!
11
First of all McConnell and his republican cohorts HATE DEMOCRACY with a passion that burns like a supernova.
They also hate 52% of the population, women.
They also hate people of color.
They also hate the poor who's poverty they are responsible for.
Truth be told they hate each other.
But they worship money above all else, and that's why they're in the senate, the house and populate the judgeships, including the federal courts and the supreme courts.
8
It's no joke the way he and his wife are grifting from our government, and enabling a truly evil man to serve as president. The threats to our Democracy lie within our borders.
7
I pick EVIL!!!. He kills bills for Sport. I never have approved of killing anything for sport or pleasure. I recently learned how rich Elaine Chao's family is and how Trump bought McConnell's loyalty by appointing his wife as a Cabinet Member.
4
Mitch McConnell is simply anti-American.
8
past hill employees/interns have told me "McConnell runs Washington, he knows everyone's skeletons."
Think about that. Everyone's.
3
There's an "us" in this?
"Drizzle Drazzle Drozzle Drone, time for [that] one to [go] home" (you've got to be over 50--or look it up on Google--to get it).
2
McConnel is complicit in the Trump obstruction nightmare. Impeach Mitch too!
9
There are eighteen months to election, McConnell's approval in KY is in the thirties, and—
the Democrats have yet to field a candidate.
Go DNC.
6
Sorry Gail. It’s not your fault, but there’s just nothing funny about any of this anymore.
4
Say what you will about the odious Mitch, but, as with Trump, the skulduggery and debased moral character they are able to evidence in the public sphere says as much about their electorate as it does about them. How do you drain that cesspool?
8
That is the real problem.
6
I think every self respecting Democrat should move to Kentucky in 2019 to vote against him in 2020.
7
McConnell is carrying out the will of Republicans. He does not want the Federal Government to function effectively, if at all. The over-arching goal of the GOP is to drastically reduce the size and jurisdiction of the Federal Government. The only thing it should do is make wars, but it should do that as expensively as possible. McConnell is doing an excellent job, given the characteristics he and his party have assigned to it.
So, it's not a matter of him failing to do his job. He's doing the job he and the GOP have defined very well. This is why he was chosen in the first place. If we don't like it, vote him and every other Republican senator out of office.
9
This man is a scourge on American political life. Ms. Collins suggest that for a person elected only by the state of Kentucky to have so much power is a weakness in the American political system- and I agree. Of course Harry Reid can be partially blamed for what McConnell has done because he did what he could to abolish the filibuster. In certain situations the filibuster was a tool that kept bad things from happening even though many people were not fans of it. The present House of Representatives has passed several bills this session which would be helpful to the American people, yet McConnell has determined that they will die without a hearing in the Senate. He is corrupting our democracy just as much as POTUS and he was not elected by the majority of us or the electoral college!
6
I shouldn't have read this article because all it does is annoy me. I know all of the wrongs Mr. McConnell has done. All the harm he has inflicted on our democracy. Aside from the SCOTUS robbery my low-lights would include stopping the Obama Administration from issuing a bi-partisan letter noting Russian interference in 2016. The GOP tax cut in 2017 has also been a disaster for the budget and debt. We know how to fix it but no leadership will tell we the people what we should do.
It seems to me that the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House, each have far too much authority. There is far too much "party" before country and it is going to destroy us.
3
True. but the fault lies with the democrats who have been fearful of using the court as a message. Republicans had abortion and gun rights, the democrats had noting but, oh, I don't know: voting rights; the environment; policing, abortion rights, gun control.
The dems are worried about losing voters they will rarely if ever get.
2
The man has the ethics of an 8-year-old schoolyard bully.
3
Mitch has always been in the Gingrich "Impeach Clinton" tradition. Party before Country. Unabashed. His state is one of the poorest in the country. Its education is at the bottom. Face it, McConnell and his wife are lobbyists. He's made a fortune doing public service, while his state lags. Opportunism at its finest. And, to top it all off...he's shameless. Just another old Dixiecrat in GOP garb.
10
Thanks for telling it like it is . Best comment.
Mitch McConnell is the single most malignant force in American politics in the history of the Republican. History will not be kind. But he doesn't care, he'll be gone and his legacy will be cemented for generations.
And as for Chao, bas as she is, she'll never be worse than Betsy DeVos or Billy "Cover-up" Barr.
5
It seems America is for sale looking at the connections Trump, McConnell and other GOPs have. But I'm afraid they will win 2020 ONLY because of race based votes. Only way to get rid of these parasites is to go out and vote.
2
Personally, I think Mitch McConnell's spirit animal is the slug. And, I agree. Grossly unfair to turtles.
3
You had me at the title “Ditch Mitch” but then you noted some Madam Speaker Pelosi’s accomplishments in the house.. and now I am hoping that you and Nancy are actually friends! You two strategizing brings me great joy!
On the Garland topic.. I will go to my grave ashamed about the fact we did not protest every weekend, everywhere, against this theft. I complain about to my husband, every few weeks till this day.
We were the turtles,hiding in our respective shells.
Never again!
6
And all Allison Lundgren had to do in 2012 was be brave enough to to tell KY that their beloved KYCare was actually ObamaCare...
But she tried to thread the needle and lost.
5
Democrats need to make McConnell and Elaine Chao (why doesn't she take her husband's name like Hillary did?) the power-hungry, elite, insider poster couple of greed and corruption who have not an ounce of heart for the "common people" they are supposed to serve. They don't belong in public service. Hillary lost by a hair because Republicans had no compunction about smearing and investigating her and her husband in every way they could since the day Bill Clinton took office. That's why so many Obama and Sanders voters just couldn't vote for her. Democrats are way behind in shaping public perceptions of Republican power players. In McConnell's case, it won't require them to tell lies, just the truth. Better get to it.
5
Mitch McConnell will go down in history as the leader of the divisive movement in the Republican party, starting in the Obama administration. His acts are purely political and his deeds are deceptive. He is the leader of the swamp.
6
Mitch is a cancer on our country. Toxic, aggressive, out of touch. Rural states have too much power in the Senate. Why do we have two senators per state regardless of population? One citizen should not have 3-4 times more voting power than another because of where they live. If the entire country took a vote on this guy, he'd probably have 1% support. Yet he is an almighty god who invents his own rules to push his own agenda (or the NRA's).
9
@Alkthe The Senate is a creation of necessity. The founding fathers had to U.S. convince the less populated states to join the compact and agree to be adhere to the Constitution. the Senate was created to provide equality between the States , not to prevent "mob rule" . Unfortunately this has resulted in tyranny by the minority, with smaller states exercising power disproportionate to their population. The same Constitutional compromise was made on the issue of slavery resulting in equally damaging and immoral results.
1
You said it sister. DITCH MITCH !
2
To your question, clearly the churlish spawn of Satan.
This Kentuckian must go.
Even more than Trump. ( I say that with no reluctance) Ditch Mitch.
He's the man behind the Red Curtain of influence you can be sure.
4
They only thing that is more nauseous to watch on TV than Trump is this excuse for a human.
That he take pride in his evil destructiveness is not surprising. In my opinion, he is way more evil than Trump. He is actually manipulating Trump, and using him as a screen behind which he is implementing the destruction of the Courts.
4
Right on!
1
One word for Mitch and Elaine: Dirty
6
President Id has an excuse. He can say "look at me, I got Narsystmism, I'm in the Guiness for yuge psychopatty."
McConnell, on the other hand, is only 50th percentile Narcissistic, a lot like his fellow legislators.
So he's got no excuse. No mitigating factors.
No one to blame. Except himself.
3
Mitch is to Trump as Vice was to W. In short the brains of the evil axis. I hope someone like Amy McGrath runs against him, and sends him packing.
3
@George Murphy
Trump is Mitch's dream; Mitch runs DC, and the government; he needed Trump bc DJT is such an immense distraction while he loads the courts. They wanted the courts, what else matters? It was brilliant on their part. How many of us stop to even think about the fact that the President is 24/7 news? We used to hear the pres speak in the rose garden ocassionaly during crisis or foreign trips. This distraction has hypnotized most. When Hillary got toward the end, and was really pushing for votes, she started they "hey, if you dont want me, want your courts".. Mitch won 35 yrs of court decisions. My guess is Roberts wishes this was not the case. What a road to hoe. Obama and D's needed to fill a lot of judgeships in the lower courts and didnt. Many of us are getting our first real civics education way way too late. Senate and Judges. They are what matter. Pres is a puppet with a few rare historical exceptions.
1
God! He’s just so-o-o creepy! He looks like the kid that ate lunch with the janitor in middle school. And, talk about mean-spirited. I bet he’s never had a dog - and I don’t mean a hunting dog that’s used more like a tool than a buddy. He and “the little woman” seem so ill-suited for one another that I’m guessing it’s more a marriage of convenience - cash for power and connections - and, truth be told, he’s probably Lindsay Graham’s main squeeze.
2
Why is it constitutional that a rube from Kentucky can have ultimate power over the business of the Senate? Are there not 99 others?
7
My husbands always said that McConnell’s mother weaned him on a pickle.
8
Republicans are so blinded by power they are doing a disservice to the country. Democrats are so bound to righteousness that they keep shooting themselves in the foot. Our system is broken.
3
Mitch McConnell is the prince of darkness. He is calculating, ruthless, merciless, conscienceless. He has never lost an election. No candidate he has defeated has ever again run for elective office. He destroys people, and delights in the process. He plays his cards close to the vest, and rarely if ever has to utter the lame excuse “I misspoke.” Before Obama even assumed office McConnell devised the strategy of opposing everything, his assumption being that nothing would get done and Obama would be blamed. He is the architect of the gridlock and paralysis we have seen ever since.
In 2012 McConnell had dreams of becoming Senate majority leader. But the Tea Party unseated a number of popular Republican incumbents, such as Dick Lugar of Indiana, and nominated instead candidates with such bizarre views on subjects like rape that they lost their elections. The Republicans did not take the Senate, McConnell did not become majority leader. Within weeks of that election the leader of the Tea Party in the Senate, Jim DeMint, received an offer to come work at the Heritage Foundation for a salary of around a million dollars a year, far above his salary as a senator from South Carolina. As soon as I heard about this I saw McConnell’s fingerprints all over this deal.
