America , are you really no better than Trump & his abettors of which McConnell is just one. Today there will be 750 marches re the separation of children from their parents and secondarily the soon to be new SCOTUS nominee with a crazy tilt to 19th century thinking.
Where are the patriots ? Why isn`t there a million person march every weekend in DC shaking the gates of the WH off their hinges & visiting the offices of Trump`s abettors &/or chasing Trump across a golf course ?
Take back your country from the 1% , Today ! Educate the masses so that the voters lose their tribal (Republican) ties and make choices that are rational ie, not based on the 1% propaganda.
4
McConnell is the third, in a trilogy, that got us to the nadir in which we find our republic today.
First, Reagan started us on the road to the massive deficit, the abyss between the rich and the middle class, the erosion of the separation of church and state.
Next, Gingrich cemented the atmosphere of the perpetual political campaign, poisoning collaboration in our legislative houses.
Third, McConnell raised the operationalization of partisan obstruction to a science. Our courts, a point of national pride, and envy of the world, are put in serious jeopardy.
I hope biographers accurately articulate Mr. McConnell's 'contributions' for the annals of history.
18
McConnell after Access Hollywood tape:
"These comments are repugnant, and unacceptable in any circumstance. As the father of three daughters, I strongly believe that Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere, and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape.”
Shortly thereafter he went on to heartily endorse Trump for president. That spoke volumes about McConnell as a man of "moral convictions and strong family values"who could so easily abandon them for his own political gain.
11
Legacy, Smagecy. The Senator is 76. Another 10 years he'll be hobbling around like many that are 86. He'll still be working on that legacy. But outside of Kentucky his legacy in the rest of the country will quickly diminish. Oh, he'll still be a big man in Kentucky, not quite as big as the UK basketball coach. He may even have his own library instead of just a room in the Public Library of Louisville.
Majority leaders are not memorable individuals. The nature of job is too specific to warrant long memories. The names over the years at the time they were majority leaders were familiar, i,e. Mansfield who held the job for 7 consecutive congresses (16 years) as Senator from Montana, Lyndon Johnson (who is remembered as president), Alben Barkley (from Kentucky no less but remembered most as Truman's VP in 1948). There were other well known names "at the time" but outside of the State they were from, how many are remembered. There were 20 majority leaders since 1925.
How many besides the ones just mentioned can you name?
Majority leaders generally wind up in the dust bins of history.
And the present majority leader will wind up there as well.
It has been said for many years that Americans wear out their presidents. The majority leaders they simply forget.
PS: The current president may be the first one to reverse that consensus that Americans wear out their presidents. He may be the first one to wear out the people of America instead.
6
Mitch McConnell is to Trump what Cheney was to Bush 43.
5
Mitch McConnell and Anthony Kennedy will (or should) go down in history as the traitors who allowed Donald Trump to destroy democracy. McConnell's record goes back more than 30 years. Kennedy's took only a day. Absent severe health problems, would five more months on the bench have killed him?
12
My thoughts EXACTLY.
4
Meh, one more megalomaniac in our political "leadership."
3
McConnell, the Colonel Sanders of the Senate. And WE are the chickens.
Seriously.
2
Mitch McConnell
There are no words to describe the pure evil that men like Mitch McConnell, Dick Cheney, Anton Scalia, Paul Ryan have inflicted on our country.
I read somewhere that their extreme personalities were formed by the turmoil of 60’s. That’s quite possibly so. I wonder in their zeal to destroy every piece of legislation to further America’s progress toward true equality for all that it ever dawned on them that they are propelling our country toward another era of turmoil like we lived thru in the 60’s?
7
This should NOT be a partisan issue. Slimy, underhanded, and corrupt relationships/actions should not be tolerated no matter what our political party is. "It's OK when my party does it" is a vile code of conduct.
7
Despite the foreseeable blockbuster films, the shelf full of books and thousands of critical analyses of the Trump Era, we will still have to explain to children and young adults how things got so quickly out of hand.
With our moral standing and global leadership position in a world largely of our shaping -- militarily, economically, culturally -- how did descend in a matter of months into the mire of oligarchy and autocracy?
In that calculus, Mitch McConnell will play a big part. By his obstruction of Obama, he set the stage for Trump. And by his acquiescence, he led the capitulation of the Republican Party to Trumpism.
History will not be kind to Democrats who failed to support the working class. But it will save its harshest criticism for the Republican Party and its rejection of American values of justice and fair play.
Politics can build or it can destroy. The GOP chose the latter.
8
Kennedy is a corrupt skunk.
Recent revelations put his every decision since Trump's election into question.
He burned his own legacy,
13
The framers of The Constitution wanted the checks and
balances to work to keep the political parties balanced so
that power could be easily transferred. Their deep thinking
visualized the need to have the president pick Supreme Court
Justices to balance majority swings in elections and still have balance. Mr. McConnell decided to override the framers and deny President Obama his duty to appoint his Justice pick. That pick would have flipped the balance of power in the Supreme Court which would have checked the other 2 branches. His finger to the framers has derailed the US Government and the train wreck will only escalate. History will destroy you McConnell
17
McConnell’s “precedent,” blocking Garland’s confirmation process, was unconstitutional, violating Art II, Sec 2, where “the” President is assigned the power to nominate and appoint, not “the next” president. And Gorsuch’s confirmation should be revoked, removing him, when Democrats reclaim a Senate majority, as fruit of the poison tree, stemming from that violation, which would satisfy the violation and give senators a lesson: they can’t violate constitutional procedure with theirs whenever politically expedient.
Nothing in the Constitution prohibits a Senate majority from revoking a confirmation, to do so is a power implied by the power to confirm, and it would end the very bad idea of “lifetime” appointments, making removal possible by a simple majority in transgressions, as has been done in recent rulings.
The only argument against revoking it is that it hasn’t been done before. So! It needs to be done to slap McConnell down for his wrong, and to Schumer who claims one violation justifies another.
Claiming that blocking the confirmation process, as McConnell did, is the same as denying “advise and consent” misses the point: McConnell acted as Senate political leader of his party, on his own, preventing the Senate from fulfilling its obligation to vote on confirmation, as constitutionally specified, blocking senators from voting yes, no, or abstaining. That’s unconstitutional, undemocratic, pure partisanship, and shameful leadership, now characteristic, and it must end.
16
Interesting legal argument! Unfortunately it would be litigated and go back to the packed court....
1
McConnell is clearly one of the worst of the worst. When it's a decision between what's best for America and what's best for Republicans, his bankrollers, and himself, democracy loses. His refusal to allow even a committee vote on Obama's choice for the Supreme Court and his outspoken eagerness to hold a vote for Trump's choice as soon as possible shows this clear as day. His refusal to speak out negatively about a deranged President from his party cements this view.
7
History will be a harsh judge for his role in making this country less inclusive, more polarized and less tolerant. Perhaps the best way to acknowledge his role is by creating The McConnell Award for The Dirtiest Politician. That may be a nice way to remind everyone of his legacy.
20
Harry Reid created this problem by getting rid of the filibuster for judicial nominations. Roe v Wade is at stake because of Democratic overreach and arrogance
5
So why couldn’t/can’t democrats have done the same thing? They have access to the same money, IT, etc as Republicans. Why are Democrats even advocating for “civility” at this point. I won’t even SPEAK to a known Republican at this point, let alone advocate for “civility” while the Republican “President” sees fit to spend his day hurling petty insults at people. I’ll never vote for a Republican but the spinelessness of dems no longer appeals to me, either. Fortunately, I live in California so my vote doesn’t matter anyway
8
Senator Mitch McConnell is proving once again to be the religious hypocrite he really is once again. He seems to lie over and over again in order for him to win. The timeline for Supreme Court justice appointments moves according to his schedule. Balancing the federal budget is no longer required providing he gets to spend the money. He, like Trump, feels that he is a god and whatever he decides to do regarding whatever is the only thing that really matters.
11
I still believe the architect of America's present problems is a man whose narcissus and ego is even greater than Trump's, RALPH NADER.
2
A thirst for power, no ethics and no core beliefs.....How long will it take us to recover from the damage he has wrought.
4
I wonder if MM has a conscience; I have seen no evidence of it. He wanted Obama to fail and cared more about another Nobel Peace Prize winner in Asia. I sense he's gleeful about doing an end run around traditions and rules. He chooses to work when his wife is in the Cabinet; is there a correlation?
6
McConnell is THE person I think of when anyone I know states flatly that they just hate politicians (well anyway, until quite recently).
He’s a guy who gave his life over not so much to evil, as to raw cynicism about the world. In that sense, he is most un-American.
When I think of Louisville, I prefer to dwell on maybe its most principled and famous son: Muhammad Ali. Now there went a man, an American giant. McConnell: not so much.
16
Democracy requires an educated, involved population. Without it, it can be subject to demagogues. I hope that President Trump's victory and the (inevitable) rightward tilt of the Courts will cause the population to finally get engaged for their interest. An engaged population is the only hope from a plutocracy.
4
It will be too late by then, the laws set in place, the protective regulations and institutions trashed, the Supreme Court locked in for generations as an instrument of the ultra wealthy and anti Democracy and the people. a flip to Dems in the Potus and the Congress and Senate will make very little difference by now as the structures have been dismantled and corrupt and evil ones inserted to replace them. It took a Century to build those protections and safeguards, they cannot be rebuilt in a term or two
3
It won't be perfect. It will be messy. It will be too late for some of our citizens but not all. America was founded as a beautiful idea with some flaws. We've been working for > 200 years to make a more perfect union. Like all learning processes, there will be setbacks. It is difficult to know what you have until you lose it for awhile. It saddens me but a country growing up is much like a person growing up. We need failure in order to gain wisdom. I believe a President Donald Trump is our failure compounded by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan working towards their own goals: A conservative Supreme Court for McConnell and an unsustainable tax cut for Paul Ryan. This is like a Fukushima Daiichi disaster, we needed several things to fail at once and we got them. Obama's naive ideology was part of the problem. Japan will be dealing with Fukushima for a while so will the US be dealing with this for awhile.
2
Mitch McConnell is going to be known, and should be known, as the person most responsible for the downward spiral and destruction of the United States of America. There can be no government without the goodwill of men, and Mitch McConnell is the personification of that. There is no satisfaction to those observing this in real time, it is merely what history shall reflect of him and this time to inform future generations of mankind, if we persist.
19
It pains me to review this, but with 2020 on the horizon we need to remember that McConnell's gambit is only important because.....
GW Bush was elected in 2000 when tens of thousands of left-leaning voters wasted their votes on Ralph Nader, costing Gore Florida and New Hampshire. Gore was just not quite perfect I guess. Bush then appointed Alito and Roberts.
Trump was elected in 2016 because tens of thousands of left-leaning voters wasted votes on Jill Stein, Gary Johnson and in some cases even Donald Trump, believing there was no way he could win. Apparently Hillary's speeches to rich people, second email server, getting called a criminal by Sean Hannity, and getting a few more votes than Bernie in the primaries were too much to handle. Trump then gave us Gorsuch and a right-wing theologian to be named later.
That's right 4 Supreme Court seats have now been lost because we just cannot seem to understand that on election day we need to vote for the best candidate with an actual chance of winning. Any other action indirectly helps Republicans. As much as we may want to blame McConnell for the loss of the Supreme Court for another 30 years we can only blame ourselves and need to do better in 2020.
17
So let me get this straight...Trump has been claiming that Mueller's team is conflicted because not all of them are Republicans loyal to him (which would be a clear conflict), but he is racing to seat another judge on the very court that will consider his fate?
10
Mitch McConnell is one of the things seriously wrong with this country. His role in campaign finance, opposing reform, his stubborn opposition to anything Obama tried to do, his refusal to allow a vote on Merrick Garland, Obama's candidate for the Supreme Court, and in the end his consistent placement of his own and his party's interests above the interests of the country, lead me to question not his intelligence, but his faithfulness to the pledge he took to support the Constitution of the United States.
22
McConnell's most lasting legacy may be the building of a stronger and more progressive opposition that will pass laws and possibly constitutional amendments that effectively sweep the Trump/Republican tragedy into the dustbin of history.
9
If you can overcome gerrymandering, voter suppression and a supreme court that shall rubber-stamp every obscene breach of fairness and honesty that the GOP can cook up.
2
To be fair, the Dems are partially for the McConnell's world. Had they not been drunk on President Obama's victory and subsequent dithering, America might not have become this.
Sure, one can hear the usual responses. Gerrymandering. Clinton was not the right candidate, never mind she had three million more popular votes. Russian interference. So on and so forth.
However, President Obama is right by pointing out - he did that last night - the Dems should stop mulling around waiting for the perfect candidate. They need to vote.
26
Civic Education Gallery! That's rich. He's more like Trump than anyone else in congress except he's less bombastic, less feckless, and more calculating.
9
History is going to lock Mitch McConnell in the same rank oubliette as his forebears, the Copperheads and the Dixiecrats. He has not served the long-term interests of his party or his country. He made the GOP uglier, meaner, and more shameless. He made the nation rise up to erase what he did.
15
The government of the Republic: "By the People, for the People
the Mc Connell governance: "By the Power, for the Power"
6
With Citizens United, one of the most distorted Court decisions in history--- McConnell said: “All Citizens United did was to level the playing field for corporate speech…. We now have, I think, the most free and open system we’ve had in modern times.”
So if corporations were forced by campaign finance laws to actually share political power with We the People, then the playing field is tilted?
He means our system is now free and legalized for the American Plutocracy. Political influence is transferred upward to elites, and the tax burden is transferred down to average citizens who have no influence on lawmaking.
He thinks corporations were previously at a DISadvantage, and the citizen majority had TOO MUCH influence. This irrational thinking dominates his party, and it now controls our 3 branches and most states. And uses their state media Fox News monopoly to spread lies across the country.
The GOP has shocking definitions of the rights of American voters and of democracy itself.
What we have is plutocracy in the disguise of democracy. And this is the party that the opposing Dems have to compete with to raise money from the richest megadonors to beat Trump.
We will stand in long lines to do our duty and vote, and then take what they give us.
13
McConnell's sleazy excuse to not allow Obama's nomination was because "the people" should decide.