Never underestimate Mitch McConnell. A biography of him is aptly entitled “The Cynic.” He has done incalculable damage to the republic and to the people of the commonwealth of Kentucky, whom he is supposed to serve.
5
McConnell is one of the worst things to ever happen to America.
7
@john
Evidently so is Kentucky
3
I hope and pray for the day the good people of Kentucky vote this partisan hack out of office.
2
There will be dozens of books written about the downfall of the Republican Party...its moral decline, its decaying democratic foundations, its vacuous absence of any sense of fair play or equity, its dominating intrusion into the lives of Americans, and ultimately the hypocrisy displayed with pride at ever possible opportunity. Pathetic people.
5
Mitch McConnell is a bum who's spent his time as in office obstructing justice and shredding the Constitution.
If some decent person would primary him, I'd send them a campaign contribution - even a Republican.
As long as he remains in the Senate, Mitch McConnell is destroying our democracy.
4
Is the greatest threat to the republic the Republican party?
6
O' that we could ditch the smug profiteer.
He is despised by all discerning Americans and loved by those who have no values or virtues. He will die self satisfied but history will condemn him as the epitome of an arrogant unAmerican agent of selfishness and power abuse.
2
Gail—suggest you sharpen a box of pencils—wait and see what Mitch does to Articles of Impeachment sent to the Senate from the House
1
The Constitution needs to be changed to allow for a much more democratic system of representation. The leader of the Senate, an idiot from a backward state, unelected by anyone outside of that state, holds enormous power over the nation at large. The reactionary, extremists on the right have an absolute lock on power and are flooding the judiciary with lifelong appointments to the bench that will doom this country for decades to come. The US is in deep, deep trouble. We live in an oligarchy, and the Republicans are the absolute arbiters of legislation who block and maneuver and protect the Oligarchs, who are running the show from behind the scenes. I'm sick of it. We will soon live in an autocracy, where US military/police power will subjugate all Americans, surveil their every move, and prevent any revolutionary change, which is what we desperately need. And at least half the country will be fine with this. Very disturbing times we live in.
3
McConnnell and Trump are just truly bad men.
3
McConnell/Trump gave themselves & ultra wealthy a $1.5 trillion tax cut while we the regular people got nothing! McConnell/Trump & their families are making hundreds of millions of $s through legalized corruption while we the regular people struggle w daily necessities like healthcare. McConnell/Trump pulling government strings all day long to benefit their own families. How’s your family doing compared to McConnell/Trump’s families?!
3
McConnell is the Speed Bump of the Senate; the keystone of the Trump-McConnell -Barr Axis of Anarchy. While he holds the Senate in his zombie grip, the Republic is imperiled. Mitch is the most dangerous Confederate since Robert E. Lee.
6
McConnell and Chao are no different than what Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos were to the Philippines.
4
If the House impeaches Trump, will McConnell allow a Senate trial?
1
Nope.
2
McConnell is the epitome of evil. He believes in nothing except power.
1
McConnell should be the poster child for term limits.
1
If there will be a single person responsible for destroying America's democracy it won't be Trump but McConnell. Trump always has been and always will be a buffoon of very limited ability (of course buffoons can be dangerous too), but McConnell has very deliberately set out to erode and white-ant they very foundations of American democracy. When the history of twenty first century America is written, I hope McConnell's treasonous role is written accurately.
3
Did Ms Collins ever write inquiring articles asking how Harry Reid accumulated a net worth of $10 million from a lifetime of civil service? How Bill & Hillary amassed $100 million in just 15 years? How Nancy Pelosi built a net worth north of $100 million as a career politician? Just curious.
1
@Once From Rome Does their malfeasance excuse that of McConnell?
1
Apparently McConnell is not so popular with Kentuckians and is very unpopular nationally. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/431002-poll-33-of-kentucky-voters-approve-of-mcconnell
2
It is, in my opinion, evil, to give the rich a tax break and then cause huge deficits that you blame on social security and medicare.
Does Mitch think we are all stupid or that we just don't mind getting robbed?
5
Have you seen the cover of The New Yorker, June 3?
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2019-06-03
Barry Blitt’s “The Shining”
1
I really hope NY Times can chase to the bottom of the sleazy money, tens of millions, McConnell and his wife have received related to lobbying for the family shipping industry through their political clout with a foreign country.
4
Fascism, and here is the Wikipedia definition, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism), is what is not mentioned in the article, but should be. Call the intentional destruction of all interests but those of the great leader for what it is, American Fascism.
It is about white power, racial politics, the same that elected the terrible Bush family, and of course, Trump. White nationalism hides behind Mitch, but it is what is driving this country to its confrontation with those who hate democracy, in 2020, in the streets.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
4
@Hugh MassengillFascism is not all that this is..the GOP sees the population boom and wants to get behind the negative forces that it will generate in society, pure and simple.
"The Hobbesian Nightmare is herein used to mean a chaotic, conflict-torn society where social strata are engrossed in a self-centered perpetual antagonism that escalates to wide scale violence in which the state apparatus fails to enforce law and order across its territories."
You take out Pelosi first...then we can talk about Mitch.
Deal?
I pick EVIL!!!. He kills bills for Sport. I never have approved of killing anything for sport or pleasure. I recently learned how rich Elaine Chao's family is and how Trump bought McConnell's loyalty by appointing his wife as a Cabinet Member.
2
Democrats and all Americans know what they are up against. Look, when he outright dissed Obama - not even caring about the racist implications and possibly believing HRC would be the next president - we knew McConnell was the worst. Then, he got further enabled and enriched by DJT's election. He is a morally bankrupt, very effective Republican tool. Why doesn't the media focus on him, his wife and his cravenness more and DJT's idiocy less? At the end of the day, McConnell will be neck and neck with Dick Cheney for worst american ever.
3
McConnell, as historian Christopher Browning pointed out, is the gravedigger of democracy. He is the one most responsible for the devolution of our democracy. By adulterating the courts, including SCOTUS, with theocrats, misogynists, incompetents, bigots, racists, crooks, liars, and creditably accused sexual predators he has effectively destroyed any hope for justice in the courts. But the worst thing he has done is to cripple the senate turning it into a legislative graveyard. He, along with Barr and Trump, is trying to cripple the House, as well. If that happens, this democracy is dead. If McConnell falls, Trump falls. And he must fall.
2
Great post! We tend to focus our disgust on Trump, and rightfully so, but McConnell is just as bad, perhaps worse. It is he that is blocking this country’s progress, he that is obstructing democratic governance (small “d”) and he that is the mealy-mouthed attack dog for Donald Trump in the soon-to-be-formerly-Republican-controlled Senate.
It was McConnell that illegally refused to consider Obama’s entitlement to appoint a SCOTUS justice (think about how the feckless Republicans would scream and whine if the Democrats did this to them). It is McConnell that backstops a criminal Executive and destroys our rule of law.
This diminutive frog-faced spawn of satan (well, it’s the truth, isn’t it!) is about unAmerican as one can get, and he has provoked what might become a second Civil War to validate our Constitution once again.
Relegate BOTH Trump and McConnell to the swamp heap of history and put them in jail where they truly belong. Do you hear that, Nancy?
3
He is a total disgrace to this country. That sums up my feeling about him.
3
Trump is Trump.
Congress is hopelessly corrupt.
The Justice Department is a joke.
God Bless America!
This piece is far, far too lighthearted. McDonnell is at the heart of everything wrong with current American politics. He should be immediately fired/impeached/thrown out, with his pension revoked - not that he needs it, with the Chao family behind him. Get rid of this creep, we beg of you. What's going on in Kentucky, anyway?
2
Gosh, being a GOP consultant must be the easiest way to get work. First, secretly promise tax cuts to donors in the Lucky Sperm Club, Second, scare the TV addicted w lies about: “War on Coal”, Socialism”, “Executing babies torn from their mother’s womb”, “Taking your guns away”, “Open Borders”. Third, throw in a few emotional wedge issues that don’t impact any of them, like taking a knee, gender identity, women’s march, BLM, etc. Fourth and Finally, have these lies repeated by silver haired white men, or attractive blonde females, on Fox News or at next Sunday’s church services, and the deed is done.
4
Gail,
I just love your columns!
1
Impeach him for dereliction of duty?
1
Thank you! Keep the heat on Mitch! And Elaine Chao! So what's the news on the Senate race in Kentucky?
1
Republican Party has hijacked the leaders of Christian churches.
Money and power have replaced Jesus’ grace and mercy.
How sad!
5
Yes, I loathe Mitch even more than I loathe Trump.
3
Gang GOP has become a lawless group of constitutional domestic terrorist. Greed being the driving force behind their actions. When in our Country’s has voting and voice become, “only for our side “, other than darker times.
2
McConnell is the single most viral member of the United States
Government in our history!
1
Mitch McConnell: Worst American of the 21st Century.
3
Gail
Given your less than stellar looks I find it surprising and a bit hypocritical of you to ask readers to judge Mitch on his looks. That’s hysterical and outrageously funny.
3
I recommend PBS Frontline recent biopic on McConnell: “Supreme Revenge”
2
A, B and C...particularly A.
2
How is it that one greedy old man can be permitted to do so much damage to our country?
4
Mitch McConnell is the most effective agent of the drive to turn the United States into a Russian-style kleptocracy ruled by a Republican oligahttps://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533763/democracy-in-chains-by-nancy-maclean/9781101980972/rchy. Nancy MacLean has his number.
4
That book is so prescient.
Column would have been more helpful in 2014 when he actually had an opponent and was the same right wing, extremist, store bought Putin sympathizer he is now.
4
To bad the author didn't include any steps we can take to "ditch Mitch". He is up for election November 2020. He won by about 15 points in 2014 against a weak opponent, Alison Grimes, so there is a decent chance to "retire" him soon. We need to give the Kentucky Democratic party the funding and help to oust him. The other steps we can take are to make sure the GOP loses the Senate in 2020. Lets match the 2018 "blue wave" with a 2020 version and then we can begin to heal the damage that Mitch and the don have committed to our country.