Well, McConnell is now fine-tuning his bogus move and saying it must be a "Presidential" election.
So who gave him the right to decide on the parameters of a bogus move?
Also--he said "the people should decide."
And who are the representatives of "the people?"
yes---House Representatives and Senators.
And those are the people who up for election.
7
Four words: snake in the grass.
12
Please stop insulting snakes. They are useful creatures.
He is wealthy, has the best health insurance possible and when he retires he will get a pension and social security. He is the embodiment of the American dream!
4
I wonder if Justice Gorsuch likes the way the Republicans portray him? "Good ole Neil. We stole that spot and gave it to him. He'll stay in line."
10
If anyone has any doubt that deceit, hypocrisy and mendacity are the motis operandi of Republicans, they need to read this article. After which they should simply ignore their bleats about civility and balance.
9
Wow. So one visit to a college library that didn't have "exhibits on governing accomplishments" confirmed your thesis that Mr. McConnell more than other politicians was motivated by the game of politics? What types of exhibits were you looking for? Seriously, this is your "research?"
I also love how there is no mention of Harry Reid and his changing the Senate laws on filibustering despite McConnell's warning that it would come back to bite the Dems. But I guess that doesn't really fit your smear narrative.
3
The college library paragraph is largely a rhetorical device. The author is clearly identified as a McConnell biographer, so he has presumably done plenty of research on the man.
8
When Reid changed the Senate rules creating the "nuclear option" McConnell warned the Democrats:
“If you want to play games, set yet-another precedent that you’ll no doubt come to regret. I say to my friends on the other side of the aisle: You’ll regret this,” he told Democrats on the Senate floor, “and you may regret it a lot sooner than you think.”
8
I have nothing to add to this excellent article...but I
wonder...why do these kind of people keep getting
elected...?
12
That’s easy. They keep getting elected because their opponents are so much worse.
1
Someone please tell me what legislation McConnell has passed that is good for America.
10
McConnell should go down in history as the man who single handedly destroyed the United States of America, a task that no Foreign Enemy could have achieved. He should be placed right up there with Benedict Arnold.
24
Sad to watch American democracy dribble down the drain.
11
Interesting that as I add this comment, there are 666 already there. Coincidence, or does Mitch bear the mark or the beast? Early in the campaign, I wrote that Trump is the anti-Christ.
4
When was the last time you thought of Dick Cheney is one question; and as for McConnell and his lack of support for our Last President, Mr. Obama, he will be washed up in the annals of American history.
3
History will no doubt be written in history as the person most responsible for the destruction of American democracy. Similarly, he is the embodiment of the new American "success" story; all insecurity-driven pointless ambition, zero actual accomplishments.
9
McConnell uses psychological warfare to drive his agenda, which is why I feel it’s incumbent that we understand him (and everyone in this conservative movement) in psychological terms. He (and his ilk) displays classic disordered, anti-social behaviors (or more accurately, sociopathy).
If Democrats understood that they’re dealing with people who are neurologically incapable of emotions like shame, guilt, empathy, remorse, and compassion, they could better fight the abusive behaviors, twisted tactics and logic and sick worldview of these people. If Democrats understood how these people think -- the drivers, impulses and compulsions of these people -- they could fight back.
These are people with malfunctioning brains. You can’t reason with them. They don’t care. You can’t try to appeal to their better nature. They don’t have one. You can’t try to compromise with them. That’s what they want. Compromise means they win, you lose.
They will wear you down. They aren’t burdened by higher emotions that cause fatigue. You have to remove emotions from the fight. Emotions are a weakness. Manipulating emotions are their game. That’s what they use to control, and the moment you show emotions is the moment they’ve won. You’ll always play their game until you stop letting them control the narrative. But you have to learn how -- and Democrats seem clueless. I suggest they start studying psychopathy, malignant narcissism, etc. It will shed new light on the Republicans.
10
Redux: I keep reading comments that people like McConnell are evil “how they can be so evil?” But that’s the wrong way of looking at things; those are the wrong questions.
People like McConnell are only after one thing: What they want. It doesn’t matter to him whether other people are harmed or even if they benefit from his actions. He doesn’t care one way or the other. He only cares about achieving his goals, controlling, and attaining power. Everything else is ancillary.
The cutthroat tactics, psychological warfare, ager and vitriol, lies and deceit, etc that he uses are tactical -- not emotional. He weaponizes emotions to use on unsuspecting Democrats and to manipulate his supporters.
It’s not so much that people like McConnell (and Trump and Kochs) stick together. It’s more of a transactional relationship, mutual benefits. These people are operating on a different level than normal people. They are cognitive creatures and everything is about what they want. Nothing is emotional, unless emotions like anger and hatred can be used to their advantage. Just read through McConnell’s quotes in this article. Remove your emotional reactions to them and you’ll see what motivates him and how he’s achieves his goals.
12
A vile man who learned early on to tell the rubes at home what they wanted to hear, and deliver, if at all, a twisted version. A master of (now) Trumpian deflection, blame, and division. No doubt Mr. McConnell was badly picked on in school and is now taking vengeance on the great unwashed he professes to champion. Hopefully, they wise up someday.
9
Since we are now a loose confederation instead of a country, and State Kentucky has done this to us, should Kentucky suffer any consequences?
2
McConnell is a proud man, though it's hard to see why, for any rational thinker. Few have seen so much success while doing so much harm and producing so little good, politically. They say it's the wisdom of the ages, and they say that, because it can take ages for wisdom to peek out from under the smoke and mirrors, but it will, and when it does, McConnell will take his place side by side with all the rest of today's republican party, for whom "winning" elections has always been more important than our people and commonwealth. They did the awful things many of us suspect they did to win this last election, because winning at any cost, means any cost is worth winning.
5
What this piece misses is that Mitch McConnell has always championed and served the rights of the .01 percent over what is good for the rest of the American public. He has been true to these high moral standards his entire career.
4
Mitch McConnell may not be as repellent as some of the other Republicans of recent history, Helms or Thurmond to name two, but he has destroyed quite a bit more than they did.
What I cannot understand is why the Democrats never ever point out precisely what it is that the GOP is doing to America in point by point speeches and emails to their constituents.
One hopes that McConnell, Ryan, and the rest of them suffer more than the plagues they have brought down upon us, much more. Nicer still would be stripping them of their government perks the way they've stripped and shortchanged Americans all along the way.
7
Leader McConnell will go down in history as highly instrumental in the downfall of America. He will be viewed as the man who singlehandedly made Trump possible by withholding from the public the news of the Russia meddling in our election. To put our President in that predicament, to not join hands with him at that crucial moment in history so that the revelation would be a joint announcement and not unilateral and thus look political, well....no, "leader" doesn't cut it as a title for Mitch. Maybe "leader" of the destruction of our once great country...That fits. That really fits.
11
If, as McConnell believes, and the SC decided, that "money is speech", would not the flip side of that also be true? Lack of money equals lack of speech. Both should be 1st Amendment truisms.
8
Has there ever been a piece of major legislation with the name "McConnell" attached to it?
The only major bill we'll ever see will be the one we'll be paying for the few generations. Viva the Gilded Age!!
3
President Obama provided Mr. McConnell with incriminating information that Putin AKA Russia was interfering in the 2016 Presidential Election. It is clearly becoming evident that Mr. McConnell's actions were integral in preventing the American Citizens - of all political parties - in knowing the facts and evidence substantiating this treasnonous act... McConnell deserves to face his own day in court. He was elected to serve the citizens of his state and also of the nation. I hope that in his archival "Hall of Fame" someone creates an exhibit about the ecological harms of White, misogynist and racist scumbags. If Americans want to visit or observe the most environmentally dangerous swamps in the U.S. -- visit the Senate or the House of Representatives. Greed, dishonesty and narcissism run amok there. The antidote/treatment? Term Limits! Term Limits! Term Limits! And jail time for the politicians who intentionally mislead the people they represent.
17
It is about time for Progressive voters to finally come to their senses. The Right Wing is willing to do anything to get their way. Mr. Obama tried the reasonable approach. The Right Wing will never be reasonable. Apathy on the Left delivered this mess. When the idealists could not get their way, they went home. We must stop lamenting that Mr Sanders could have won. Those same people gave us this current administration and Congress. We will have a Federal Court system that believes cheating to carry out a harsh agenda is perfectly correct. Progressives must stop fighting each other and unite to fight the Right Wing before all of their "rights" are abolished.
9
To say that I dislike this man would be a wild understatement. But this dude is baller. He had the guts to not vote on Garland. And now the world belongs to old white guys once again. Muslim bans, border walls, and eventually abortion made illegal in 20 states: all this is possible with old white dudes like Mitch McConnell at the wheel. Scary!
4
Hillary called some of these people "deplorables"; she might have gone farther and called them, Mitch included, the "despicables."
11
What a despicable human being.
12
A stolen election and a criminal in the white house. Their SCOTUS choices are illigitimate. Our Democracy is a sham.
11
Mitch McConnell is Donald Trump’s Iago.
5
Wrong on every count.
Obama was dubbed the ‘deporter in chief’ for his immigration policy. Progressives dubbed him this because they can think for themselves and saw this unnecessary cruelty for what it was: pandering to people like you.
Republicans have to get it in their heads, that you have no moral authority in this country.
Democrats do not believe in open borders, that’s something you heard on the radio or on TV, no doubt from Limbaugh or Hannity.
Republicans are no longer the party of conservativism, you’re a personality cult that will get its comeuppance either at the ballot box or when the civil war starts.
You do not understand what this country is about or what it stands for and you make me kinda sick.
11
Wow, again, AGAIN, this writer betrays himself as knowing nothing about campaign finance law. Citizens Unites had nothing to do, NOTHING, with spending limitations. Why is that so hard to understand?
I guess liberal derangement syndrome with respect to Citizens Unites is wide and deep.
2
McConnell stole my vote for a Supreme Court Justice. He deserves to be tried for sedition. A true fascist.
12
He is an ugly man, in every respect.
16
As my mother always said, politics is a dirty business. Mitch McConnell is up to his neck in dirt.
4
Harry Reid!
May his name be remembered with incredulity and disgust. He absolutely deserves it, a scoundrel, hypocrite and traitor. Seriously.
9
The most evil man in Washington D.C.
10
Trump is a sick man. McConnell is a self-made despicable.
4
Mich is a big problem, but Obama was a total whimp. He never took the initiative to do for good what Trump is doing for bad, and so reneged on his campaign promises about change. Obama's unwillingness to engage in conflict with clear enemies, and the DNC's spinelessness for the past decades, have emasculated them one and all. Until all the old windbags who are promoting the status quo are GONE, the Dems will keep losing, and keep whimping out while chasing talking point issues that fail to resonate with most people.
7
Gollum?
2
From abroad, as a not now proud but once proud US citizen, especially with a real President, President Obama, what comes often to mind when I think about what Cipher and the republicans are doing to America? The routine demonstration the airlines present when in the unlikely possibility of a "water landing" - which means you're plummeting to your death as the plane crashes into the sea, you bend over, put your head between your legs, and kiss your gluteus maximus adios. The dis US has never had such bird brain leaders, such oafs, fawning acolytes, and the shrill confederate voters who elected the bums, as we now have. Gather ye rosebuds, stout Americans. Vote out all the clowns, rats, and worms who have knocked America down and dirty. We are greater, grander, wiser than the lies and lice that infest our democracy.
6
Gees...he even makes Dick Cheney sparkle at this point! Cheney shot his friend while hunting birds. McConnell shot a bird and said F you to the Constitution when he refused to give Garland a hearing.
11
The Democratic party's governance strategy relies on winning presidential elections, Executive Orders, Supreme Court rulings and weakest of all Senate rules and ignoring state and county elections and demographics. It would seem McConnell and the Republican party exploited each and every weakness. That he did so is McConnell's fault and the historical consequences shall form his legacy. But the blame for the likely 20+ years of the Republican party dominating US governance lies with previous decades of the Democratic party leadership's naivite and plain stupidity.
2
If Mitch had been a Democrat and achieved all the types of things listed here for liberals he would be a national hero in the press, lionized for his determination to do whatever he could to advance America forward. Be honest - you're jealous you don't have the equivalent on your side.
2
When Sen. McConnell pulled his blatantly unconstitutional and immoral stunt with the Garland nomination, I looked up his age to estimate how long it would be before he would shuffle off the public stage "and then [be] heard no more." With this latest atrocity, I have a new wish: that in his dotage, one of his grandchildren comes to tell him that they studied him in school that day . . . alongside Benedict Arnold, John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Harvey Weinstein.
15
McConnell sold his soul to the Devil.
8
McConnel and Trum are the two most evil and destructive and anti-American individuals. The more dangerous is McConnell because he is both evil and smart.
8
There is no doubt that Mitch McConnell has had an enormous impact on the disturbing world we live in today. But this ignores the long history of Republican efforts since the 1960s or perhaps earlier to reverse the achievements of FDR and to take control of all levers of power throughout our society, including government, academia, think tanks, television, etc. The “Powell Memo” written in the early 1970s clearly laid out the strategy. From McCarthy, to Goldwater, to Nixon, and then to the Reagan Revolution. But, critically important was the move to the right by the Democrats beginning in the 1970s and accelerated by Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Conference (DLC). The US Supreme Court decided the 2000 election and gave us George W. Bush, an unelected President. And even Obama was a centrist who let the banks get away with crimes and corruption, failed to take advantage of an opportunity to reorganize power in our country, failed to deal with problems like poverty and injustice, and became the “deporter-in-chief”. Trump is a disastrous symptom of a horrendous series of maneuvers and decisions made over half a century to put our country in the devastating position we are in today. We now have a president that is authoritarian and only represents the interests of his supporters rather than all Americans. Trump is a con man and a fraud and is clearly ignorant. He may turn out to be the most destructive force in US history. This was a long time coming.
10
Scott, everything you say is absolutely correct. You sum it up beautifully. Many people attribute it to Reagan, but it started long before Reagan - it is just that Reagan is probably the most recent president most people remember in their lifetimes who did major damage to the US democratic institutions. Thank you for your summary, it is very accurate.
1
Call him a traitor. Do you think he’d care?
5
That Kentucky routinely votes for this hypocritical sleazebag term after term does not shine a favorable light on Kentucky.
9
Please know that we who live in Kentucky aren’t all fans of Mitch. I loathe him, as do all my friends. I don’t vote for him—have never voted for him in my life. I'm not originally from Kentucky but currently reside in Louisville. When my situation permits, I will leave Kentucky. I will head north for my retirement. Kentucky is a lovely state, a bit too humid for me, and the summers are brutal.
However: the heat and humidity are refreshing compared to knowing Mitch ostensibly represents me in the Senate. Mitch McConnell is an embarrassment to this city, this state, and this country, and ridding myself of any possible connection with this fraud of a "civil servant" will make me feel like I scraped something off the bottom of my shoe that I’ve been trying to off for over a decade.
2
Only someone who hates freedom and free speech hates the Citizens United decision. Congratulations, Mr MacGillis. You are in line with famous people like Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Fidel, Mao, Putin, and all the others who killed to keep people from speaking their minds. The Founding Fathers would have tarred & feathered you, and sent you back to England.
1
You know whose free speech I’d like us to take time to hear? Yours. Mine. That homeless guy. Not just those with the deepest pockets who bought the loudest megaphone. Corporations are NOT people. And they shouldn’t have the same rights as individuals. They aren’t citizens either.
6
From afar, the American cleft at the moment doesn't look like a confrontation between Republicans and Democrats, or even Right and Left. Unquestionably people like the Koch brothers and their class profit greatly from a 'Republican' never-ending stimulus to the rich via tax cuts. It may have been credible in the Reagan years, but the most obvious consequence since then is the freezing/reduction of middle class access to national wealth, even worse for the bottom of the scale. However, it's not possible to win an election with the votes of just the rich. If Trump voters were motivated by their poverty or reduced circumstances, and they include Republicans as well as Democrats, they'd have to be very stupid to expect economic salvation from a man from the very sector that caused it. To assume stupidity on those we disagree with is not a good idea.
Trump won because he's not about economics, or Left/Right issues as defined in the XXth century. Erdogan in Turkey has been carried to power by those who want to go back to Islamic, old-style Turkey, and, in America, Trump was voted by those who would have wanted the Confederacy to win the Civil War. It is an ideology now spread well beyond its cradle, encompassing issues that were not part of the Civil War but, if they had been, the Confederates would have taken the same stand as Trump Republicans take now. As said, it's not Reps vs Dems or Right vs Left, it's XIXth Century vs XXIst.
6
It good to know who the enemy is in the coming civil war.
Did McConnell ever think about where he was leading us? The simple answer is no. Arrogant and stupid is a combination to be avoided in any leader.
9
McConnell-
cunning
wily
sly
scheming
treacherous
two faced
janus faced
double dealing
unscrupulous
deceitful
dishonest
All synonyms of Machiavellian
10
Talk about a swamp creature...
10
Here are the thoughts which I'd like to share relative to McConnell...contemptible... vile...unscrupulous...immoral.
6
The fascist Republican Party's war on America is now in full tilt. (War on truth, war on justice, war on law enforcement, war on women, blacks, minorities, immigrants, war on education, health care, war on journalists, war on our nation's military allies, war on democracy, etc., etc.),To protect and defend the United States of America, we must win our citizen's hearts and minds and votes in 2018. We can do it.
8
What a disgusting person. He represents all the bad things about American politics.
5
I lived in Lexington, Kentucky, for six years. Southerners have never gotten over losing the civil war and the election of a black president unhinged them. McConnell is symbolic of many of those in power in the South: bigoted, biased, and only out to feather their own nest.
17
Though I already had low regard for the Kentucky Senator at the time, I gave up any final shards of respect when he said: "My number one priority is making sure president Obama’s a one-term president."
What a despicable, soulless, biased, treasonous, and vile political fraud the fine folks of Kentucky have unleashed on American history.
12
Well Cocaine Mitch is getting up there in years...maybe nature will intervene and end his term prematurely, just like it did for Scalia.
1
Obstructionist Republican Majority leaders are nothing new. Mitch McConnell followed the playbook of Republican majority leader Henry Cabot Lodge who lived 100 years ago. Whatever Wilson was for, Cabot Lodge was against. Lodge's refusal to allow the U.S. to join the League of Nations resulted in the rise of an unchecked Nazi Germany that culminated in World War 2. McConnell's name will vanish from the public consciousness the same way Lodge's has, but the poisonous leagacy of their partisanship won't.
11
I don’t want his name to disappear. I want him held in perpetual contempt for his moral turpitude if I could wave a wand and bring back the public stocks for this creature, I would.
4
McConnell is a traitor, he and his wife are agents for the demise of this country along with a cast of thousands.Happy 4th of July...do Republicans still celebrate the 4th?
8
Trump is the loudmouth liar, bully, etc but it is McConnell who is the evil genius who enabled the Trump election and supports his bombast. If America is divided and losing world prestige and power we can all thank McConnell for enabling Trump.
6
What is missing in this article is the incredible stupidity of the American electorate that has promulgated such behavior. Maybe we will get back to normal when someone shoots McConnell.
4
Most congressional Republicans are just plain stupid spineless idiots (starting with Paul Ryan). What separates McConnell and Trump -- raises them to another level -- is that they are brilliant Immoralists: brilliant in that, as tactical wunderkinds, in just 525 days they have successfully turned Washington, DC into a demented Capital of Oligarchy.
One hopes that the reason the Democrats are so continuously silent in the face of this lunacy is that they have good reason to believe that Robert Mueller's report will bring down the Trump presidency.
Meanwhile, McConnell and Trump have caused the stress levels of millions of [small d] democratic Americans to soar off the charts.
Trump (with McConnell as his head Stormtrooper) is a Monster. Daily, as McConnell enables him and looks away, Trump is smearing ethics and morality, breaking laws for personal gain, and steadily turning the United States into a totalitarian state. Trump is a Monster.
5
McConnell is a traitor and disgraceful. When there is an uprising heads will roll.
6
I will do my part to ensure this column is spread far and wide. McConnell has done more to damage the institutions of the federal government than anyone. Trump's just a useful idiot to achieve the Koch brothers goals.
8
Chief of the Hypocrites. Lord of the Swamp.
Great times for the republicans.
10
McConnell is pure evil. He is drunk with greed for power. His refusal to work with the most intelligent, heart-opened president we ever had--Barack Obama--was the most disgusting display of disrespect and racism, and it is a wonder that he keeps getting elected. Yes, he has largely paved the path for the nightmare fascist, unabashed capitalist regime we suffer under today. He is not interested in being a public servant. He simply wants more power for himself. He is a pathetic, miserable person who is largely responsible for the unraveling of this democracy.
4
There is no blue wave coming and your paper had better correctly report the hatred, tantrums, discrimination by Maxine Waters, the Red Hen, and discriminating/harassing politicians and others is not working. Remember the softball team almost assassinated? The socialist democrats are hateful and every independent sees it. Most people are "centrists" and not right wing nor far lunatic leftists. Let the Constitution prevail and not the nonsense of Nancy & Chuck.
1
If I didn't live through the last several years and read the New York Times, I might actually have believed Mr. MacGillis. Wasn't it Mr. Obama who said "Elections have consequences.....I won" and then pushed through his vision of the ACA? That was said to Mr. Cantor as part of a supposedly bipartisan committee to work on what became the ACA.
I also found it interesting that Mr. MacGillis fails to mention that Sen. Reid first changed the Senate rules for Judge/Cabinet filibuster despite the warning by Sen. McConnell not to do it and that it would come back to bite the Democrats (btw, no mention that Democrats didn't have to threaten to stall Justice Gorsuch's nomination since he was replacing Scalia and that the better strategy was to wait for the next replacement).
Not sure McConnell is quite the kingmaker when the other party has no sense of political strategy (btw, never thought I'd be implying that Republicans actually excel at political strategy because they don't).
1
Only after repeatedly being blocked be recalcitrant republicans for nothing more than not being their guy. Sadly, we now get to live with the consequences of a manipulated election.
1
Mitch McConnell's political career embodies what Louis Brandeis warned of when he wrote that "We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."
8
"During a secret briefing for congressional leaders, The Post reported, Mr. McConnell “raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.” The Obama administration kept mum, and voters had to wait until after Mr. Trump’s election to learn the depth of Russian involvement."
This quotation sums up one of the glaring problems with the Obama Presidency, a failure of injecting political steel into the spine of leadership. I voted for Obama twice and have commended many of his personal ethical and moral attributes.
But more state legislative seats and governorships were lost to the Republican Party under his time as president than in the last four decades. And here is another example of him being a bit too calculating, a bit too cautious. He should have put that information out to the public and McConnell be damned. That's what Mitch would have done if the positions were reversed. Another example of the Dems bringing a knife to a gun fight.
McConnell is not totally responsible for giving us the World of Trump. I think Debbie Wasserman-Schulz's torpedoing of Bernie Sanders bid during the primary helped considerably. If Sanders had been given the nod to run against Trump, I totally believe he would have won.
7
There is more intelligence and critical thinking skills in this comment then in most of the papers and among most Democratic politicians, Well said. The dems are always bringing a knife to a gun fight, they need to stop. They didn't seem to make a big deal out of having a supreme court seat stolen. They didn't seem to care that even though they had the majorities in two houses and the presidency Mitch prevented almost all legislation and many judges/other appointees from getting through. The Dems should have attacked this nonstop. You should have gotten sick of Obama saying this. Call THEM the enemy of the american people.
5
American disgrace. McConnell is the rot now consuming what's left of this country. He single-handedly stole a SC pick from a sitting US president and told you (lied!) it was to allow the American voters their rightful choice. Now, when it suits his purpose, it's American voters be damned - they picked already? He's a hypocrite, a liar and the worst of the worst things about America!
7
To paraphrase recent comments by a member of Trump's administration, "there's a special place in hell" for McConnell for what he's done to subvert democracy and the rule of law in the U.S.
10
By now it should be abundantly clear to every democrat and independent that republicans have effectively taken over the country. This isn't just about democrats being on an electoral losing streak. It's about a systematic effort by republicans to ruthlessly seize the levers of power in America and use them to advance their unpopular agenda. And their agenda actually is very unpopular with the majority of the country, which is why they needed to steal power in order to make it happen.
Democrats need to stop treating politics like a polite discussion or a contest of ideas because republicans don't treat politics that way. They treat politics like a bare knuckles fight, and democrats need to start fighting back in kind if we have any hope of reversing this tide. Republicans have successfully gerrymandered their districts, are actively suppressing the vote, and have a right-wing propaganda machine on their side. This will make it difficult for democrats to win elections, but we must. If we can't, the only option will be open revolt.
9
Part of the breakdown in our system has to do with senators and congressmen and women just holding on to power for the sake of power itself. Most no longer care about achieving anything for their constituents, only about getting reelected and making themselves rich and powerful.
I did not know that Mitch McConnell once supported unions and abortion rights. Now he has become an autocrat, he doesn't care about his constituents, the constitution, or anything other than hoarding enough power for himself and his party.
WE NEED TERM LIMITS!
3
Special places in hell filling up fast!
6
There is a special place in hell for Mitch McConnell
4
There is a special place in Hell waiting for Mitch McConnell. I thought he should have been impeached for refusing to grant a hearing or a vote on the nomination of Judge Garland, and that not his greatest blatant violation of his oath of office. Like so many other Republicans, he has no shame, no conscience, and no consideration for the good of the country.
6
When history is written, Mitch McConnell will be remembered as one of the men who broke America. He was, perhaps, brilliant in his execution but the ends he sought have irreparably torn the fabric of the nation. Not a legacy I'd necessarily be proud of but he seems smugly satisfied.
There will be a special place in hell waiting for him.
9
A little man, close-minded and self-centered. But fierce and determined. He fought Obama to a standstill, out witting him, out fighting him, out everything. Had Obama had any guts, when McConnell made clear he would not grant Garland a hearing, POTUS should have said, “well, Mitch, I am appointing and swearing him in, anyway, and you can go to hell.”
6
How would Obama have done that exactly? I am genuinely curious about how that should go.
1
Trump is what he is and always has been. McConnell is what he chose to become. Neither of the two are people who should have any kind of power over others, but McConnell deserves to be doubly damned.
5
Gerrymandering gave America Mitch.
Gerrymandering gave America Trump.
Gerrymandering gave America Gorsuch.
Gerrymandering screws with the popular vote.
Gerrymandering supports the Electoral College.
Why? Why? Why aren't more of us demanding it's abolishment?
5
I read news now solely to monitor the economy for my retirement. But for that, I would tune it all out now. Bluntly, as a lawyer, a college professor and a former political science major in college, I don't give a damn about America anymore. I've watched a succession of anti-intellectuals co-op this country for decades and have to come to understand many of my fellow Americans are not able thinkers, don't care much about equal rights for everyone, and are wholly intoxicated by religious ghosts. It's a dull country, and its very definition is President Trump. A shill for all things mediocre, he IS America. He is the president this country so richly deserves.
10
Sobering thoughts. Infuriating all the same. The depth and reach of the damage and suffering as a consequence of McConnell's malevolent influence will last a long time. It's not exactly comforting that history will sort this all out and take a dim view of him some day. History is not so kind to Hitler either, despite millions dead in the interim. Tell the dead, suffering, and severely traumatized that History has spoken, after the fact. So deeply tired of fending off Republicans just so I can survive in my old age. Thank you nevertheless, Alec McGillis, for this fine analysis.
1
McConnell stands alone as the most toxic member of the United States Government. Period! Ever!
1
No, this is the world Pelosi and Schumer gave us -- by championing non-core liberal causes that are unpopular with too many persons: Abortion on demand, gun controls that are ever more annoying and ineffective, and LGBT rights.
As a consequence, the Democrats have become irrelevant and continually seethe with impotent rage. More important, their core issue -- equality of opportunity -- has been trampled in the dust.
What good is being on the right side of history if your efforts prevent for decades the outcomes you want?
There is a word for persons who keep doing the same thing but expect a different outcome: insane.
"There is a word for persons who keep doing the same thing but expect a different outcome: insane."