2
It is the great shame of republicans and the state of Kentucky that our gov. has rewarded for so long the damage to our country that is Mitch McConnell. He has apparently been rewarded financially on a personal level too. With the cramming of the courts with reactionary judges away from the reach of voters it may be time to make changes to the court system that better reflect our society.
7
I do have to give Leader McConnell some credit. Just about every other politician at least pretends to have respect for the process, fair play, and moral consistency. Not good old Mitch! And he's shameless about it. Which, in his case, is probably helpful.
2
There's resounding agreement in these comments. The question is what do we as citizens do? MoveOn dot org seems organized and effective. Consider sending them a small donation and earmarking it for ads for McConnell's opponent in Kentucky. There needs to be a full out country spotlight on Ky. voters: "The country is watching you...we care about you...we hear you...but YOU are getting hurt, here's how...."
Kentuckians are good people (probably except a few, like everywhere). Abortion rights/responsibilities are going to be important. A Democratic candidate needs to say, "We will open this up for discussion and try to find the best possible moderate solution. But we won't ignore you Kentuckians."
2
I vote for "Spawn of Satan". How is it possible that one man, either Democrat or Republican, holds so much power over the country while being elected by the voters of a single state? I did not vote for Mitch McEvil yet he is single-handedly deciding my future. There is something seriously wrong here, folks. This does not feel like a democracy. What gets brought to the floor for a vote needs to be a committee decision (made up of both Democrats and Republicans), not the choice of one individual who "rules" without constraint. We need to get focused on removing McEvil from this position by taking over the Senate in 2020. Oh, and also get rid of President Bonespur in the process.
8
Mitch McConnell seems to run on greed rather than on commitment to the American public, to his constituents or to the Constitution. His record of accepting large donations from our adversary, Russia, is exceeded only by Trump's willingness to take money from any source, no matter how antithetical to the country's best interests.
According to Esquire magazine, it is the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate into whose PAC Deripaska's partner dumped $3.5 million between 2015 and 2017. McConnell received $millions from other Russian oligarchs as well during his 2016 campaign.
Furthermore, he backed a $200,000,000 infusion of Russian money into an aluminum plant in Kentucky. While McConnell may look like a slow-moving member of the testudines family in the order of reptiles, he seems to be very busy enlarging his already swollen coffers while refusing to pass along legitimate legislation for a vote in the Senate. Shameful!
7
No amount of vituperation would be sufficient to describe his partisan political behavior.
BUT we need to stop complaining and contribute to the " Ditch Mitch " Grassroots Campaign. PLEASE check it out online!!
5
I really like McConnell, and am thankful for his tireless efforts to preserve America, and protect it from the likes of Obama and the liberals in the House. That the Senate doesn't take up every piece of garbage messaging bill that Pelosi passes is a good thing. On the Court, McConnell is doing us a great service, as the Court will be our last bulwark should a liberal win in 2020. I don't want to live in Bernie Sanders' America, and Mitch is doing a wonderful job of preventing that.
4
@DRS Interesting how many conservatives often spout the "America: Love it Leave it!" philosophy, but rarely apply it to themselves.
2
one man - one elected official - should never ever have this much power. His actions - or rather the lack thereof -are obscene.
3
McConnell is yet another Republican who originally managed to get elected with less than 50% of the vote.
He got 56% of the vote in 2014. That was a very different time, pre-Trump, with a black president in the WH. Large numbers of KY residents oppose him. He is beatable next year. Our KY bretheren need to roll up their sleeves, nominate a respectable moderate, and get it done. The rest of us need to send money.
2
Mitch “Made in China” McConnell. Devoid of any ethics or morals like his President. Is it time for Congressional term limits yet? I’d say it is.
3
Perfect and succinct view of what is likely the worst example of the corrupt and hateful yet overly powerful politician.
One can only hope that the more even red voters see and understand the more they'll choose candidates that actually serve them,
Of course that's only hope, isn't it?
Senator Palpatine...
3
He was a nowhere man until his father in-law bought him his position , while also assuring his daughter got her place to further add to his millions while devolving the American Maritime shipping industry for Chinese advantage . It has been said a man has no honor in his country , but in this case we have dishonest , dishonorable men and women not serving our country . Their allegiance lies in acquiring money and thru that power . Republicans have you no shame or a shred of honor ? Impeach McConnell and have his wife join the Pruitts , Zinkes and all the other rogues in Trump's gallery . They are not patriots and traitors to America .
2
We live in a Democracy that is entirely controlled by two morally bankrupt, power hungry ego-maniacs who have never held country-wide majority support once in their political lives.
They are modern day Pied Pipers, and their lemmings number near 40% of the country. And they are going to lead as many people off the cliff as inhumanly possible before it's all over.
It's like a flat-earth, anti-vaxx, racist, power at any cost, climate change denier's dream come true. And a pure, unmitigated nightmare for the rest of us.
4
Obstruction is not leadership, no matter how hard you've worked it, no matter how regularly you've practiced it to perverted perfection, Mitch.
Just think, in order to get the privilege to obstruct, Mitch and his republican buddies have pandered to gun nuts, racists, neo-nazis, religious nuts, and most importantly, the trust fund wealthy crybaby class.
We're going to hold a party for Mitch when he's gone, and we're going to hold true to his obstructionist principles, and not invite him or anyone he knows.
It's going to be a great party.
5
To quote a certain megalomaniac, “Lock him up”!
1
Mitch - the evil wizard behind the throne.
1
Amen Gail. This guy is the devil's handmaid. Him and Elaine need to go back to Kentucky, or is it Shanghai, now.
1
Turtles sing to their children?
2
No scruples, no moral compass, unlimited power corrupting limitlessly. Vile, nasty, small-minded.
Kentucky had better wake up.
Thank you, Gail, for making light of this truly disgusting man. He thinks he has a legacy to protect. No. His legacy will be that he is a man of low ability who got drunk on power and held back good solid legislation and judges for reasons of pure greed and self-aggrandizement. YUK!
1
What's wrong with Kentucky? Do the Koch Brothers give out bribes at election time, what, free turkeys? Free Oxy? It's up to the voters of Kentucky to care enough if not about guns and choice then about health care, jobs, infrastructure, and the environment to vote for someone who at least believes in the rule of law. It's pathetic that he, one old rich white guy, won't even let bills come up for a vote. Why is he popular in Kentucky?
2
He’s inscrutable, but I suspect he’s a true confederate who’s getting his revenge for the old south. He WANTS to destroy the nation we all thought we all loved. He doesn’t. He hates it.
3
@Kurt You are closer to the truth that most people imagine. The Confederates lost the battlefield but not the war. In 1971 William Powell laid out the plan, take over the courts, bankrupt the Yankee Government with huge deficits and enlist reactionary religion and media to trash talk everyone. Obstructionism until victory. The flaw in this thinking is that most adults loathe obstruction as abuse and a betrayal of democratic values. McConnell's judges are putrid and will disappear soon enough. Extremism always defeats itself.
1
Mitch is a vile disgusting man and should be shown the door, echo his wife. He has damaged our country with his actions . Another tyrant in office. It is not OK to pack our courts and to refuse to bring bills to the floor.
It is not OK to have a relative in Office. It i not OK to do the NRA's bidding. These are serious, damaging acts, not the way our democracy works,
2
This man McConnell is so absolutely disgusting and deserves to be removed from office on grounds of obstruction of justice, literally.
2
McConnell is so despicable, in the strongest sense of the word, that he doesn't deserve the humor you lavish on him. He has had the most awful influence on American politics in recent memory. Not only should he be ashamed of himself (especially for his Supreme Court nomination hypocrisy), but all those in Kentucky who ever voted for him should be ashamed, too. Of course, they probably think he's great.
That Republicans continue to elect such terrible people (Nixon, Reagan, GW Bush... Trump!?) shows how little they truly care about honor, fairness, decency and the rule of law.
2
Long long ago somewhere in Kentucky someone turned a rock over, and...
1
A truly despicable little man. The media focuses too much on Trump, another despicable human being, and not enough on McConnel so thank you for this piece.
3
A horrible shameless man who consistently blocked President Obama's efforts to improve the lives of Americans, and America's standing in the world. A man willing to disregard democratic principles just so he can advance his agenda. He will always be remembered as the one who blocked Judge Merrick Garland, and gave the country Mr. Gorsuch !
1
A despicable man with no sense of right and wrong. No allegiance to our Constitution. He is motivated only by GOP power and his personal ambitions and bigotry.
2
Mitch gives the GOP and turtles a bad name.
3
McConnell is worse then Trump.
1
McConnell serves corporations and the rich, including himself.
He is using his power in government to betray most of the country.
He seems to have a disdain for the country and it’s people.
Can anyone name anything good that he has ever done??
And he is possibly one of the most arrogant people I have ever seen.
He is evil.
2
Again I say to this paper, and all other main stream media outlets, why are you not covering all of the bills passed in the house that ole Mitch is squashing in the Senate? Let the people see the legislation that would be serving them but for the GOP. You cover every stupid tweet comrade trump puts out, but not the work of our legislators trying to improve lives for real Americans. This is a crime. Do your jobs!
3
McConnell is a thief. He stole from the voters when he refused to allow a hearing on Merrick Garland. Preside Obama was elected for four years, and the voters expected he’d be able to fill any vacant Supreme Court seats for those four years. His now saying if a vacancy occurs, he will fill it just shows what a hypocrite he is. He should remember that when Jesus is directly quoted in the Bible, it is hypocrisy He condemns.
1
This man is a cancer on our democracy.
He has worked tirelessly for his whole career in government to betray the country and the people for his own personal gain.
And he doesn’t care in the least what anyone thinks about it.
2
Trump promised to drain the swamp. There is no one swampier than McConnell
1
He never liked the Constitution, or people, or anything. He is a despicable speck who, hopefully, will be held up historically as the man who with the help of his cowardly party and Toilet King president, tried to bring our Democracy to an end. He deserves to sit right along with Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon as political pariahs who's actions should be shunned and never repeated.