That's a brilliant observation, one that I've never heard before. My loss for not watching Fox and Friends more often, I suppose.
Very fortunate to have Mensa members in good standing posting regularly here.
I indeed was a member of Mensa but quit for the same reason the Dems keep losing: Mensans live in their heads and expect the world bend to their brilliant views.
While I don't often watch Fox News, when I do I find it only slightly more dissembling on the right than MSNBC is on the left. Ditto for the NYTimes and CNN...
Is there no way to stop this insidious and, sometimes, blatant destruction of this country? Have we put only evil men in the Congress, those who put their own power/status above the well-being of millions? It's time to end it. Overwhelm the voting precincts in mid-term elections and get rid of Republicans! Elect Independents, Progressives, Democrats, and Newcomers. We surely can't be less represented. If there's not some change, we won't know this country in ten years.
5
I've said all along if I were terminally ill and I had one bullet it wouldn't be Trump who I'd gift it to. McConnell is number one on my list. A traitor to his country with a character of unspeakable evil.
3
Macgillis was right the first time: McConnell is winning for winning's sake. There is no underlying principle or purpose. That's the problem with most Republicans today. Ask them their intentions and nine times out of ten they have no idea. The only way to get anything coherent is a multiple choice question with leading answers. Even that has become a bit difficult. Do you support child abuse? Trump supporters are desperately seeking the "maybe" box. Decisions are only immoral and hypocritical when the other person makes them. That's McConnell's legacy in a nutshell.
By the way, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. My contempt for Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. is non-partisan. This man is a curse upon our nation. I can't respect anyone who would cheer his "accomplishments." You obviously think the world is a game to be won. How wrong you are.
1
I see the trolls are out.
Mitch McConnell thy name is sedition. Imagine a Republican saying that a new president will not get an major legislation. And a black one! This man lacks all decency.
Mitch McConnell is the enemy.
2
All of the heinous and destructive policies McConnell has had a hand in over the years - including making a take-down of Obama by obstruction the single most important goal of the GOP - some would say the sole goal - from the day he was inaugurated, pale in comparison to the obstruction of the nomination of Garland to the Supreme Court.
The legal and political fallacy that he came up with to defend their indefensible failure to fulfill their Constitutional duty to advise and consent - that Obama was a lame duck some 9 months before the end of his term - proved to be just a a flimsy cover story for their tyranny.
Their second argument, that so close to an election we should wait to seat a Justice and "let the people decide" was another story made of whole cloth, shown to be so by the failure to wait until the people have spoken in this years mid terms, now so near to seat any Trump nominee.
Finally, their bald assertion that the court could do just fine indefinitely with 8 Justices is belied by their mad dash to fill the 9th seat now.
The fruits of the theft of the Garland seat are now coming home to roost, and we are moving swiftly backwards into the 20th Century and before.
Woe is us if a second young, reactionary Justice is seated.
Call. Write. March. Protest. Vote.
Help turn one (1) Republican to vote for a moderate.
5
All the Republicans worship is power, money and Jesus, and maybe football. Do they care a whit about the real country America and the people who live there?
They are ideologues, but behind their ideology, barely concealed, lies worship of power and money.
It will take time, because the house they build has the flimsy of a rotted tree trunk.
People who worship power fail in the end- will they take the whole country with them?
They are the minority and they will have a rough landing, on Pennsylvania Avenue
1
Mitch McConnell Gave Us nothing , and his wife is worse, both are corrupt politicians.
They made their billions plus his wife`s father a business tycoon, time to retire and leave us with what little we have.
4
Also let us never forget the vendetta that this parasite on American democracy had for a far, far better man, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.
3
McConnell will go down in history as an American hero for not allowing Obama to select a Supreme Court Justice. The Supreme Court is our firewall against our "progressive" Marxist ideas and policies. With luck McConnell will have two more conservative Justices to vote on.
It is fitting of the times that people want a legacy of how much power they commanded, not how much they benefitted their country or humanity. We used to believe in the myth that they were “public servants.” Now the façade is stripped away and we (at least those of us who still care about such things) see them crass power brokers out for their own gain.
2
Unfortunately for me it's long been impossible to discuss anything related to McConnell without lapsing into the absolute foulest language.
2
I call on America's allies, all over the world, to please boycott any business in Kentucky, Wisconsin, or any red state for that matter. The republicans, who are a minority, are holding this country hostage. This is an SOS. We are heading for a civil war if someone doesn't help us. Do not trade with these people. Money is all they care about.
1
It's nice to read an op ed that takes such a long, detailed view of perhaps the most destructive force in American life--a man without principles who effectively controls the most important parts of the judiciary. Donald Trump isn't smart enough to destroy democracy by himself. He needs McConnell and Fox News and Trey Gowdy and the rest to break in advance the brick he karate chops. One of the Democrats's big strategic mistakes has been to focus on Trump as the source of all evil and let McConnell pass himself off as an institutionalist. One of Obama's biggest mistakes was not to make McConnell the poster child for everything that is wrong in the country, Maybe this essay will help the Democrats wise up, and get the news media to stop blaming "both sides" for the loss of civility in politics. Those who blame Harry Reid for changing filibuster rules ignore the fact that McConnell forced his hand, knowing that partisans and short-sighted news people would pin all the blame on Reid and the Democrats.
2
Yes, in hindsight playing nice with McConnell may have been Obama's biggest mistake.
Obama at some point needed to get out the flamethrower and put away the laser scalpel.
But it's tough to be who you're not. Obama got elected twice by being who he was, and for better or worse (worse in this case), he stayed true to what he believed.
I also believe he felt constrained in some areas by being the first African American president.
It's sad but not surprising that liberals keep wanting to put all of the blame for everything that they think is wrong with our country on others as if they themselves played no role whatsoever and are just innocent bystands at the mercy of the tides of fate.
One wonders what motivates a pathetic individual like Mitch McConnell? Was it that he got beat up so much in school? Or just that his parents left out the talk about Values.
2
Trump and McConnell were made for each other.
Both are human black holes, devoid of empathy, taking everything and giving nothing.
Two of the saddest creatures on earth.
3
We are witnessing the end of an empire, brought on by greed and naked narcissism.
5
TERM LIMITS!! He has got to go, we cant have traitors in Congress. Who is voting for him?
1
Come on now.
We know is he is part of the fascist conspiracy trying, with apparently considerable success, to undermine American democracy.
Unlike 1930s Germany, however, perhaps we can look ahead enough to avoid that fate.
When history of this age is written I believe three people will be blamed for the downfall of America and the shape of the world that follows.
1. Vladimir Putin
2. Rupert Murdock (Fox News enabler)
3. Mitch McConnell
Trump is just a symptom of the disease.
2
Now is the time for the young in this country to stand up and take charge. Is the Trumpian dystopia what you want from your government? Are you going to stand-by and let corporations, both foreign and domestic, take away any chance of democracy? Vote!!! It's our only chance of stoping this carnage.
As always, President Obama brought an NPR tote bag to a knife fight.
McConnell didn't give us this, he is only the messenger. This was given to us by Democrats who didn't vote time and again, by Evangelical hate, by pouting Bernie fanatics, by racism, by homophobia, by willful ignorance, by corporate greed, by voter suppression, by Twitter isolation, by treason with a foreign power. Take your pick.
3
McConnell is nothing short of a traitor. He and his party are now the enemies within. They must be removed from office.
3
He’s an odious weasel, and should be a case study in how the legislative branch descended into partisan gridlock, essentially neutering itself.
1
NYT commenters bemoaning McConnell's toxicity should step back to reflect on the more important message here: in Carl Hayden’s famous world of “show horses and work horses,” which ones have greater impact [in Washington]? I post this with recent events fresh in mind: yesterday’s NYT gushing articles recanting the victory of a photogenic 28-year-old over lumpish Congressman Joe Crowley. Hillary said “Democrats fall in love [with their candidates]..,” but it will be more interesting to see how many bills she gets to the floor. Remember, while Democrat hearts beat faster at the thought of Camelot and Jack & Jackie, it was his buffoonish successor, the mirror image of McConnell, who pushed through all the landmarks the Dems now celebrate as their legacy: Medicare, Medicaid, Civil Rights and the War on Poverty, all programs that never got past the talking-point stage with JFK. Maybe the real victor for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s win will be Mitch, who will smile and brush her aside, something the commenters should remember before they line up to start her parade.
1
I would say that our present pol climate is a product of the progressive insufferable snobs like Obama and Hillary who pursued identity politics and income redistribution, vilifying anyone who disagreed with them. even an educated, high IQ person like me could not bear to vote for these obnoxious, self-absorbed types. ill take trump, warts and all, over these, and so has half the country who don't know McConnell from a hole in the wall.
Ok, so Mitch McConnell may be shrewd, crafty, clever, whatever.......That's great, just great.
Mostly, he is truly a deeply, pathologically cynical human being. What a miserable life.
10
McConnel is simple despicable.
2
Grotesque. Period.
1
The Terminator. Evil and powerful and as dirty a politician as I have come across in years. Trump couldn't have a better cohort.
1
He has no heart, and a shameful partisan. I hope he can sleep at night when Putin is marching down Broadway
1
Have you no sense of decency sir?
Sadly the answer is no. Mitch McConnell is a traitor... he has betrayed his both his oath of office and his country... all in the name of money and power, grinning the whole way...
3
The American people used to have powerful and accessible institutions they could use to change and put an end to this madness, but every single one of them has been bought, broken and corrupted. That means there is no peaceful way for Americans to bring about positive change and to fight these monsters. Because the monsters took them all away:
The free press
Unions
Voting
The law and the courts
Legislation and representation
........all gone....... the stealing of the US Supreme Court and the capitulation of all but four of its members this week was the final nail in the coffin lid.
Nobody is coming to help us, and there is no way out of this unless the last major institution still holding on, our military, does something. And our military is not likely to overthrow these fascists.
So what's left? Two choices. Americans can learn to live under the iron boot of the fascist Oligarchs, or they can join together and fight. It will be a long, bloody, violent confrontation whose end is uncertain. But history has shown when all other options are gone, a society will either descend into hopelessness and fear, or it will fight back.
The Democrats are not in power so the world is coming to an end? Their world maybe but not everybody's. What crybabies.
Not one mention of the Biden Rule. Not one mention that in 1852 the exact same thing happened in the U.S. Senate. Is this because the author is ignorant of the aforementioned facts or reflective of a biased piece?
the gop’s ultimate post nixon legacy is the rotting away of the fabric of the republic and the rise of fascism, mcconnell will go down in history as one of their chief architects
1
Mitch McConnell is the worst man in government. Period. He is power-hungry, ruthless, and just plain evil. I lust for his comeuppance. I don't know how that will happen, but if there's any justice in the world, it will happen.
5
Disgusting that people are actually celebrating turning back the clock and a war on the poor. Poor whites may have voted for Trump but it was the solid white middle class that put him over. I guess the jokes on the poor whites who are getting slammed for and by Trump.
Mitch McConnell should have a one word obit: Cheater!
3
This man is not only dishonest, he is a vile human being, wanting nothing more than to be a wheeler-Dealer as opposed to a statesman. It is no coincidence that his colleagues do not speak of him in glowing terms, if at all
2
Is the truth is the by product of Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton? McCnnel simply played the hand they gave him
If ever Lord Acton's axiom "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" applied to someone, it is surely Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. What a disgusting excuse of a human being.
2
Since McConnell wanted the investigation into Russian interference kept quiet, maybe he should be impeached for treason.
McConnell will live in infamy for stealing Obama's (and the Democrats') nomination to fill a SCOTUS seat. His historic legacy is all negative, as the article indicates, made even worse by his pride in his non-achievements. Like Speaker Ryan, he pretends to be an old-fashioned GOP conservative but has done everything in his power to enable Trump's increasingly erratic, pro-Putinist, ever sharper right-turn -- which has brought the crazies out into the open, from white supremacists to the alt-right to Fox's mad conspiracy theories about anything or anyone to the left of neo-Nazis.
I'm convinced that his venality includes a healthy dose of 'ol South' racism, too.... and he apparently cares not a whit about vox populi....
I look at that quivering chin and that sneer and think.... this is a person avenging boyhood slights, at the cost of his soul.
Indeed, an enormously dark, dark, ruinous man.
2
More properly..."This is the World Harry Reid Gave Us!"
At no place in this opinion peice, did I see the name Harry Reid mentioned. He's the one that shuffeled the deck.
McConnell is just playing the hand Reid delt him. How does that sayin go again? What goes around..................
None of this would matter if HRC and the Democrats had won in 2016. Stop making excuses. You blew an election you should have won easily.
So tired of this old saw. Get a new line.
Shouldn't he also be investigated to see what his ties to the Kremlin are as well? The fact that they didn't even allow President Obama's nominee to have a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee tells you that something was up. How could he possibly think that the Republican candidate for President, Donald Trump, would win the election (but not the popular vote!)? The whole of the Republican party is corrupt with no regard for the people or the future of our country. It's time to impose term limits so that the elected officials that are supposed to represent the people who elected them are indeed doing just that.
2
The person who made it possible was Harry Reid and his reckless change to the voting requirements in the Senate. In order to pack the circuit courts with Obama appointees Reid made the changes that will bring a 51-49 vote for Trump's next supreme court pick. He was warned at the time that the Democrats would live to regret it - but I am not sure they have learned that lesson quite yet.
1
My blue-stater dream for America:
-does not include “open borders” but rather a sound immigration policy based on fact, reason and basic morality.
-a sensible sizing of government based on factual evidence of what “works” to create a stable society without punishing risk or stifling creative initiative.
-to pay for the government “of, by and for the people”: a simple, fair tax system that treats all income equally, vs. system now that punishes wage income, rewards passive income/intricate financial structures mostly for the wealthy.
-renewed commitment to public education, affordable health care (single payer proven best in all other advanced societies) and investment in public infrastructure.
-civil rights and women’s rights protected by law.
-a more efficient military in place of the defense silos that now multiply defense costs; our foreign wars create enemies and drain the Treasury as we spend more on defense/war than the next 12 nations combined.