1
McConnell is the worst.
1
If you are a Republican from KY and you are reading this, ask yourself if you believe our elected officials should have integrity. And ask yourself if you do. And ask yourself if you want your children to think you do.
If the answer to any of these questions is 'yes', you must vote McConnell out.
4
He is great. You should be ditched!
Gail's multiple choice quizzes are:
(a) Played out beyond words;
(b) Unamusing in the extreme;
(c) Mitt Romney's dog on the roof of his car.
Do voters understand, Mr. McConnell-- by controlling the Republican majority senate-- is shielding this?
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/04/trump-nuclear-expertise-transfer-saudi-arabia-khashoggi-1353179
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/04/trump-nuclear-expertise-transfer-saudi-arabia-khashoggi-1353179
Is this a direction for the United States?
Will voters vote for more of this?
3
There is a special place in the underworld for this poor excuse of a man and his devious spouse. It would be a lateral move.
1
Aside from Trump this is the most corrupt, immoral, vile individual to reside in Washington and ever preside over the Senate. Appalling and tragic his self-serving, totally partisan and damaging antics. Dante's Inferno should have another level for the likes of this monster and his boss.
1
Based on this: https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Pages/Registration-Statistics.aspx
And this:
https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Pages/Registration-Statistics.aspx
...there are enough registered Democrats in Kentucky to vote McConnell out of office. So what's wrong with the Democrats in Kentucky?
2
My apology to all the turtles in the world !
But Mitch does, plus too much of whatever he has gotten done so Mitch can not open his mouth properly when he speaks plus Mitch has a very quarrelsome wife y.
It also bothers me a great deal because we have Sherrod Brown in OH basically next door of KY.
https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/6_108.jpg
1
Thank you for defending turtles.
1
Now Rusal plans to invest $1.7 billion to build an aluminum milling plant in Kentucky.
AND WHY is this allowed?
How many American corporations operate in Russia today?
Maybe it's just a ruse, "Russian Style," whereby the assets of the "russian corporation" will be suddenly confiscated at some later date, but Addison Mitchell McConnell, the wretched, sclerotic sleazebag was instrumental in allowing the Russians to be players in our market.
Traitor. Sleaze. Leech. Soulless.
2
He is one of the most self-serving, morally bankrupt people ever in power in the United States. He was unabashedly racist towards President Obama at every turn. The word disgusting does not cut it. The harm he has done and continues to do is his real "legacy" for the rest of us. His wife is just as much of a goner ethically. They are greed-based evil people. Period.
5
Here in Hawai’i we had Senator Daniel Inouye as our Mitch McConnell.
Dan was a WWII vet who lost his arm and was given a Congressional Medal of Army.
He may have been a Democrat but he led the nation is pork. We have all five branches of the military here who benefit greatly from Dan’s channeling money from defense contractors. Ted Stephens of Alaska was his bestest buddy. Together they wrote a bill allowing drilling for oil in Alaska’s pristine natural reserve. Our Democratic senator thought drilling as a GREAT idea.
He kept getting elected because he really was a Republican for feeding at the trough. Military is our number one business just ahead of the 9.3 million tourists we get every year.
NOW back to Mitch. Thanks to KY senators for pulling in the pork. “From 2000 to 2018 KY has received $80,443,046,519 in defense contracts. Yes that’s TRILLION!
https://www.governmentcontractswon.com/department/defense/kentucky_counties.asp
KY also has military bases, the top four are:
Louisville International Airport Air Force, Blue Grass Army Depot Army, Fort Campbell Army,
Fort Knox Army.
Even MORE federal dollars for these bases: federal civilian jobs, hotels, restaurants, car sales, tattoo parlors would all be gone of these bases moved out.
THIS is why Senator McConnell will hold that job forever!
He brings in the money-
Lockheed Martin Corp.
The Boeing Co.
General Dynamics Corp
Raytheon Company ...
Northrop Grumman Corp.
2
@Nuschler
Sorry it’s $80,433,046,519 BILLION not trillion.
Just take his pulse.
1
Honestly, there're not enough adequate words in dictionary to describe my repulsion to this character and his ilk.
I would just say that he is a treasonous, poisonous venom predator, that can only be compared to a vampire bat, or the Mexican burrowing frog or monkish, and finally the blob fish really really ugly...google it.
Some of these monster creatures live underground and underwater, & that their only saving grace...sadly is not the case with McConnell and his DEEP SWAMP.
2
More contempible than Tяцmp. Belongs in history's dustbin ASAP.
2
Weak in his chin, even more weak in his character. Married for money and sold his soul for power. Dangerous hypocrite.
1
Is there a more disgusting man in the Senate? I am appalled. Are there no members of the #GOP that understand ethics? My, how shameful.
1
In so many ways, this slimy, smug King of the Soulless Red State Senatoadys is far more of a disaster for the USA than clueless nominally Disaster-in-Chief Trump. It's hard to believe that's even possible, but this guy's consistently hypocritical duplicity, his gleeful legislative laziness, his completely transparent political hackness, and his grubby pride - every time he opens his mouth - in consistently producing the biggest piles of stench in Congress offer inarguable proof.
2
McConnell is odious, but he only weilds the power granted by his conference. If the rest of the Republicans wanted to vote on those measures, they could band together and force them to the floor. The problem is the rest of the party elders in the Senate are just as mendacious, callow, cowardly, and despicable as their leader.
3
They are frightened of Mitch’s pac which is overflowing with millions and millions of dollars in dark money. Mitch is able to have this dark money thanks to Chief Justice Roberts and the right wingers on the Supreme Court of the United States.
2
Sad, Gail Collins, reading about Senator McConnell and his wife, Sec'y of Transportation, Elaine Chao. We have known for decades about Mr. McConnell's depredations as Majority Leader of the Senate, and Mrs. Chao's deep connections to her family of Chinese shipping magnates.
How long before Mitch (no matter what his looks tell us and no matter how much he enables President Trump's nationalism) and his wfe, our Secretary of Transportation are dethroned from our Government?
With respect and deep gratitude to America's former allies,-- the triumph of globalism over Nazi Fascism last century -- we turn now to witness the 75th Anniversary events of D-Day in Normandie, France.
2
Immoral, without shame, as low as a representative can go...
Between McC and Trump, we are running out of horrific descriptors for these lowlifes.
2
He is despicable. He is in a position to do good but he only cares about his narrow agenda. I hope he goes away.
2
He’s a disgrace. Like the party he represents.
3
Ditch Mitch
Dump Trump
Purge Pence
Bar Bolton and Barr
Purge Pompeo
Depose DeVos
Fire Fox
Retire Rush
Ground the GOP
6
Definitely Spawn of Satan. I think he’s more dangerous than 45, and is single-handedly killing Democracy. The good people of Kentucky can do better.
1
McConnell is a disgrace, there is no doubt about it. He's sad and pathetic as leader of the Senate. Couldn't agree more with Ms. Collins' critique of the U.S. Senator from Kentucky.
But for Ms. Collins to make fun of someone for their physical looks is beneath her, too. Or should be. I seem to remember a certain president doing the same about a NYT reporter. That, too, was shameful and beneath the dignity of the office of the president. Or should have been.
This man is pure evil and will go down in history as a traitor and a racist. I hope on some level he squirms when alone with his thoughts.
2
Answer to Gail's multiple choice question ...
None of the above. Correct answer is that the Satan is the spawn of Mitch.
4
I look forward to the day he is dead.
5
@Stop Caging Children
I don't feel that way about many people, but I do about him. I cheered when NEWS FLASH - Scalia Found Dead came on the TV.
1
Disgusting, vile man. Kentucky, save US, vote him out of there!
6
I'll go with Spawn of Satan, thanks.
2
Just love it when a NYT columnist wants to tell the GOP how to act. Kind of like WSJ's Henninger lecturing to Bernie Sanders.
The coward McConnell is an excellent reason for term limits.
4
@Psst
AGE LIMITS
There are already lower age limits for these elected positions. There needs to be upper age limits for them as well. Immediately.
I'm going with the spawn of Satan and Satan has certainly been very busy in Republican circles in the last ten years.
2
Keep digging up dirt on the spawn of Satan and his wife. Perhaps it will land them in jail.
4
He is a traitor, a traitor to the U.S. Constitution, to which he swore an oath to. defend and protect. He is a traitor to all Americans.
He is totally corrupt. He takes MILLIONS from foreign sources (his FATHER IN LAW!) and brags about his corruption. He allows his WIFE to get a cabinet post (we'll never know exactly how, but it's not hard to guess) and she's at least as corrupt as her husband.
He is actively working AGAINST the Congress and the American people by obstructing the function of our legislature, PERSONALLY.
He has no business in government, let alone in the Senate.
If there was another "Individual 1" worthy of impeachment, it's this corrupt bum.
3
@Slann
He thinks and acts like HE is the constitution and that the constitution is beholden to him.
1
I vote for A) Spawn of Satan
1
Can’t hate this repulsive person enough.
6
Fascists succeed when they have fascist supporters. McConnell is a fascist supporter who has lead the charge to corrupt the Courts and nullify the power of Congress. In order to allow the Dear Leader to assume control of the government and do as he sees fit. Meanwhile, the McConnell's are enriching themselves by providing favoritism towards his wife's family business which primarily exists to ship raw materials to China. This is completely normal in the Fascist States of America, I don't understand why this even news to anyone with a pulse.
1
Inside and out, I find McConnell repellent. His hubris and self-satisfaction knows no bounds. Is it possible too find someone more disgusting than Trump? Most assuredly, yes!
2
Xi runs the Senate, Putin runs the White House!
5
Mitch McConnell is nothing and that will be his legacy. He has been one of the most powerful people in the United States as the Senate Majority Leader, and the only thing he seems to have any pride for is his ability to do nothing. Block court appointments, keep bills from reaching the floor, keep President Trump from looking worse. A man of no morals who considers himself a moral man. A man with morals would speak out against the things that have been done and said, and surprise Mitch's decision is to do and say nothing.