-break the tyranny of huge monied interests over elected officials to arrest the slide into oligarchy and decay.
-end gerrymandering and other undemocratic barriers to voting by eligible citizens.
-clean air and water.
And for the life of me, I can’t understand why the party of Trump works so ruthlessly against all of the above. The society they are creating will be absolutely miserable, even for the super privileged to whom they bow, who will be climbing over bodies in the street to reach their bodyguards.
6
Your comment made good sense, until the end. Why so dramatic? That will never happen here. What you Have witnessed over the past 30 years is a reversion to the mean. Meaning NORMAL circumstances.
Mike, the first I’ve already seen many times. Sleeping homeless on the streets literally stepped over by affluent-appearing persons heading to cars or Lyft/Uber. In decaying, unequal societies, it’s far from uncommon for the privileged few to have elaborate measures for personal safety. One of my daughter’s friends from such a country is from a family whose thriving business is selling kidnapping insurance. Our levels of wealth and income inequality are at record highs. All basics for the vaunted “middle class” life are under siege, and ballooning deficits, haphazard tariffs and trade wars, soaring health care costs, and the Trump party’s plans for hitting all social safety nets and more regulatory protections will only worsen this trend.
1
Ultimately Hillary Clinton gave us Donald Trump. A better candidate would have beaten him soundly. Have the Democrats learned anything since? Not that I am aware.
1
Agreed! Clinton acted as if she was entitled to the nomination. She was widely disliked by many Democrats, not because a woman but because of her arrogant demeanor. So we ended up with the king of arrogance and lies.
1
And yet how many Democrats have taken notice and vowed not to repeat the same error again? If anything, they are doubling down.
One man is not responsible for our problems anymore then one man is responsible for our success. Take action into your own hands.
And don't forget that McConnell's wife is in almost ever so many photos from the Oval Office, standing very close to Trump. What a dynamic duo!
4
The wealthy, powerful and privileged are in full control of our government, now including the Supreme Court. They will only implement laws and policies that benefits themselves. They skillfully use race and abortion as a wedge issues to divide us, convincing millions to vote against their own self interests. Will these people wake up when there is no minimum wage or 40 hour week? When social security and Medicare are decimated or no longer exist? When their own loved ones are gunned down with an assault rifle in a public place? Just what will it take for these people to see that the Republican party is NOT working for them?
2
To be Machiavellian is to use manipulation and duplicity in statecraft in conjunction with a total disregard for morality and a focus on self-interest and pure instrumentality. McConnell's sole goal to win elections by any means necessary, including disrupting democratic norms, has solidified power for Republicans. Playing dirty and a focus on winning at any cost is now the ethos of the Republican Party, and it is working perfectly.
Nixon used dirty tricks and he resigned, but the Republicans' use of destroying unwritten democratic norms continues to cement their power and to reinforce the efficacy of playing dirty pool. I was much enlightened (and saddened) by reading The Interpreter Newsletter of June 29 in which political scientists report that not only do Republicans have a geographical, gerrymandered, electoral college and rural representative voting advantage, but they also are more willing to break democratic norms and to play democratic hardball, like refusing for 10 months to even consider Garland's nomination. Republicans are more likely to "push the constitutional envelope" to cement their power in a U.S. that is changing demographically and is less likely to vote Republican. With Kennedy's retirement, they have achieved their goal. Anti-abortion, anti-affirmative action, anti-voting rights, anti-immigration, anti-campaign reform and pro-corporation decisions will rule the day with this Court.
In 21st century America, it pays to use Machiavellian tactics. Scary.
Now the Barack Obama lifetime apologists in the media are blaming Mitch McConnell for not allowing Mr. Obama to disclose the Russian interference in the 2016 election. Was Obama that weak to allow one senator to stop him from alerting the nation to the impending danger? Oh wait, maybe he was, given the "Red Line" and all.
1
To McConnell, Trump is merely an instrument to be used in the ultimate goal of controlling every facet of government and to deny progressives any voice along the way. Personally, as a staunch Independent, I find the man reprehensible; however, I tip my hat to him for achieving to date the goals he has set for the Republican Party. By his actions, he has nullified any successes the Democrats have had in the past. He is the Machiavelli of our time.
I have long argued that Trump won the election because McConnell withheld the Supreme Court seat. The prospect of that seat galvanized the evangelical base in a way that no legislative agenda could and they gave Trump the critical votes to win.
2
There is only one hope for this country: the overwhelming success of the progressive wing of the Democratic party in both the House and the Senate in the approaching November 2018 elections. Both Schumer and Pelosi must be replaced with people willing to fight entrenched interests of the oligarchy, beginning with those of Wall Street and Big Pharma. The only sure way to accomplish major changes is by altering the SCOTUS trajectory. This means packing the Supreme Court with 11 or perhaps even 13 members. There is nothing unconstitutional about this. FDR contemplated it, before the Supreme Court, fearful of this possible change, became much more supportive of FDR's New Deal agenda. Timid voices within the leadership of the Democratic party must be silenced by a new strong wave of progressive representation.
3
My question is when the Supreme Court changes and works against the worker and the woman, and the Congress enacts legislation that compliments Trump's vision of America , then what? What will be the tipping point that awakens the populace that is ignoring the consequences to our country ? Some pugilist have to be beaten to a pulp before they give up to their loss !
1
This supreme court nomination might just be too much rightward tilt for the electorate. The vast American moderate voter pool shall find its voice this November.
1
That one “evil genius” can wield so much power, wreak such widespread havoc, so damage the quality of life for so many of us exposes our constitution as a fraud. It protects us from nothing. It’s only words. But then I realized long ago that laws are only as good as the people’s willingness to follow them, and someone said democracy is the form of government that can choose to end itself. I’m dismayed to see that “choosing to end itself” consists of apathy, stupidity, and vitriolic glee the latter another fine quality of Sen. McConnell.
2
So, his strategies have been effective and successful for him and his party? And you hate him for it?
Too bad his opponents are so feckless and inept at countering his ham-fisted moves.
The future looks to hold more success for him and his like and more whining and failures for his opponents. Sad.
1
Trump is a creation of the deep state. While he regularly use vulgar words against his opponents labeling them part of deep state, he is the product of deep state. It started with the creation of Fox news under the psychpath tycoon Murdoch. They did test the water by using fake news, conspiracy stories, race baiting, fear and division mongering. Murdoch, a morally bankrupt corrupt man had no problem doing the biding for the deep state aka Republican Party. The success gave them confidence to expand the propaganda. Obama was foreign born and many other fake stories were circulated repeatedly. Of course. Trump, the genius con man found a great opportunity to join the grand strategy. The ddep state knew that they could not win in general election.So, the activities expanded to influence the election via fake trolls, fear mongering and collusion with vladimir, the worst thug in the world. The efforts helped Trump to get elected. The child bully narcissist with zero governance skills (six bankruptcies) could never dream of his ascension to the White House. Federal judicial appointments are for life. Another grand strategy to put pupets with zero integrity as federal judges so that the crooks can loot the nation and become untouchables because of the protection from Supreme Court. We are at a dangerous time and taking the path of corrupt countries like Russia, Turkey, Venezuela. McConnell is a disgrace as a human and history will judge him as the most corrupt legislator.
1
The people who rage the most about the swamp --- tea partiers, etc. --- are the same people who vote to keep it well stocked with monsters like McConnell.
3
They don’t come any smaller, vindictive, destructive, abusive, partisan, heartless, warped and narrow minded as Mr. McConnell. His legacy will not be worth the paper it is written on.
7
The "money is not speech" refrain is a completed misunderstanding of the free speech implications of regulations on political advertising.
Check out this article: https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1255787
Power, we know, corrupts. And in this case, a long-term strategy has ensured that McConnell's corruption, moral and otherwise, will endure far beyond Trump and his narcissistic power trips. What one politician in America can do, jeez....
1
Your politicians decide, on political grounds, who to appoint to your Supreme Court.
Seriously? How ridiculous. Have you people not heard of the 'Separation of Powers'?
This says nothing of politicians choosing the boundaries on where people vote for them to make sure they are re-elected, either.
Trump isn't threatening American 'democracy'; the whole concept does not exist. Your whole notion of democracy is, frankly, laughable.
3
Of course it would have been just fine if Obama had done the exact same thing, yes?
McConnell is the handmaiden of disaster. One of the soulless products of America.
12
When Obama was Pres. you loved Harry Reid
Trump is president WE LOVE MITCH
elections have CONSEQUENCES
SO WIN ONE
2
McConnell killed the filibuster by abusing it. Reid probably should not have risen to the bait, and Obama is to blame, in political terms, for not being LBJ enough to make McConnell pay for his intransigence.
The devil is always in the details. Obama ran out of turn, creating a disturbance in the Force. Hillary would have won in 2008, and McConnell would not have been able to obstruct her the way he was able to obstruct the politically unripe Obama. But she did not run, and McConnell was able to obstruct, to his eternal shame.
When the Senate Minority Leader measures his success by how badly Congress performs, we are in very deep trouble. McConnell is the epitome of disloyal opposition. His place in history is secure. He is a traitor to all that the founders intended. Shame on him.
3
gee, mr macgillis makes mitch seem kind of despicable.
how is that possible for such a fine servant of the 'folks'??
1
McConnell's conduct is reprehensible. But this author, and the NYT editorial on the same subject, are basely hypocritical in condemning the Republicans for ending the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. Each fails to acknowledge that the Democrats-- with typical strategic incompetence-- established the rule when they eliminated the filibuster for Obama's judicial nominees. It was clearly stupid at the time and equally so in hindsight.
2
America appears to be circling the gravity well of fascism and various forms of societal and moral collapse. Institutions and norms that would help manoeuvre away from that outcome seem to be failing by the month, if not the week.
Today many people across the world are past the point of dismay or incredulity at what is happening in politics, and apparently society, in the USA and are coming to accept and even expect that the USA will now be counted as an almost completely bad actor in 21st century human affairs. This is a terrible development.
What is it going to take for an - apparent - majority of the US population to call time on this collapse, this failure of your democracy and state? The abrogation of responsibility for our shared global environment, walking back of basic human rights, support for other foul regimes, policy and narratives based on obvious lies, deceit, racism, sexism, a litany of unceasing stupidity and short-sightedness spewing forth from a font whose source grows ever more corrupt, immoral and anti-human discourse and leadership.
America, you *really are* becoming the bad guys. The pace of change is shocking, exhausting and dispiriting to anyone who has any sense of humanity. It is no longer enough for you all to go along with this passively. Get up and do something serious about this or watch what remains of your paralysed and ailing society descend irrevocably into the filth of despotic failure.
Pull your collective heads in, America. Today.
8
Yes, he gave it to us, and we're worse off because of it. I might have used a different verb for this headline, though, for what he's done to us.
Does he have kids? They must be embarrassed.
1
There is something seriously askew about someone who would want to go down in history as damaging to his country. I just think McConnell is seriously deranged.
3
Mitch McConnell is the lowest form of human: the lickspittle. His entire career has consisted of supine devotion to the exploitative class in exchange for a few pieces of silver. People without scruples cannot call themselves patriots, and the Republican Party he represents is American only in the sense of living here. The Trumpists probably should gloat, because the time for doing so will not be long.
When Putin becomes our dictator, he will diminish Trump, McConnell, Ryan, Santorum and their ilk. The surprise will be on them. Where do they think this raping of our country will take them? For as "smart" as they think they are, Putin will put them in they place and take "care" of them once and for all. It is a very sad time in America and Democracy.
3
McConnell will eventually be seen for what he is: and unindicted co-conspirator. In fact, he should be impeached for subversion of the US Constitution, tried, and imprisoned. I fear the old penalty for treason would no longer be applied to him, though it ought to be. Perhaps a prison cell filled with second hand smoke, given his years of denying any link between smoking and cancer, would do the job....and then refusal of treatment for the resulting cancer given his hard work to prevent most Americans having access to good, affordable healthcare, would be just. Except it would not be just because he has done such long and lasting damage to America. An evil man.
1
Fair play would require you to ask the author's moral equivalent from Breitbart to write a piece on Chuck Schumer.
1
At this moment in American history Mitch McConnell is the darkness at the center of injustice and obscene American affluence. The man has no soul.
3
If ever a guy was born with a karmic destiny compelling him to tear up everything good and decent about America Mitch is it.
Alec MacGillis -- the Southern Republican gift that keeps on giving: Mitch McConnell.
Time to vote come November! Time to get out the vote starting now. Time to concentrate Democratic Party resources on winnable house and senate seats to become the majority ruling party. Time to make the legitimate use of big data to decide which voters are to be concentrated on in which strategic races . Time to make sure these voters are properly registered. Make sure that voters have transportation to the polls. Bring volunteers from districts safe for Democratic candidates to help in swing districts. Volunteer time and money. Enlist college students outraged by the cost of college. This is real grassroots politics. If you really enlist grassroots politics you have a real chance to win in November and if you are persistent you will win going forward. Bring enthusiasm. Make it clear what is at stake. Our Democracy is gravely threatened but the most fundamental numbers are on our side.Get organized with individuals who agree and foster coordination between pre-existing activist groups seeking fair and progressive outcomes. The Time is Now.! Do not allow our country to be stolen with the awful things that would entail for all of us!!!
1
Withholding a vote on Merrick Garland was not a risk free strategy, and would have backfired had Democrats not presented the only candidate that Donald Trump could beat, one with well defined surface area for attack who disdained campaigning and would not (and could not given the reality of her being investigated by the FBI) challenge Donald Trump's torrent of abuse night after night on national TV. McConnell rolled the dice and (barely) won so let's put the pity party aside and accept our share of culpability for the reality that we now face.
1
A very crafty legislator. Now I understand how Republicans felt about FDR and LBJ.
1
I do wonder about two things relevant to Mitch McConnell: does he ever wake up in the middle of the night and realize he is doing longterm damage to America; and how can a poor state electorate, even wrapped in their flag and misconceptions, support such a Washington insider who does not support their real interests.
1
The phrase "banality of evil" was, of course, written long before Mitch McConnell entered politics.
But it fits him to a T. And every other letter.
2
Future generations of Americans will regard our time as the age of false conservatism and McConnell as one of its most destructive practitioners.
McConnell has built a mighty fortress on shifting sands. Today his castle may appear terrifying and unimpregnable. But it will collapse of its own weight and crumble into rubble.
The Republican Party today is not conservative. It is not constitutional. And it is certainly not Christian as most Christians understand Christianity.
The Republican Party today is based on the fallacy - a fantasy - that bad government is good government. Republican ideology today is based on the belief that the rich and powerful need only serve themselves and everything will be better for the nation as a whole.
This has never been true and will never be true. In fact, it contradicts one of the oldest and most enduring principles of Western Civilization - the fundamental difference between good governments, under which nations thrive, and bad governments under which they decline and collapse. See Polybius, Montesquieu
The Constitution was intended to create good government, not bad government. It was further designed to prevent our good government from being turned into bad government. But the Founders knew there were no guarantees.
The forces of bad government are relentless because bad government is seductive - you count, the other person doesn't. Also, about 20% of the rich and powerful are psychopathic. It's all they understand.
Crediting Mitch McConnell with the election of DT is a bit of a stretch. While it is true that many Americans voted for this president out of protest, an apathetic and uninformed electorate is ultimately responsible for putting Trump into power, and creating the dumpster fire we now have in the White House. As I recall, HRC outspent DT in the last campaign.
Mitch McConnell is neither a patriot nor a great lawmaker. Rather, he is an opportunist of the first order, more interested in power than governing. I do hope history will judge him harshly for it.
1
As a write often guilty of hyperbole myself, I request backing down from the caption stating that "Donald Trump dominates our universe". That is certainly how he sees it, but like much of what he believes, it is not true. The country needs to take a deep breath and realize that, while long coming as this piece skillfully reveals, the Trump presidency is an aberration from America's core principles. These are freedom, equality, and a better way of life, especially for those coming after us. Being an aberration doesn't mean the Trumpism can't last, but it does mean that it can only last if the people of this country allow it to. I know we are better than that and am certain that we will overcome Trump's manifestation of racism, greed and ignorance. Until then, let's put him in perspective. No, he does not dominate our universe. "Landscape", sure, but we know that there are much larger forces out there that will expose and expunge him.
2
Don't forget Tom Delay. His redistricting of the electorate created a huge impediment to Democrats. And of course the Democratic party itself that is suicidally more concerned with "going high, when they go low' than fighting tooth-and-nail to combat GOP dirty tricks.
3
What is described here is a man that has done more to weaken and destroy democracy than any other living American in politics today.
3
Kentucky does not deserve Mitch McConnell and he does not deserve to be the voice of the American People. He has nothing but greed,hatred and hypocrisy in his heart. He represents only those who fill his election coffers and his private bank accounts..COAL,GAS, HORSES, LUMBER and NRA. KOCH Brothers and Mercers should be very proud that they mirror of themselves reflects in his eyes. The Poverty of Eastern Kentucky has alot to thank Mitch for. Repeal of the ACA, work requirements for the poor, pollution of water and food, coal stripmining and degradation of the Appalachian mountains, loss of public education funding. Want to know who Mitch really is, just look to Eastern Kentucky...the devastation speaks for itself.
I had already come to the conclusion that McConnell is evil, so this article simply confirms my conviction.
2
If winning at all costs regardless of merit has become the main objective of congress then democracy for all intent and purpose no longer exists. Decency and honor have indeed taken a backseat to everything we have been taught throughout our lifetimes to abhor. McConnel and the Republican Party may be winners, meaning the rest of us must be losers. I will accept the title of loser any day rather than compromise my honorable principles,
1
McConnell couldn’t do what he has done without the billionaires who own the GOP.
2
I fear that our republic if failing and when the history of the fall of our republic is written, Mitch McConnell will be the central figure. He is the leader trying to undermine our Constitution and destroy democracy in America.
2
A small man.
A wicked man.
An evil man.
A man committed to the restoration of the Confederacy of the United States, in tone if not in time.
A man who sought his own in the service of himself instead of the constituents whose citizenry he swore to uphold.
A man in whom the roots of racism run so deep that the devil himself would be hard-pressed to find the source of it.
A man who saw the Constitution of the United States-- document in which the nascent nation's very principles were outlined--as an instrument for the survey of its ultimate dissolution.
A man whose treason to his country will rival that of Aaron Burr. And all, one wonders, for what? The untidy answer: for himself.
3
The alternative would have been that Hillary Clinton would have dominated the US political scene, if she had been elected President - and then there would be an equally ill-considered headline stating "This is the World Chuck Schumer Gave Us".
It is time for the media (including most particularly the NY Times) to recognize that there was an election in 2016 and that's the way the system works.
1
It will take decades to undo all the damage done by McConnell and the rest of the GOP sycophancy.
2
Democrats, progressives, liberals --- call us what you like --- continue to rail against Trump, McConnell, Paul Ryan... tack on as many names as you like. We blame these politicians for not having the pure motives of public service that we so cherish, for not upholding the ideals of democracy and governance that we worship, for not loving our country and all it stands for the way we do.
Then we go out and vote at a 30% clip. It reminds me of the person who goes to bed late, oversleeps, and then curses the traffic that makes him late for work.
McConnell is everything this article paints him to be, as is Donald Trump, and there is not one revelation that should cause us to raise an eyebrow. There's only one way men like this get into power, and it's got nothing to do with Citizens United (Dem's can raise corporate money, too, y'know). There is nothing truer in American politics than that we get the government we deserve.
McConnell proved just what a bad actor he was to all voters when he declared that Obama will not get anything done as President.
McConnell further hurt the voters in Kentucky when he voted against the ACA, was responsible for Government shut-downs, looked after Big Tobacco interests to the detriment to the health of his own constituents in Kentucky and around the United States.
His evil knows no bounds. And he is joined by Trump and the Courts, not to mention he has disgraced all of his fellow Senators in the Republican Senate by appealing to their greed and threatening them with repercussions if they did not get on the McConnell train.
And it is even more downhill with the make-up of the Supreme Court.
One hope left, Mueller. Here is hoping he does not get stopped by McConnell.
2
Mitch McConnell’s legacy requires but one word: Shame. He is the embodiment of the worst of our politics, a cynical, hollow man who countenances no bar to his thirst for power. In doing so he has given the Senate’s informal approval to the disgusting racial animus that has coarse Ned public life from 2009 on, and demonstrated that radical conservatism has no regard for either human institutions or the environment. The Fates cannot swipe him from the stage soon enough.
10
Thank you for expressing so well the revulsion I feel for this man.
Sometimes the only way to rid our souls of hate is through words.
Yours have helped me begin.
1
Mitch and his dystopian antics of extremity have led us into a mass voluntary surrender into creeping cultural obsolescence.
1
America is becoming too scary because of abusers and corruption of power. It almost seems enviable and more plausible to seek freedom, justice, and liberty in a different country. That is the true death of America.
Did Mitch McConnell really"give" us this world, or was it the fear of the people who voted for a fraud?
And here I thought Mitch McConnell was just another pretty face.
2
McConnell is devious and dishonest, but even he could not have wreaked this havoc alone. We have a lot of work to do.
1
You’ve outlined in vivid detail why Mitch McConnell will be a villain in our history.
"Will be a villain"
Already is.
1
God bless you Mitch! You have been a master at political jujitsu. You have totally outmanuvered the radical left which wants to destroy our country.
Is Donald Trump a toxic mess? Of course he is, but the country will survive two more years of his craziness. The real prize is keeping SCOTUS true to conservative and constitutional principles. Our children and grandchildren have won a great victory!
1
It feels like, to allow emotions for a piece like this, ...evil. Is that this? Is this type of self-serving power evil? Is McConnell a horrible type of human because he only cares about the end justifying the means?
I think so. Or at least, his work has the potential for great ruin. If that’s not evil, what’s a better word?
Mitch McConnell plays hard ball. He throws a 100 mph slider. The Democrats are playing T-ball with a plastic bat. Now the nation will bear the consequences of one side not being willing to play the sport the way it needs to be played. We must drop the fake news story of how the Democrats are not being civil, of not playing nice if we want protect all of our freedoms.
THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS!!!! When Mitch McConnell refused to give Merrick Garland a hearing, violating the constitution, that should have rung alarm bells in all of our heads. The republicans became autocrats long before Donald Trump, Trump is a symptom, not the disease.
2
So sad to see grown men still trying to get over whatever it was that happened to them in high school.
4
McConnell, the epitome of the Republican politician, wins ugly, at any cost, with little regard for his constituents or the American people. For him, it is a game. In the short run, the ruthless win. In the longer arc of history, they will fail.
1
Senator McConnell is an evil, amoral and vile creature of the lowest form- someone who puts partisan politics above the needs of the nation first, last and always.
The problem is not that he is a Republican or that he supposedly is a conservative. The problem is that he has no respect for comity, no intent to follow or honor the will of the people.
Long ago, Ronald Reagan came to Washington and the House was under the control of Tip O'Neil- a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts. Tip did not share Reagans values, priorities or intentions, but he still gave Reagan's stuff a vote in the House as he was the elected President of the United States. That would never happen under McConnell in the Senate or the soon to be gone Paul Ryan in the House.
7
Good article. Thank you
A companion piece might be called"
"WHAT DOES MCCONNELL GIVES THE STAT OF KENTUCKY? NOT MUCH "
Frmom US News- States Ranking:
Overall RANK
OUT OF 50
#41
HEALTH CARE
#45
EDUCATION
#34
ECONOMY
#45
OPPORTUNITY
#30
FISCAL STABILITY
#46
Why do the good people of Kentucky fall for this bought-and-paid for shill?
The numbers don't lie - he's doing a lot of himself, not a lot for Kentucky.
Why does he let his gorgeous state fall at the bottom of the barrel.
He is obviously sitting on top.
4
Tell me about it. I live here.
1
This article only adds even more suspicion that McConnell is somehow complicit with the American and Russian oligarchs to manipulate our electoral process and fix a "win" for a loser candidate despite the will of the people. What he and his spineless jellyfish called the GOP Congress doesn't realize is that we the people are not stupid and we will remember these dirty political tricks the GOP has played to rig elections and keep a tyrannical minority in power. Our democracy has been sold out by craven soulless creatures (human being doesn't fit here) all for the filthy lucre and power, both of which you can't take with you to the grave and are fleeting at best. His name will go down in history as a Benedict Arnold figure to our now fragile democracy. God willing, we'll survive it.
2
A great article backing my thoughts about him from years ago when he constantly stated making "Barack Obama a one-term president." Nothing but obstruction and partisan politics. He should be in jail for his role in denying President Obama's right to name a Supreme Court justice. When history is written this true DEVIL will go down as one of those responsible for the destruction of the United States and way from the "Shining City on the Hill" that it has been. He is a traitor to what has been good about America.
MConnell giggles in glee as America becomes a dystopian nightmare. Quite an image for a horror movie, but it's real.
If we survive, his name will go down in infamy.
Kudos to the editor who decided to use the accompanying photo of McConnell's back. I cannot abide looking at that sinister face of his one more time.
3
About time you folks figured who's really running this show.
How much Russian money has he received to support these ambitions?
Was Obama aware of his Russian funding when scorn was poured over the security briefing?
Why in your piece on him did you not mention his ties to Russia?
This is the world that the people of Kentucky have given us. Place the blame where it ultimately belongs.
3
Democrats, and anyone who believes in truth, here is the ultimate talking point to refute McConnell's lie about his stonewall of Obama's Supreme Court pick.
The lie that confirmations don't happen in a presidential election year. The lie he repeated again yesterday.
We only need to look at Justice Kennedy's confirmation in 1988 - a presidential election year.
How beautifully convenient and fitting for this present moment. How easy!
Here, memorize this:
On November 30, 1987, President Ronald Reagan (a Republican) nominated Justice Anthony Kennedy to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Lewis Powell. A Democratic-controlled Senate confirmed Kennedy…on February 3, 1988 (Reagan's last year in office), by a vote of ninety-seven to zero.
Got that?
Kennedy himself was given UNANIMOUS confirmation from a Democrat controlled senate IN A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR!
Please Democratic leaders, reporters, fellow citizens…cram this in McConnell's face.
He's still telling his lie.
Read the full article and be the smartest one in the room.
http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/02/supreme-court-vacancies-in-presidentia...
Ranking with those achievements you must save room for hypocrisy so great as to practically redefine the word.
McConnell will go down in history as one of the least popular, infamous politicians in our history. His lack of charisma is bound to make him forgotten by the right, his sheer evilness will make him long remembered by the left.
1
Mitch quietly keeps the "swamp" alive.
3
When Mueller unveils his case against t rump for, among many other things, treason for aiding and abetting Russia in corrupting our election and he is finally given his room at Leavenworth won't that mean that his entire government was/is illegitimate? Shouldn't that mean his justice picks are not legitimate? Shouldn't they be disrobed (so to speak) and the new president allowed to seat their replacements?
Since Roberts and Alito spent their entire Senate confirmation hearings lying about their intentions, shouldn't they also be impeached and removed?
Mitch McConnell is as much a traitor to our Nation as t rump and I hope he also gets his just deserts.
We the People just cannot allow whoever follows to fall into Gerald Ford's trap of "moving on from this National nightmare". I don't want to move on. I want these people punished and punished good and hard.
The senator is just one of many shameless Republican leaders history may remember as the primary cause of the failure of democracy.
I’ve never really figured out Mr. McConnell was for, beyond his overarching devotion to party above all else. He is completely shameless in his hypocrisy, he despises anyone that challenges his orders, he doesn’t even seem to like his constituents. What does he get personally from all this? What is it that he places party loyalty above country?
2
The Republican troika that may have destroyed the republic: McConnell, Gingrich, Cheney, who rolled out the carpet for the corporate kleptocracy.
1
McConnell will eventually pay a heavy price for his Faustian bargain.
He surrendered his soul for a few measly years in the spotlight, enabling a man he surely knows as incompetent and grotesque.
2
The tide is turning on these dark dark politics. That’s the reason McConnell needs to grasp power and manipulate the meek to shore up the last vestiges of white male power. Many cherished liberties will be wrecked before we can take them back but take them back we will! And our country will flourish long after McConnell has passed down into lore as a would-be traitor to our hard-won ideals. VOTE BLUE AND RECLAIM OUR GUARANTEED RIGHTS!