He should be remember for all of his nothing at a time when the country could use a voice of reason in a position so powerful.
5
Sadly, the people of Kentucky are too consumed with abject poverty and their opioid addictions to even bother to vote. So this horrific excuse for a human being will win the election hands down in a state near the bottom of the list in educational scores, intellectual capacity, and rational critical thought. The US is a plutocracy not a democracy we have to realize that. And people like McConnell made it that way. I imagine he only goes to Kentucky during election cycles and loathes its dimwitted citizens.
5
Why not make fun of his physical appearance? I think of him as a deer in the headlights with dollar signs in his eyes.
He seems to be about $$$ as much as anything.
4
aloha ms. Gail,
be nice, but spot on!
3
Attitudes toward gays changed seemingly overnight. As gays claimed their rights, every American learned someone dear to them--beloved family member, friend, teacher, pastor, politician, actor--is gay. It was a great awakening. Even Republican politicians and some evangelicals rethought their prejudices.
As people learn that Dreamers all around them live, learn, work, and aspire to a better life just as they do, they are awakening to this reality.
The Republican Party is losing another large voting block. Evangelicals, misogynists, racists, old white men, and the ignorant are not enough to keep the party afloat.
3
Yes, please let's ditch Mitch.
3
La tortuga
4
As the Senate Majority leader, why hasn't McTurtle's personal finances been reviewed by an 'ethics committee', because between his wife, her family and the Russian oligarchs, he may have as many conflicts of interest as Trump does?
3
In short, McConnell is by definition, a traitor to his country. He is loyal and a patriot only to the Republican Party and to the almighty dollar, not to the US or her people. His obstructionist behavior is wildly hypocritical and has caused more damage to our democracy than Trump’s actions.
3
While many watch the impact of supreme court nominees relating to abortion and gerrymandering, the Federalist Society and Repulican Party are appointing people who hold a higher standard for the rights of asset holders over the rights of everyone else.
Along with the elimination of Estate Taxes our wealthy Repulican friends are unleashing a new mulit generational aristocracy on our nation. They, along with Mitch, believe they should run the country and really might be on the threashold of doing so without the general population having any idea what is happening.
4
It won’t be difficult for future historians to assemble detailed accounts of Mitch McConnell’s accomplishments in office.
All they will need to do is Google “Ways in which Trump broke the country.
4
... “Ways in which Trump broke the country."
1
Ours is a representative form of democracy in which we entrust our affairs and the common good to our elected representatives. They have betrayed us badly in recent decades, serving only the interests of corporate America and the rich and powerful. Mitch McConnell is only a symptom of this malignant disease that has spread throughout the country.
4
Ditch Mitch is a PAC that just started running ads in Kentucky. I encourage all to take a look and contribute! His removal is as imperative as Trump's.
8
So, how do we "ditch mitch"?
1
One has to be a resident of Kentucky for 24 days before the election to qualify for the great act of national service that is voting this pocket-stuffing hypocrite out of public office.
Kentucky is a beautiful state.
3
Here are a list of some products made in Kentucky that we should all boycott to send a message to Mitch and his constituents:
Reynolds Wrap, Kingsford Charcoal, Bicycle Playing Cards, Airheads candy, The Laughing Cow cheeses, Dixie Cups, Smucker's Uncrustables, Hot Pockets, Champion pet foods, Tater Farms fencing. Use the power of the purse people!
7
Senator McConnell is the enemy of democracy and the champion of plutocrats. It's not civil, or even necessarily ccurate, to describe a politician with whom one disagrees as "evil." So I won't go that far. I'll just say that Mitch McConnell is about the most destructive individual in national politics since McCarthy. He seems to care nothing for the greater good or the needs of the country. History will judge him very harshly.
2
I picked, A) Spawn of Satan and I didn't even need to read the article
5
Disgusting, smarmy, hypocritical slimebag. We need to change how things work in America so that a "man" like this cannot step on our democracy. Kentucky, vote this creep out!!!
3
Daily rant
Values added?
Fanning flames of division ?
Clickbait ?
Childish ?
2
Accurate?
2
@Robert, nope
McConnell is a despicable traitor to America and democracy.
I have never stepped foot in Kentucky and with the kind of people voting to keeping this world-class hypocrite in office, I never will.
For the first time in my life, I've contributed to the opposing campaign to oust this miscreant from office. Truly a sickening, pathetic man.
5
Gail, I'll go with A) Spawn of Satan.
4
Mitch did manage to negotiate a deal for sanctions to be lifted on Derispaka. Based on flat out lies, Mnuchin, Trump and McConnell set up a sweetheart deal for the usual GOP greed meisters.
Former Senator Vitter (R-LA) now a lobbyist for EN+ negotiates a deal with RUSAL (Derispaka owns it but wink wink transferee shares to his teenager kids) to build an aluminum factory in —— wait for ...ding ding ding KENTUCKY!
Then old Mitchie hands Wendy Vitter (wife of the aforementioned MAGA patriot) a FEDEAL JUDGESHIP!!! WHAT A CO-INK-E-DINK!
I guess no American companies wanted such a deal for big aluminum factory.
So, it’s not like he’s been doing.....nothing. He AND his wife have been working very hard with two of our biggest rivals to make themselves rich, rich, rich.
3
"I'll go with 'Spawn of Satan,' Gail, for $1,000..."
4
Nobody backstabs the way McConnell backstabs.
4
Mitch McConnell is a despicable human being. Absolutely despicable. Shame on Kentucky!
7
Gail Collins - are you jealous of Mitch?
2
I'm going with spawn of Satan.
3
I never thought of turtles as ------SATAN.
2
The real stick in the mud now is McConnell! ... a spineless and feckless coward who refuses to come to terms with reality ... that trump is a tragically unprepared and dangerously unprincipled ‘fake’ president who is an unabashed leech and an unrepentant liar.
4
I vote for Spawn of Satan.
This man cares not a whit for the oath of office he took when sworn into the United States Senate. Everything he does is self serving and increasingly he doesn't give a hoot who knows it. He laughs at fairness, rejects decency, and grabs all he can while the grabbing is good.
Mitch McConnell is the poster boy for all that is currently going wrong with the American Experiment.
1122
@Edward
Take comfort in the fact that the truth always prevails and that what goes around comes around. McConnell's day wilt come, it is just a matter of when and how.
20
@Got that right ,Edward
4
@Steve One would hope....but in this day and age....evil is being rewarded.
26
I really don't understand why anyone imagines that politics would be different under a different GOP leadership. We're talking about a minority party building a bulwark against its inevitable demographic demise. What's truly sad is that people think Democrats should behave otherwise when they are in power. If anything, McConnell has provided the template for how any future Democratic leader should wield power.
3
If big donors buy Kentucky let's buy it back. Most people don't realize how close to the margin these smaller races are. Even McConnell has come close to losing Kentucky several times. Often elections are decided by just a few thousand votes, which can be had in the final days with door-to-door canvassing.
OK article but I'd say McConnell's cheating of democracy is self-evident. But I did learn something interesting about turtles.
2
I'm getting close to the point in life where people start making bucket lists. If I wasn't stuck in a wheelchair I might write one for myself. I can take a little comfort in the fact that a lot of other people in my age bracket don't have all that much time left to do ANYTHING.
1
As Gail notes here, Trump is unaware of what is going on in the government (Senate had already passed the disaster aid bill apparently unbeknown to our president). That leaves McConnell, who well knows what is happening when and how to derail anything of which he does not approve. Does this not make Mitch the DICTATOR? Fellow Republicans who support his efforts are then authoritarians. Democracy has indeed vaporized.
Maybe time to reread that old civics textbook.
2
Mitch McConnell is enough to cause resolute atheists to believe in an angry and vengeful god, and Hell.
2
Gail: I was going to mention the fact that Mitch's wife holds an important position in the Cabinet, but you beat me to it. How such an unpatriotic, self-serving, suck-up to Trump ever got so much power is beyond the likes of the average American. It is so blatantly obvious what his agenda is for the Republican party, a person would have to be blind not to see what he is up to. We can only pray that the voters of Kentucky see the light and get rid of this sanctimonious man.
4
Mitch and Donald have lowered the bar so low there is not much room between the floor and the bar. Except for crawling insects.
4
Remember what the self-infatuated Roman senators did to their senate -- and nation.
6
Easy-peasy! The correct answer is A) Spawn of Satan. Is there anyone electable running against this guy?
If the Democrats take back the Senate, there are a whole lot of nefarious procedural rules that need to be changed to head this type of skulduggery off in the future. Currently, he is holding any type of election reform hostage.
Democracy is hanging by a thread and Republicans do not care.
3
If the Republican party every recovers, Mitch needs to be overturned and denounced. We are impossibly far from that ever happening. Mitch is the Republican party, what he wants is what the party wants, and sadly, what republican voters want.
2
Go back and take a look at Mitch's first tactic to win an election -- in high school. He convinced the cool kids to sign on to his campaign, then promoted their "allegiance" as his highest credentials.
Fast forward, and look at a) his wife and how she is connected, b) how he basks in (some might say assimilates) other's achievements, and c) how he doesn't seek to help or support, only to control. This guy is hard-wired in the worst possible way.
2
This much power in one Senator from Kentucky all the more egregious by fact recent polling shows he only has 33% approval rate in that State. He must go!
7
McConnell preventing the Senate from doing one of the tasks assigned to it in the Constitution - voting on a nominated Supreme Court justice - is so far beyond wrong that there should be some kind of intervention to prevent the Senate from ever being able to do so again.
The vote could have been no, but he didn't risk it (because it was a good, non-extremist nominee). That he said that the American people should have a say was just sick. The Constitution says the Senate does that job. And the American people had twice given Obama a majority vote when they elected and re-elected him.
The Senate's ability to play with its rules is troublesome. McConnell's abuse of it is worse.
7
He has earned the nickname, “Pac Man”, for what he’s done to our courts.
2
A whole cast of unsavory characters, hard to put a scale on their mendacity and duplicity, All suffering the same ailment, a selective hearing and non-existent memory. Today yellow is green and tomorrow it is the other way around.