That the tide is turning is wishful thinking. Upon seating of another right-wing extremist Supreme Court judge, Republicans will have ultimate control of all branches of government. The GOP, led by McConnell and in service to Trump (and Vladimir Putin), will further undermine voting rights in order to guarantee control of Congress. Democratic/liberal appeals through the courts already face overwhelming resistance within the right-wing dominated judiciary and the Supreme Court will have been rendered into yet another tool for domination. To the victors go the spoils.
Mitch simply presents more clearly than Machiavelli the basic foundations, the Four Corners of Human Nature: LIE, CHEAT, STEAL, KILL. Hence the rise of Trump and the GOP.
_____________________________________________________
Most of humanity will end in gray Tyvek jumpsuits and will only eat Soylent Red or Blue -- when lucky.
1
A man loses his soul who cares only about his power.
2
How long can a minority hold on to power without some kind of political violence. In one sense, Trump is political violence in action. His rude and divisive pronouncements, his inhuman racist policies, his anti-worker middle class policies, and his open corruption are very real violence against the American people.
How many hits can the Republic take from a radical conservative minority? Once they totally bankrupt the Federal Government with their reckless fiscal policies there could be real street violence.
2
Unfortunately, I agree with you.
Civil war feels right around the corner.
1
Since he essentially created the "swamp", it is no wonder he is portrayed as an old tortise by many humorists on television.
Another day, another Democrat in denial blaming everyone but themselves. Is Mitch McConnell the new Plan B excuse in case Mueller's investigation of the Grand Putin-Trump Collusion Theory fizzles? The Stormy Daniels story has already jumped the shark.
Here's an idea for why we have Trump? How about a lousy corrupt Democrat running against him who was too busy with rich liberal fundraisers in Beverly Hills and the Hamptons to spend too much time with deplorables (and their guns and religion as Obama once described them -- imagine if a Republican stereotyped a Black or Hispanic as simplistically) in Michigan and Pennsylvania? How about a previous president who presided over Democratic 1000 seats lost across the country during his two terms? Nah. That wouldn't be satisfying enough.
2
Title would better be: "this is the world more than 40 million people gave us"
Mr. McConnell should not be seen as a serious person. He's a straw man.
Hurry up Mitch and place a ultra conservative in the Kennedy seat and do it soon!
Pay no attention to the pleas of the democrats, they are powerless to do anything but call you names. March on.
1
Tip of the iceberg. McConnell's refusal to let Senate vote on bi-partisan committee bill to protect Mueller is McConnell's signal to Trump to kill the investigation. And to then proceed with the next phase of the plan to convert the U.S. into the 'Thousand Year Reich.' The 2018 election will be the last. If GOP loses either house, Trump will cite election fraud, and declare martial law - 'temporarily'. GOP & Trump likely now arranging for a few illegitimate voters to cast ballots which they can then 'uncover' and use as 'proof'). McConnell (& rest of GOP) are praying daily and working assiduously to make Trump president-for-life.
1
As we, rightly, dexry the decision to stonewall Obama's Supreme Court pick, how about telling the truth about it for once?
Wanna be the person in your circle who knows that truth?
Here's an article that easily refutes McConnell's lie about appointments to the court in the last year of a president's term. It should be cited every day by Democrats. And by you.
Read it and you'll be an emissary of truth.
McConnell said presidents don't get to make Supreme Court appointments "on their way out the door" in a presidential election year. It's not done he claimed.
A complete lie, which he repeated yesterday(!) that is debunked by a simple look at our history. Democrats should cram this article down his throat publicy and often.
Nominations to the court in an election year (the last year of a president's first or second term) are COMMON. Confirmations are routeen - In some cases confirmation was even made in a senate controlled by the opposing party.
Read and you'll see how big a lie McConnell told and will tell again in the coming weeks.
Put this in his face.
Share it.
It will be good to know during this fight over Kennedy's replacement.
The truth never expires.
http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/02/supreme-court-vacancies-in-presidentia...
McConnell is no Henry Clay. Abraham Lincoln is spinning in his grave.
1
I have no doubt that when this is all over, McConnell will be thought of as a traitor to America and known as one of the men who almost bankrupted our government. But I know the US will survive.
1
Someday I will visit this library and throw pigs blood on as much as I can before arrested. Civil disobedience will be our only recourse
1
In my mind I see a McConnell cartoon with him as the villain twirling his moustache as he's laughing (so much winning); the damsel tied to the tracks is the United States.
Thank you Mitch McConnell---and Harry Reid !
1
McConnell is not a dope. He is, however, smart enough and devious enough to be an enemy of good governance.
6
Kentucky, one of the poorest states in this country, has 2 senators who have done very little for their state. You have McConnell, a flunkie for wealthy donors and Rand Paul, the libertarian who is against everything until he votes for it. How many Americans have reaped any benefit from the "service" of these 2 senators?
3
The editorial board has blown a gasket, big money did not elect Trump - if money was the determining factor Hillary would have won. Hillary spent more than two times Trump did.
1
This also the world the Democratic Party gave us.
2
It is not illegal to be a hypocrite.
It is not illegal to be a liar.
It is not illegal to take unfair advantage of your opponent's desire to play fair, as was done to Mr. Obama.
Mr. McConnel made full use of those facts. To him, I say: well-played, sir. It does not inspire in me any respect for you or any of your allies, but well-played, sir.
1
McConnell - one of the most despicable individuals to masquerade as a Senator, a carbon copy of the Confederacy-era obstructionists and a man who cares not a whit about the American people, only about furthering the GOP aims of supporting an incompetent president and destroying the legacy and common-sense regulations of Obama. A Democratic victory in the Senate in November will put this snake back in his glass cage.
4
Skilled jujitsu like chess moves by Vladimir Putin have enhanced the toxicity of treasonous politicians like McConnell and are successfully facilitating the end of our democracy.
Must WE mobilize social media to save it now?
I appeal to Facebook, the FBI, CIA, and anyone able to turn this brave new weapon back on the enemies of democracy.
1
History will recognize McConnell as one of the great malefactors of this era. He has fostered the conditions that have caused America to devolve from democracy to plutocracy. Thanks to him, Newt Gingrich and their ilk, the only thing that matters in our current politics is monetary wealth. Economic power now translates to political influence--and our largely uninformed electorate enables it.
2
He cares about politics, he cares about power; he cares nothing about the constitution, democratic process, democratic institutions - or me. McConnell resides in a cynical universe in which power is the sole currency.
McConnell and his ilk have undermined democracy. Those who support them - the ideologues, bigots and racists in the “New South,” extremists among evangelicals, and racist, tribal whites in old industrial states - are the toxic current in our national political stream. They must be defeated.
Please, vote. Get your neighbors and friends out to vote. Make sure that your kids over age 18 or registered, and vote. The 2018 election is about more than winning back Congress – we are starting the run up to the 2020 census and 2022 Congressional redistricting We must elect state legislators who will end GOP gerrymandering.
The coalition formed in the 1980s between corporate interests, evangelicals, racists and tribalists now controls all three branches of government. We must kick them out before it is too late.
2
Somewhat over one half of the country is not currently represented in government. Minorities, women of color, LGBT, environmentalists, and anyone who believes that our job is to care for each other are all left out in the cold.
The legislature, the executive and the Supreme Court are now all under control of conservatives and the people who currently dominate government are making sure it stays that way. I am saddened that Justice Kennedy chose to perpetuate this imbalance. He had seemed like an honorable person until now. This accommodation to Trumpism will be a stain on his legacy.
1
I've never liked Mr. McConnell but all I can say is thank God for his presence when I see how the elections/primaries are going. People have lost touch with either party and are going socialist. I'm glad my Supreme Court will remain balance and strong in this turmoil. Perhaps there is a reason for everything.
1
Going back to the days of CREEP in '72, the GOP has been employing brass knuckle election tactics while the Dems have mostly abided by the Marquis of Queensberry.
The 'October surprise' delayed hostage release in '80, The Willy Horton ad in '88, Gingrich's chicanery in the 90s, The SCOTUS and Katherine Harris shivving democracy during the recount in 2000, McConnell's shameful inaction on the Garland nomination in 2016, the birth of 'extreme' Gerrymandering and revival of voter suppression, and last but not least the acceptance of illegal foreign help.
The Republican candidate has received more popular votes than the Democratic candidate in only ONE of the last SEVEN Presidential elections (in 2004).
Let that sink in for a minute or two...
And due to Gerrymandering, there's a similar result in aggregate votes for each party vs. who ends up in the majority in House elections every 2 years.
2
I'm sorry, but Bernie Sanders is the person who made it all possible. There would be no President Trump without Saint Bernard.
2
Wow!! No one ever says this and I completely agree.
Sanders made Clinton a pariah with his relentless attacks on her credibility.
And now, Sarah Huckster SANDERS (yes, there is a family relation), is the White House press secretary.
Coincidence or conspiracy.
I’m going to think like a Republican and say CONSPIRACY!
1
Totally wrong.
The NYT and most of its readership have a left progressive view of America. Apparently anyone who doesn't agree with them is evil and must be destroyed. Mr. Trump was elected because of attitudes like the ones displayed in this column and the comments. You may be surprised to learn that very many people do not believe in open borders, unrestricted abortion, a vast welfare state, and many other things espoused here.
NYT readers had no problem when Mr. Obama and the democrats rammed through whatever they wanted when they controlled congress. They made no complaints about border separation of children when Obama was in charge. My advice to you and your readers is to relax and treat others as you want to be treated.
2
In light of the Times' important and shocking investigative reporting on the secret, unethical if not illegal, deep Trump influence campaign to persuade Anthony Kennedy to retire early before the midterm elections, and also possibly including Administration coordinating consultations with McConnell and Grassley, can there be a legal action brought, with required legal standing, seeking to enjoin any pre-election confirmation efforts by the Republican Senate in light of this potential conspiratorial bribery? The courageous A.C.L.U. first comes to mind as the attorneys willing to doggedly assume this challenge.
2
If there is any actual history recorded after the Trump years, it will undoubtedly note the damage that McConnell and the wee men who are his posse have done to the underlying foundation and values of our country. It is time for President Obama to go public with what he knew about Russian meddling in 2016 and the enabling of this by Republicans.
11
A more accurate title would be "This is the world the DNC, HRC, and their media enablers gave us".
2
Excuse me, but this is the world that McConnell and cowardly gop have given us, through their racist, sexist and out of touch attitudes with the majority population. The media enablers are Hannity, Limbaugh and the Fox. vilifying clinton, will only make us fight harder against this right wing, out of step minority.
3
Unfortunately Republicans will continue to double down on policies and behaviors that get them elected until this country cannot go any lower. It will take time and I may be long gone but if the imbalances and tearing apart of norms along with distortion of law and truth, this country will not be more peaceful and better. It will become a more sptressfull place to live and work for people who cannot afford more stress in their lives. Way to go Mitch.
6
Mitch McConnell will take a prominent place among the great villains of American history, whose contributions to the downfall of American prosperity, influence and domestic tranquility will be recognized for their essential importance.
18
It's the winners who write history. It will be the version written by FOX, not the NYT, that children will read about in 50 years.
The single greatest error by the liberal Democratic establishment dates back to the Eisenhower Administration and the passive ceding of the entire business sector to conservatives. A quite revolution in American politics began then, one that would elect Ronald Reagan President, who set the corporate take over of America in motion with his declaration that government was the problem, in turn empowering the likes of Mr McConnell who then paved the way for a right wing populist demagogue to win the White House. To this day, despite ample evidence that a substantial liberal presence exists in the business community, surveys show conclusively that small business reflects the same political characteristics as the general population, there exists among progressives lingering distrust of "business". Reactionary extremism will continue to enjoy out-sized influence in American politics as long as progressives continue to ignore a natural alliance with the progressive business community. Now more than ever progressive business owners want to make America great again by restoring faith in our political institutions. Progressives leaders and organizations need to identify, support and encourage the full participation of American business leaders who share their vision of a just and equitable society.
12
Dems could hardball and block the Senate quorum until the 60 vote requirement for a Supreme Court nominee is re-instated: McConnell would have done the same in the reverse situation.
21
It's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a reason:
What goes around comes around.
Whether it's the abandonment of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, the diminished standing of precedent on the court, Citizen United, the imminent demise of Roe v. Wade, etc., etc., what helps the Republicans today will harm them tomorrow - in spades. Roe, for instance, will likely be overturned, but it will be a galvanizing moment for the left and the phoenix that rises from its ashes will be insurmountable. This among other things will be McConnell's true legacy. Give it time.
18
Great awesomely prescient comment. When Roe is destroyed, you are going to see an uprising like never before . The women’s march was mere dress rehearsal. Before careful what you wish for Mitch! We are coming !!!!
2
Thank yo for that!
Thank you for that!
Democracy is seldom lost in one fell swoop but in small seemingly unrelated innocuous bites. Beware of individuals bearing little bits and pieces of legislation that when ultimately consolidated take the life of your society.
6
I don't see a divide between Ricks and Mortys.
The division I see, is the division between Ricks and Mortys who like the citadel divided, and the rest of us. I see it everywhere I go. I see it everywhere I go in our schools, where they teach Mortys we're all the same because they feel threatened by what makes us unique.
I see it in our streets, where they give guns to Mortys. So we're too busy fighting each other to fight real injustice.
I see it in our factories where Ricks work for a fraction of their boss' salary. Even though they're identical and have the same IQ.
The citadel's problem isn't homeless Mortys or outraged Ricks.
The citadel's problem is the Ricks and Mortys feeding on the Citadel's dead.
But I've got a message for them, from the Ricks and Mortys that are keeping it alive. A message. From the Ricks and Mortys that believe in the Citadel, to the Ricks and Mortys that don't; you're outnumbered.
...
(granted we learn later that these words are spoken by a gratuitous sociopath, but the message should resonate)
MacGillis's observation about the absence of governing accomplishments from McConnell's 40 years in elected office is true for the GOP writ large.