2
This is the person that Joe Biden hopes to work with after he makes Trump go away.
3
@Chris Martin I seriously doubt Biden "hopes" to work with this corrupt thing. That he might be in a position to HAVE to work with him is more accurate.
2
Gail, you are great, but please stop calling it "gun control" and instead use the term "gun violence." Gun users bristle and quit listening when anyone mentions "gun control."
Also please no longer call these horrendous acts "mass shootings." They are gun massacres. It is important to implicate guns in these mad acts because they couldn't take place without guns. Guns are the proximate cause.
5
Serious question and I would like a response. How are McConnell's actions legal? Why is It that he can get away with all his corrupt actions?
4
Senator Mitch should have been gone years ago but Red States Trumpistas keep them in place, I think it's the color. Republican held Southern states have seen an increase in city voters but still rely on the African American voters to stay home, after all 150 plus years is not long enough for African Americans to feel safe voting. Yes, it still lingers in the South just not in the open. But the MidWest has some of the blame for Mitch still being in power, some Republicans owe Mitch for their positions. We have a cancer trying to devour us but Climate Change and resistance by ordinary citizen in each city and in government agencies have stifled their money grubbing quest. Mitch does not only want a fat retirement check he is really ambitious, power is what he wants. Power the root have human behaving badly. Mitch nor anyone in Congress will not be able to wash their hands of the detention centers nor babies stripped from their parent's hands. We will insist they pay a financial price as we will do to compensate these families for these atrocities, oops said that word in connection with an American policy. Mitch we will remember you not quite as you wish to be remembered but I know that isn't the point you just want it all.
1
In my opinion, he will go down as the single most destructive figure in American history.
4
His wife, Chao, is transportation secy. and her father is a very wealthy Chinese merchant ship owner who has very big Coal shipping business to China. Mitch and wife worth over 30 million! Mitch, a Washington "outsider' has been in government all his life at about about $130,000 a year.
He promotes coal and tobacco and guns.
5
Mitch McConnell will obstruct Justice, when he tables any charges against Trump. Then it will be time to charge him with crimes against the United States. The charge? Traitor.
4
If you're looking for an or the enemy of the people, Mitch McConnell fits the bill. And, most of today's Republicans in Congress are the enemies of the people. I don't say this lightly; it's a simple fact. They care about their multi-national corporate donors more than the American people. They are autocrats in the service of plutocrats. They do not believe in democracy at all, which is why they love to suppress voting. Many are just cowards who are afraid, as Tillis said, "to poke the bear." Others are true sycophants. I really don't know what to make of Lindsey Graham. Only one word comes to mind, pathetic. What the cowards fail to realize is that it wouldn't take many of them to turn the tide. They need to stand up to McConnell for never getting anything done at all, except packing the courts. And, they need to stand up to the bear. As shown by Amash's town hall, many Trump voters have been brainwashed by Sean Hannity and the evil Murdoch. One lady was unaware of anything negative about Trump in the Mueller report. When informed by Amash about the extraordinary evidence of multiple counts of obstruction of justice, the audience applauded Amash. So, Trump supporters can be turned if they are informed, if they realize the truth. Hannity is a traitor, plain and simple. He and others in Murdoch's evil empire have done more damage to democracy than Putin could imagine, and he's no slacker.
4
All you have to do to see where Mitch McConnell's priorities lie is glance at the statistics about the state he has helped govern since the mid-1980s. By any measure, Kentucky is a mess*. It is poor, unhealthy, under-employed, non-competitive, poorly educated, addicted, and despairing. While Mitch has been off playing tactician, his state has continued to sink. McConnell is a heartless, cold, ruthless man who is out for himself. Maybe the chickens are finally coming home to roost.
* Kentucky:
/ #46 in Educational attainment..
/ #46 in Poverty.
/ #43 in Employment.
/ #43 in Medicare quality.
But #5 in receipt of federal subsidies & #1 in obstructionist politicians
7
The sooner he's gone, the healthier this country will be.
5
IMO, McConnell is the Supreme Destroyer of Democracy and he started his attack on us before Trump so that makes him even worse than Trump if that is possible. The saddest part is that elected Republicans have decided that goose stepping to his demands is their only road to keeping power and if destroying our democracy is the price so be it.
7
Mitch has destroyed democracy. It is time to get rid of him.
4
Agreed. No point in insulting turtles. Thing is, McConnell is really somewhat representative of the modern GOP. It's a kleptocracy and they are proud of it. McConnell is apparently a shameless crook, dissembler and outright liar, and he is a successful one at that. He does a great job distracting ordinary people from real issues, and uses his position to steal as much money as he can get his hands on. He is a proto-type for a successful modern GOP member.
1
A lot has been said and written about Trump's narcissism. It's true and Trump's case of malignant narcissism is destructive.
Mitch McConnell has malignant narcissism as well. He's in Congress not to help The People but to help Mitch and his GOP o-n-l-y.
If that's not clear to people, then they must not give a darn because Mitch is obviously devious, self-centered and destructive. The power he wields has gone to this old man's head.
Trump will leave office in Jan 2021, the country also needs to send Mitch back to KY to retire on the riches he has reaped from Elaine's family. Both of them have used Gov for their own personal gain. Shame on them and those in KY for letting Mitch get away with it!
Please read the NYT story on Elaine's family business. It's another piece in the story of Mitch's quest for money and power.
3
The esteemed Senator from Kentucky, married to the heiress of a billionaire family, living like a king in Washington, and doing everything in his power to hurt the poorest Americans hails from one of the poorest state in the nation and one in which a quarter of children live in poverty.
Shame!
6
Thanks to Gail and the NYT for exposing the degree of corruption of Yertle ( sorry Gail ) and Chao. Between the two of them they represent the corruption infecting this whole administration where MONEY is king and they bow down in acquiescence.
I will do what I can through donations to defeat McConnell in 2020 although I don't have millions but every bit counts. This is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of our country! We must TAKE BACK THE SENATE! and DITCH MITCH!
2
Don't forget his ties to Russian oligarchs who are making "investments" in Kentucky.
543
@MPM
Spot on! I firmly believe THIS is why there is no action taken by this man to prevent future Russian meddling in our election(s).
27
@MPM Can you provide some references? This is the first I have ever heard about any ties to Russian oligarchs.
11
@MPM
And his very important ties to the Koch Brothers and the Federalist Society--hence all of the conservative judges on the Courts.
19
Why does one person have this much control in our system of government?
5
The media's attention has been dominated by Trump's authoritarian tendencies, but not nearly enough attention has been given to McConnell's. He has set himself up as dictator of the Senate and that violates the spirit if not the letter of the Constitution. The great concern of our founding fathers was how to set up a government that would keep would be despots from accumulating too much power. I'm convinced McConnell and Trump are who they had in mind.
Now we're obviously stuck with McConnell for the foreseeable future, at least until the next election. He's not going to change or listen to reason, so it's up to the rest of the country's voters to elect senators to overcome his majority and limit his power.
If that doesn't happen, then we'll have to accept that a majority of the country wants his strong man legislative control.
4
My guess is that if a Democrat wins the White House, but not the Senate, that Mitch will block any and all Supreme Court nominations. Even if it goes on for 8 years. Just more outrageous than the brief Merrick Garland episode, but very likely.
3
Thanks Mitch and Donald. We all need to be reminded from time to time how our great country can be driven off the rails minus an informed citizenry.
4
From a recent Atlantic article:
During his appearance on Tuesday, [McConnell] explained his preference for confirming judges over debating legislation in the Senate. “Everything else changes,” McConnell observed. New laws, such as Trump’s signature tax bill in 2017, can be rolled back or repealed as soon as the other party regains power. “What can’t be undone,” he continued, “is a lifetime appointment to a young man or woman who believes in the quaint notion that the job of a judge is to follow the law.”
Did you hear that? A judge following the law is a "quaint notion." This chilling statement sums it up with regard to him, his party, and their aims.
5
@tom Mitch was saying that liberals believe that a judge following the law is a "quaint notion". Nominating judges that follow the law is a conservative sentiment. The left wants activist judges that make law where none exists
@tom I think you may be missing his intended irony. In the conservative world, only right-wing judges who apply constitutional language as narrowly as possible to modern situations, "textualists" like Scalia et al., are those that "follow the law" unlike liberal judges with their willingness to interpret and expand for situations that the 18th century revolutionaries could never have anticipated.
Part of the conservative standard rant is that that the awful liberals regard following the strict language of the constitution as only a "quaint notion." McConnell's little joke to the Greater Paducah Chamber of Commerce old boys and girls was right-wing judicial boilerplate.
4
Mitch went nuclear when he by passed cloture to get Kavanaugh and Gorsuch on the supreme court. Unfortunately that was his tool of choice when he was minority leader. If and when the Dems get a simple majority of the Senate, i would ignore cloture and simply shove all legislation down his throat.
8
I go With
A. Spawn of Satan.
This guy has always been extreme and an obstructionist. In my mind Devil boy is a tool for what ever gets him elected and puts money in his pocket. Plus he is just nasty.
Out of all of the GOP he is the worst.
9
I have long held the belief that Mitch McConnell is public enemy #1. He absolutely puts party over country; he is the anti-statesman. He is a hypocrite, and a smug man. I would choice A in your multiple choice. Spawn of Satan.
7
McConnell is a disgrace to Henry Clay's Senate seat; a disgrace to the country and a posterboy for every species of political evil and betrayal of the Republic known to man -- and he's proud of it all.
I choose answer A) -- spawn of Satan.
5
Cute but where’s Collins’ suggestion of how to dump him? Primary challenge? Inquiry on corruption? Nothing but a cutesy column.
1
The man is a vicious little fascist. He makes American democracy a joke... oh wait, it already is a joke since we have a"President" who lost the popular vote by over 3million people.
8
Don't forget his sinister, nakedly partisan role in stopping the Obama administration from going public with information on the full extent of the Russian interference in the 2016 election.
He not only raised doubts on the intelligence when briefed, but also threatened Obama that he would make it a partisan issue and make it out as Obama's effort to put his thumb on the scale for Hillary!
What makes it even more galling is his more recent blaming of the Obama administration for not stopping the interference or taking aggressive counter measures.
We could do without such unprincipled partisans in our politics. He needs to be voted out by the people of Kentucky.
914
@SR The biggest mistake Obama made was not calling him out on this. Sometimes, President Obama was too civil for the rough world of politics!
89
@SR. It would be my bet that a majority of folks in Kentucky don't read the NYT or attempt to find news channels that are unbiased. Personally, I think BBC World News America does a pretty good job!
33
@southern
Katy Kay is marvelous.
11
Please don't mock McConnell's appearance like Trump would, it is beneath even a satirist.
His behavior on the other hand is fair game.
5
I am a Hillary Clinton voter, but I am astounded at the partisan nature of the opinion piece and the NYT times Picks. And, why attack what this man looks like? Such an attack is pointless. Instead of vilification, how about an accurate critique of what the man has done or not done? To be fair, he seemingly has represented his constituency and what the Republican party has become under Trump. He seems to have done a better job in controlling the Senate than his counterpart has done in controlling the House: Ms. Pelosi can not even tone down the extremism of congresswoman Omar and those now following her lead. As to blocking Judge Garland, please recall the Democrats started Supreme Court warfare, when they blocked Judge Bork. As to now allowing only a majority to approve a federal judicial appointment, that too was started by Democrats: the Obama administration did it for the approval of US District Court Judges appointed by President Obama. The Republicans have returned the favor with appointments to the US Supreme Court. Mc Connell is following the very path Democrats established yet he is getting the blame.
Really...
So when folks talk about slow-walking legislation – they talkin’ ‘bout ‘roos???
Only two questions, Gail:
1. Where do you folks get some of these lead-in pics
2. Where can one get some of that cool wallpaper
This’d make a great screensaver, once McConnell, his shadow – or both – are airbrushed out...
Of course – would airbrush in an equally dour picture of Barr...
And Trump’s shadow, behind him...
PS
If we were heading into the end of Trump’s third term, instead of his first – am sure McConnell would do the right thing on a SCOTUS nomination...
1
Mitch McConnell is a traitor to our country. He and Fox News are the primary reasons politics have become so hateful.
One man's opinion ........
8
"You’d hope that, at least in public, he’d murmur something vague and look a tad sheepish."
Yes, you would. But then you'd remember that he's a psychopath.
5
I'd chortle, if someone took the contents of an unregistered weapon of mass destruction and sent it whirling up through his chinless mandible.
3
Can't stand him. Devious, a liar, self-serving, hypocritical, sanctimonious, unconscionable - I could go on and on.
9
This goes a long way to explain why Republican senators tolerate the Idiot President. Sure, some are afraid of getting ousted in the next primary if they speak up and admit the emperor has no clothes on, but they also know he will allow them to stack the Federal bench with extreme partisan reactionary judges. They are now reaping the fruits of a long term strategy their predecessors started in the aftermath of Brown vs Board, the Civil Rights Amendment and the Voting Rights act. Opposition to abortion rights is a key part of that strategy because it allows them to form a coalition of conservative Roman Catholics and reactionary evangelicals to in order to appoint reactionary judges to the Federal bench who's real agenda is to overturn civil rights and repress voting rights of people of color. Let's start calling it what it is.
2
O’Connell is one of the “nastiest” politicians America has ever suffered. This cowardly hypocrite with absolutely no concern for Americans or America must go. He’s just a bad human being.
9
The single most important thing that the Democrats can do will be to sterilize what mcConnell hopes will be his legacy by which I mean
1. Packing the Supreme Court with four new justices
2. Packing the Circuit courts
3. Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico
We need some catchy acronyms for the bills that mentionsMcConnell by name...
One of the koch bother's was overheard mumbling something about the last 5 years have seen their goals of a regulation free and democracy free country move along more than the last 50.
Their fascist dream state has had more success with mcturtle than any other crooked republican before him.
mcturtle is even more dangerous to our republic than t rump.
To say his wife is in contention for Worst Cabinet Member among the many many criminals that have swirled around the drain of his cabinet is really saying something. Probably true.
6
When Mitch dies, I will seek out his grave and spit on it.
11
Mitch McConnell is Iago in the flesh - evil personified.
7
I judge the people of Kentucky for electing this evil man, destroyer of democracy.
4
Years from now, if we survive this terrible era, McConnell will be remembered as its worst villain. Trump has an ego and lack of brains; McConnell is methodical, evil, heartless, cruel.
7
He's a traitor, plain and simple.
7
Wait..."100 House-passed bills sitting around gathering mildew in Mitch’s limbo". Realy!!!! Truly, that is news to me. 100 legislative bills? Are you sure you don't mean 100 articles of impeachment?
Based on MSM coverage by the likes of NYT, Fox News, CNN, WaPo, MSNBC, etc., I would have thought Congress was putting 100% time on impeachment.
Thank goodness for Gail. Now I'm sure that Americans will hold the GOP accountable for their obstruction of the people's business.
Good work NYT!
2
Really, Gail? This is the best you can do? Re-hash all of the loathsome things that McConnell has said and done and make fun of his looks? With a title of “Let’s Ditch Mitch”, I was hoping for a column that discussed a way your readers could help make this happen. Total waste of my time.
2
@Paul Mullen Any of your own ideas would have been interesting to read if you'd taken the trouble to provide them, I'm sure.
2
honestly, 300,000 people should move to kentucky and vote him out
6
There's a good argument to be made that McConnell, not Spanky, is the worst person in this country.
1
Gives Yertl a bad name.
McConnell and his wife: two rotten human beings...period.
4
Mitch McConnell is a deplorable human being. And despicable. It is a testament to enduring stupidity that the voters of Kentucky keep voting him into the Senate hoping for something good. I think that's the definition of insanity.
2
I’m all for it
I wonder if Mitch makes his wife, Elaine Chao, do the 'Dear Leader' routine when they're at home and she has to tuck Mitch into his shell?
2
This needs to be shouted from the rooftops, front page news not an editorial. McConnell has singlehandedly brought our government to a standstill.
Two things must be done: first, whatever Senate rules give one person the power to decide what the legislature will and will not consider need to be changed so that one person can never again create such gridlock; and second, McConnell must be removed by whatever means possible.
This is not a partisan issue; it would be wrong for a democrat to do it too. It is an issue of our government's ability to function, of our elected representatives being able to do their jobs. I did not vote for McConnell. Neither did anyone else outside of Kentucky. So how can he be allowed to tell all the rest of us what our elected representatives can and cannot consider?
3
D) Malignant Invertebrate.
3
unbelievable,I thought we had a democracy. How bout Tom Steyer, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg get together and set up shop in Kentucky with a lot of great jobs, enough to vote this criminal and his corrupt wife out of office. I will also move my business there. Lets do this!!!!
2
Actually, he looks more like a walking cadaver.
1
Donald Trump is a liar and a bully and a narcissist. He is lazy and ignorant and an all around bad person. I disagree with many of his policies but it's almost beside the point.
Mitch McConnell is a ruthless politician, changing the rules of the game to benefit his own side, I disagree with him on policy and procedures, and that is completely the point.
Who is worse? I know what I'd say, but I don't think it really matters. We need to vote out bad people and we need to vote out politicians whose policies we oppose. And I know we can do it.
4
Yes. Please.
1
A good place to start draining the swamp.
1
To Gail, from Gail in NJ, I've been saying for years that McConnell is a dinosaur. There is truly something wrong with this entire system if he is allowed to continue his mobster ways. He is holding the entire USA hostage. I have zero respect for the people of Kentucky who continue to give him his power. Enough already, throw the bum out!
5
Thank you, Gail!
(( what about his WIFE???))
1
It's simple to get rid of the Spawn of Satan (my choice). Vote! We must win back the Senate and get rid of this silent assassin of Democracy! He is a plague as bad or worse than 45. Vote!
Childish article. Starts with name calling and pointless banter. Even the media is coming down to new lows nowadays.
Nice work, Gail. And very, very clever.
It's so novel of you to call your political opponents names, isn't it?
And "spawn of Satan" -- really cutting edge.
How about "sort of pitiful" -- sort of boring of you?
And let's denigrate our opponent's physical appearances. A great idea if the opponent is a Republican. A simply forbidden idea if the opponent is a Democrat.
Yeah, you really epitomize the best that the NY Times can be.
Trump takes care of all the toddler-level name calling of democrats.
@John F. Thurn so are you saying it’s good to emulate his poor behavior?
Also, even worse than her column being juvenile in its name calling, it’s neither clever nor funny.
Mitch is Trump's biggest enabler. He is the one who should be leading the GOP but does nothing despite Trump's disgusting behavior and terrible cabinet appointments.
1
Someone please run against him!
Also get rid of his wife as Sec'y of Trans. Conflicts of interest with her Chinese family
Gail, neither snakes nor rats have chins. So, let’s consider both.
Throughout history, snakes (aka serpents, vipers) have always been portrayed as the devil’s aid - look at how the serpent tricked Adam and Eve into eating the apple. Is it possible he also tricked Obama into thinking his extraordinarily qualified Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, would get a vote? So, that leads me to conclude choice A. Spawn of Satan is the correct answer.
On the other hand, in the real world, snakes serve a beneficial purpose - eating rats. So, let’s consider the alternative.
Rats eat just about anything. Other than lab or pet rats, rats are generally frowned upon and have been known to spread disease, like bubonic plague and stuff. But rats also have been known to take care of sick rats in their group, have excellent memories and make giggling sounds when amused. So, this leads me to conclude that perhaps McConnell is more rat than a snake.
I don’t know...I guess I’m torn. What I do know is that McConnell, like a rat, has eaten and left scraps of a parchment called the US Constitution.
So, I guess, he is a rat after all.
Mitch and many of his colleagues are despicable human beings.
No self respect, no decency, smiling and mocking us for allowing them to get away with treason.
Something is very wrong with our system when people like Mitch and others are permitted to destroy our confidence and trust in the government. Every government has a degree of corruption and incompetence but nowadays, politicians are proudly lying, embarrassing American values, parade stupidity, lack common sense, diplomacy and dignity. We used to be ashamed of people
who exhibited signs of stupidity but now it is very trendy to be racist, homophobic, ignorant, petty and a fool. Low IQ is no longer embarrassing. Our leaders are proud of it and the masses
call it being outspoken and honest. The crazies are now in charge of the asylum
1
Mitch McConnell is a despicable human being, but let's not make fun of what he looks like. We're better than that.
1
It makes me sad that you even have to write this. It also makes me sad that your usual light, deft touch does not begin to capture what a truly evil person this is. Eminent Holocaust historian Christopher Browning aptly described him as the “gravedigger of democracy.”
2
Gail. Turtles are cuter.
the only way around this current political GOP senate strangulation or future outsized one-party complete rule is to create a rule to force senate voting on issues where a minimum interest substantiates a vote being called (but who would champion that?); and/or increase overall representation by adding DC as having 'state' representation; possibly add Puerta Rico (are they in or out? right now, they are neither); as well as increasing house representation beyond the current 435 limit. We currently have a minority populations that can inflict outsized control - representation inequality.
6/6 12:12
1
Term Limits - Ditch the Mitches: the only way to truly effect change in a system that has allowed one man in the Senate to gain extraordinary power over a legislative process intended to be representative of the will of the people. Career politicians in both Parties have aided and abetted the use of the dirty tricks of politics. Both parties in Congress got us to where were are now with Mitch as de facto dictator sitting on legislation we all want and need and playing God with Supreme Court nominations.
"The Mitches" are the biggest Constitutional Crisis we face, far more threatening to our form of Government than an abusive Executive who can't serve more than eight years and can be impeached. This one Mitch is a nasty symptom but not the disease.
The cure is term limits. Our Founders did not intend for Congress to be a career path and they did not see this one coming. I for one am going to insist that my representatives and candidates for office start putting Term Limits at the top of their agenda. I truly hope more of us will.
1
While I despise McConnell and his utter lack of ethics as much as anyone what I really find shocking is not one Senator spoke out after his comment on giving Trump a vote on a SCOTUS nominee in an election year. He runs the Senate the same way my 4 year old nephew played CandyLand- the rules change to make sure he always wins. And the other 99 useless bodies in the Senate apparently agree with him and his tactics. After all the schemes and machinations he has engineered- conning Sen Collins into voting for the tax cut in exchange for a vote on health care that never happened - you would think some Senators would dare to speak out but you would be wrong
4
If we can flip the Senate even if Trump stays in office we could stop a lot of the craziness.
4
One of the things not mentioned in this article is the conflict of interest that is occurring with Mitches wife. Her family, a shipping magnate, has also made Mitch a rich man.
2
This is a prime example that term limits need to be in place. On a public servant salary there is no way his fortune could grow to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Considering that his wife is connected to China and using her position for monetary gains. It leads a person to think that something is not right.
Both should be investigated and prosecuted.
4
Mitch McConnell is only powerful because the republican senate members allow him to be. They can always vote against him or stage a protest for his unwillingness to bring the bills to the floor for voting. But they don't because they are equally complicit in these actions. It doesn't take much away from McConnell as an evil person but his powers are limited only by the republican party's desire to enact legislations that are not in their donor's favors. In other words, swamp.
4
Senate Majority Leader, where true power lies in the USA. Forget who gets elected president, in the scheme of things, they are not that powerful. Congress is where the game gets played. Wake-up people and vote people out of Congress.
1
@Felix, evidently the people of Ol' Kentuck love him, and until they turn on him (or he dies, I doubt he'll retire), the rest of us are stuck, short of flipping the Senate.
Not surprisingly, Mitch is one of the "Dark Money" politicians. Read the book Dark Money by Jane Mayer and weep.
8
@csn I have read "Dark Money" twice. I had to read it a second time to absorb the monstrous nature of the Citizens United decision and what the richest in America are doing to ensure their financial hegemony while destroying our lives.
5
Gail Collins is an excellent writer and she's absolutely accurate in her description of McConnell as an awful human being and a Majority Leader who cares little about America or its citizens. But she loses credibility by going after the low-hanging fruit; i.e., McConnell's looks. I can only imagine what her reaction would be to a column in which a critique of a female politician began by making fun of her looks. Double standards and hypocrisy are counterproductive, especially when there's so much to criticize McConnell about without resorting to the cheap shots.
I have a hard time deciding who's more worthy of impeachment: Trump or McConnell? It's not - and never has been - McConnal's job to sit on any and all legislation he doesn't happen to like personally.
3
McConnell gets away with imperious behavior because he protects his caucus from ever taking a controversial vote -- from ever committing one way or another so they can continue raising funds from both sides of any issue.
The Senators never have to take a public stand on anything that's not a sure bet, with Trump's approval.
McConnell will be remembered as the worst Majority Leader in history, and like Donald, he will relish it.
2
So many problems here it’s hard to count them. Ruthless, unethical personality and behavior is one of them. Others are structural like no term limits in the Senate, the excessive power of the Senate leader, huge campaign contributions, the Constitutional representation of states.
So what is to be done is the question? Hard to believe that the Senate would vote to change itself or that Kentucky would vote this villain out of office.
Bipartisanship used to work pretty much...until the likes of Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell. The only way I see positive change is a Democratic Senate and presidency; get rid of the Emperor With No Clothes and curb the Machiavellian politician.
1
I used to think Bob Dole was bad. Mitch is a weird person. It's hard to know why a person with such a distain for democracy wants to be in government. To thwart democracy?
Gun control has tremendous democratic support. Does Mitch think that people are going to take up arms against the government some day? Is he that radical?
That's not going to happen. We'll fix this democracy through writing, talking, listening, and changing when we have to.
Dare to change position! I say this to the people. Changing position isn't embarrassing, it is what adults do. Given evidence, weight it and change position if warrented.
On Gun control, the Las Vegas shooting was like the apocolypse. What can be worse than that? Sandy Hook? I can't talk about it without welling up. My kids were that age when it happened. What are we doing here, anyway?
That we have to teach our children to fight mad gunmen. We're turning into the Talaban.
3
@DudeNumber42 Bob Dole served his country during WWII. Mitch is serving himself over and over again. He and his cronies are making certain that there is nothing left on the table for anyone else.
3
This column paints a fairly obvious picture of Myrtle. Now this picture should be put on flyers and handed out everywhere. But the most important place this picture needs to be is on the MSM. A full reporting of this corruption needs to be reported, examined and shown to all. What Myrtle does makes trump look like the rank amateur that he is and Myrtle would be proud to agree, publicly. But it's not just Myrtle or trump, the corruption in our government is akin to a stage 4 cancer. And I think surgery followed by either radiation or chemo is necessary.
1
Thank you, Gail!!!
Actually I think you were too easy on this abomination who has used his position to promote an extremely partisan assault on democracy. This power of control over legislative agenda ought to be seriously curtailed. No one member of the Senate, representing one state, deserves the right to decide whether or not to bring a bill before the entire legislative body.
Partisan bias is alien to the US Constitution, but has become the rule. A deplorable and unconscionable situation.
1
Many argue that we atheists have no proof there is no god, so how can we be so certain of our lack of faith. Here's incontrovertible proof that god does not exist - Mitch McConnell has not been struck down by lightning.
3
Is it really true that Elaine Chao is up for Worst Cabinet Member? That's almost hard to believe, given some of the other cabinet members who have come and gone. I mean, worse that Scott Pruitt?? I'm not sure if we're talking about a low bar or a high bar, but either way, Pruitt set a standard that's hard to beat.
1
@David Goldberg, Devos, Carson, Perry and Ross would challenge for the throne of Worst!!!
The Democratic Party show put laser focus on ousting McConnell. Without him, Trump could not do the damage he and Republican policies are inflicting on our democracy and on the lives of minorities, the poor, immigrants, international human rights, and the standing of the USA around the world. Ditch Mitch is even more important than Dump Trump--and hopefully Lindsay Graham goes too for a perfect trifecta.
1
Chao is "...possibly on her way to serious contention for Worst Cabinet Member?" How do we handicap that race?
This article should be re-printed in every newspaper in the country!
1
The man is obsessed with power. There is no single issue he has pushed or fought for during his career. He is only interested in power.
1
Despicable man. Has done nothing for our Nation and the ordinary citizen, sits on House bills rather than allow a debate and possible passage. This control needs to be changed in Senate rules.The primary task of the legislature is to legislate. No matter the challenge with term limits, Mitch is the poster boy for why they are necessary. Our wishes are not being heard.
1
McConnell's massive anti-American obstruction during the Obama years led directly to Trump. Both were taking the big bucks (i.e., rubles) laundered through the NRA, thanks to Citizens United, which McConnell supported all the way through the Supreme Court.
What will all that power bring him personally in the end?
Kentucky must like him. Unless they are so gerrymandered that they can't get rid of him. Hopefully someone will successfully take him on, but I'm not holding my breath.
And meanwhile, while cutting taxes for his ultra rich donors and their often inherited wealth, he’s virtually nothing for his working class KY voters. Have the coal jobs come back? No. Wasn’t that due to Obama’s “War on Coal”? Guess not. Any help for poverty, opioid dependency, or healthcare? Nope...just the opposite. But Fox News and their Sunday sermons will have them solidly behind Mitch still in November.
He is Trump's supporter. His rigid control over the undemocratic Senate guarantees that Trump can survive any scandal -- even shooting someone on 5th Ave.
ever since his stated goal when Obama was elected was to deny the president anything, in my mind he is the true monster villain of the last decade, not giving a whit about the country.
Thank you, Gail Collins, for breaching virtual media silence about the exhaustive June 3th front page article detailing the traitorous behavior of McConnell and Chao. NPR noted it briefly and rather dismissively in passing yesterday afternoon.
Russia /Putin has Trump in its thrall and the Chinese own both the leader of the Senate and his clever consort.