Have the Republicans ever come up with anything on the scale of Social Security or Medicare to help the average American? Trump promised to replace Obamacare with something "better and cheaper for everyone." Did the GOP deliver?
It takes not just a hypocrite but a cynic to come up with the "McConnell Rule" in 2016 and then throw it out the window two years later. The difference between a hypocrite and a cynic is that the cynic knows he can get away with flaunting the rules (even the ones that he himself makes up at his own convenience) -- and McConnell knows the Republican base well.
McConnell is a cynic, but his inability to use his power to achieve something good for people is the direct result of a Republican ideology that refuses to recognize that government can be a powerful force for good when properly marshaled and must do so.
10
The flamboyance of the Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus, and, finally, Donald Trump have long distracted us for the Rasputin of American politics. For those of us who have followed the ebb and flow of power (as well as the money), Mitch McConnell has always been a truly evil man at war with democracy and the decency which it requires. His staunch indifference to his highly visible dishonesty (pledges to fix ACA to win Collins's vote) and hypocrisy on Supreme Court nominees (Garland vs. Gorsuch) shows him implacable to anything consistent with American values in government.
38
He is a man who has no soul, nor substance. This is all about winning, regardless of any attention to right or wrong or rationality or benefit to the country. It is a shame that Kentuckians cannot see the empty shell.
27
In this world there are traitors and patriots, honest people and crooks, people of courage and cowards and people of compassion and charity and those who are cruel and greedy and those when it comes to important things tell the truth and those who never do, there are those who admire people like Washington, Madison, Lincoln and FDR and those who admire people like Putin. and Mussillini and other autocrats.
Without a doubt there are many kinds of prople but one thing i have noticed is that birds of a feather flock together. There is a big difference between a Trumpocrat and a patriot. There are a very dark bunch in control of our country. We know who the traitors are and noting for any of them is inexcusable.
5
While McConnell has destroyed America he’s done it with banality - and a gigantic falsehood that somehow everyone agreed to: “money is speech”. That is the most undemocratic sentence ever uttered.
5
Short term gains with some long-term, negative impacts, yes. But, for the most part, he'll be remembered as one of the reasons Democracy-loving Americans abandoned the GOP.
3
...and power-seeking reprobates joined it.
McConnell has laid bare the fact that our "representative democracy" is no longer terribly representative. If he thinks that more than half the electorate will simply roll over for a Supreme Court and gerrymandered Congress that do not reflect our values and priorities, he is sorely mistaken. This will not end well for our country.
5
Can it get any more depressing? Sadly, I think the answer is "yes".
6
"The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country, so of course the American people should have a say in the court’s direction,” McConnell said in March 2016. “Give the people a voice in filling this vacancy."
I'll bet that's not the case this time.
5
It is apparent, what Mr McConnell has learned from his long career of "public service" is that it is far easier to control people with innuendo, lies and fear mongering than to convince others of the virtues of one's ideas through honest dialogue.
If power is the primary goal, then control at any cost is acceptable. Unfortunately, in the words of James Bovard, " democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner."
I expect history will not be kind to Senator Mitch McConnell.
6
Mitch McConnell represents everything wrong with American Politics. He is a power monger without principle who will do anything for a campaign donation. But, if his political career doesn't pan out, don't worry about Mitch. He has connections back in China.
5
This is a good column. Shows the majority leader true colors and who he is. And right now depressing because that's the way it is.
4
So McConnell, Ryan and a few others were held out to be the intellectuals of the Republican Party. The guys with no real accomplishments other than obstruction.
Nice work Republican voters.
10
Abe Lincoln said "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
How sad what has changed.
Tragically the experiment known as the United States has failed, and we have become government “of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations."
3
"Thus did McConnell seem to unilaterally rewrite the Constitution to strip a year from the president's final term. All 43 presidents before him had four year terms (unless they died in office or resigned, of course), but when it comes to arguably the president's most important job, McConnell would limit Obama to three years." Joan Walsh ---- 'The Nation'
The above passage best crystallizes for me the abomination and offense against America that is Mitch McConnell. I am further exasperated that a significant portion of the progressive electorate, as well as elected Democrats seem to be resigned to the massive unconstitutional acts McConnell has committed in furtherance of his conservative zealotry.
Actions need to be taken to address McConnell's offenses. It will take a Democratic Congress, legislative action and time, but America should not just accept the consequences of criminal behavior by a narrow-minded, retrograde conservative zealot, and move on. I'm beyond offended by all of this. Others need to be as well.
9
I just don't understand why Americans aren't in the streets protesting.
Americans have tough rhetoric about individualism and freedom but they have proven to be a largely docile people, easily fooled and deeply regressive.
8
Mitch does the job a Senator is supposed to do. Sell yourself for campaign donations. He has sold himself for decades and done a good job of it. He does not sell himself out on the street. He takes and makes calls. So I guess you could call him a Call Boy.
12
I think a lot of this has been known for quite some time. Mitch McConnell has virtually no legislative accomplishments unless you consider acquiring ruthless power in order to quash democracy an accomplishment. No more words can be used to describe McConnell’s heinous evil.
I just wonder WHEN the Democrats will find their own Mitch Mcconnell. The survival of our nation depends on it.
4
It is difficult to say good things about the world he gave us. Republicanism has neutered the Supreme Court. The latest judgement was emblematic. In synopsis, they ruled it was within the power of the president to do evil. However, whether the action was good or evil wasn't considered.
3
In a decent society a man so greedy and corrosive would be locked up for usurping democracy, but instead we call them “politicians” and they get to command large fees and determine the lives of people they will never care to meet nor try to understand - all for their own ruthless pursuit of self-aggrandisement and green.
When people start setting boundaries on ‘democracy’, whether it’s opinions that are allowable, term limits or what is allowed to be debated, then it is no longer a democracy.
3
McConnell is the prime example of why Democrats cannot compete politically with Republicans. Republicans play a cynical game of "win at all costs". Issues, are by far a secondary consideration. While Democrats try to win the electorate over with policy positions, Republican strategy is centered around creating false, but emotionally harnessing narratives for their base, while securing financing from a donor class that exploits that bases' ignorance, for their own ends. This formula has worked for at least 38 years. It won't change.
If Democrats cannot figure out an effective way to counter this (so far they have been woefully unsuccessful), our Democracy is in perilous danger.
1
That cynical game is called outsmarting your opponent.
The post Cold War GOP has been reduced to the party of 1950s era white male grievance for the past 20 years. McConnell is every bit as much a product of that party, as they are of him. Republicans are completely organized around a ruthless fight to hold onto pre-1960s societal norms to the last possible second. Historians will eventually record it as the disruptive last gasp from yesteryears societal dinosaurs, of which Mitch McConnell is the perfect symbol.
5
McConnell’s legacy will be similar to George Wallace. He will have had his victories in his day, but as time passes they will ring hollow.
6
Liberals always tell half of the story when discussing the Citizens Union case. The decision did clear the way for corporate spending, but it also allows for unlimited spending by big labor. In States like New York, organized labor, like the teachers unions wholly own democratic politicians because of all of the money that they deliver.
5
Not unlike their omitting Reid's removal of the filibuster rule for lower courts, which set the precedent. Unfortunately, they didn't heed McConnell's warnings. He reminded them they wouldn't always be in the majority. They chose to ignore him. Now they blame him for Reid's short-sightedness.
8
Or the right's omitting to discuss why Reid removed the filibuster of lower appointments. Reid didn't just remove it while everything was working well. He removed it because the republicans were abusing the filibuster, and holding up an unprecedented amount of appointments - something the right always likes to omit.
Corporate spending dwarfs big labor spending, so...some "gain" there. No wonder half the story is told.
McConnell embodies the worst of the modern Republican Party, and his “success” ensures that we’ll see more of the same from his successors.
7
I propose the country throw a giant party when Mitch McConnell leaves politics. No expense should be shared to make it clear how happy we are to be rid of him. Furthermore, I propose that McConnell not be able to enjoy a day of his retirement without seeing Merrick Garland's literally everywhere.
2
Mitch McConnell is a perfect microcosm of what is wrong with American politics, and why blue collar people in middle America are voting for people who act against their long term personal interests.
3
The best way to win is to vote with your pocket book. Stop buying into the post modern American Dream of ever expanding consumerism, and rather save your hard earned dollars for a rainy day and your kids.
1
President Obama made a lot of mistakes and his failure to expose the Russian/Trump connection prior to the election and his failure to fire Comey on the spot were two of his greatest mistakes. I cannot imagine what he was thinking when he failed to take those two essential steps to preserve the integrity of our election. The American people deserved to know the truth about Russian/Trump collusion and deserved to know that Comey's actions constituted unlawful interference in the electoral process.
2
If Obama told the public just prior to the election that Trump and Russia were colluding, how would that be any better than what Comey did?
1
Mitch McConnell is a modern Machiavelli. He's not only persistent (yes, he "persists") in the pursuit of power, but ruthless in its use. It was he who worked to obstruct former President Barack Obama's judicial appointments and legislative agenda. It was he who tossed aside his oath to the Constitution and not provide the mandated "advice and consent" for Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland. It was he who continues to ignore enforcing in abetting the Trump agenda his violation of the "emoluments clause." It was he who tossed aside Senate precedent by invoking the "nuclear option" to seat Neil Gorsuch on the court. It was he who tried every possible legislative trick to repeal Obamacare (and "thank you" John McCain).It was he who blocked Obama from making public the ongoing Russia investigation in 2016. This is the record of a radical undermining the very Constitutional democracy he swore an oath to "serve and protect." It's a record of a villainous subversive--a Benedict Arnold.
10
One wonders why this new Benedict Arnold isn’t found out, turned out and hung?! I suppose it’s the dominance of the Repubs right now. Although, “Nothing is forever”. I hope he realizes, and fully learns that after we come after him, and he leaves this world in ignominy.
When the Trump/McConnell nominee to the Supreme Court
has been named, then the Democrats must be angry, be very angry, that an extreme right wing person will be there
to dismantle all the civil rights laws, like taking away the right of women to control their own bodies.
Women's right to choose is a fundamental human right.
No Republican men can take this away, as women all over America will rise up and vote these old white men into
the dustbin of history.
The power of women will defeat the Republicans.
3
When Mitch McConnell refused to hold hearings for Merrick Garland, perhaps he did not violate the letter of the constitution- but he certainly violated the spirit of the constitution. I'm sure that the framers of the constitution intended for the three branches of government to work independently at the same time they worked together. McConnell's choice to violate the spirit of the constitution did direct and indirect damage to our political process. The most direct result is stealing a Supreme Court seat. But just as important he upped the ante with regards to how brazen a politician could be tearing apart norms and getting away with it. He certainly helped set the stage for a president that appears to care about norms only in the sense that he enjoys breaking them.
However, if you are a Republican and you think the ends justifies the means, you must be as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine.
17
When the epitaph is written for the once magnificent American Republic, two names will be recorded as the chief enablers of its demise: Messrs. McConnell and Ryan.
5
McConnell’s legacy: Americans’ justifiably declining faith that America is a democracy. He undoubtedly enjoys his raw power tactics now but, like Newt Gingrich, history will not be kind to him.
5
Politics is a cynical game. Mitch McConnell will be recorded in our history as making it far worse than most people ever imagined it could be. There's a legacy.
He stole a Supreme Court seat from a sitting, dully elected president from the Democratic party. How do you pay him and the Republicans back for something of that vile nature? He wanted Obama to be ineffective in office and, barring that, to appear to be ineffective in the eyes of the voters. It worked.
The more Republicans succeed in this cynical game, the more they support an out of control president in the name of getting ownership of the Court and tax cuts for billionaires, the sooner reforms of our democracy are going to move forward. They are making the case every day that our system is broken and must be changed fundamentally to ensure representation on a fair and sustained basis. As with the government sponsored kidnapping of children at the border, people aren't going to put with this stuff.
In politics, sometimes who can lose by winning. Mitch McConnell, with his meanness and party before anything orientation, has assured the Republicans of that fate.
7
“I will always be well financed, and I’ll be well financed early...”
Mitch McConnell made this prescient boast at the politically tender age of 37, and has never looked back. What McConnell lacks in charisma he has more than made up for in his extraordinary talent for generating and harnessing the money that keeps his kind of Republican in office and American elections awash in corporate cash. He must feel a warm glow of pride when he thinks about the role his particular skills played in the passage of the “Citizens United” decision, although he has said that he views his blocking of Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court as the greatest triumph of his career.
Mitch McConnell is the consummate “political animal” in the darkest sense of the term and inhabits the very center of “the swamp.”
26
Read the translated editorial by the German singer and compared it to Mitch McConnells political career.Exactly the reason I have been so fearful of this president and his ilk from the minute of he rode down the escalator.
2
And the article does not even mention the GOP letting Trump do anything he wants.
4
If Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond had a baby, and he was raised by religious and fanatical wolves who wore robes and burnt crosses, we would have Mitch.
For every people and for every country we as a nation have wronged - whether intentionally or not - Mitch is their unintentional payback. He has singularly managed to stop progress and take the nation backward - as much as anyone in history. And he is far from being done. You go Mitch; there is much to destroy and ruin yet - for this is a great country.
15
With the potential for the court to move further right, we now see the excitement of the right to overturn Roe and inject less "harassment" of Christians. We can see the possibilities of ruling against abortion and gay marriage (or declining to overturn state laws), and bringing back prayer in schools and public funding for religious schools. With their fifth vote, the Christian right, in their unholy alliance with white supremacists, get everything they fought for. And what about the stronger libel laws the President requested? Could Sean Hannity be sued for implying that Maxine Waters caused a newsroom attack? (Hmm maybe that's why he denied implying that - Cohen must have advised him to roll it back.)
Yes Mr. McConnell was terribly clever in his understanding of what would turn out Christian Right voters, and get them to hold their nose and vote for Trump. Once they have their fifth seat, and they made abortion and gay marriage illegal in their red states, what will motivate them to turn out then? Killing babies is terribly emotional - they even objected to those policies on the border. There may not be a comparable issue to excite the Christian Right, no matter how much their politicized and highly compensated church leaders try to get them fired up. And really with the current generation of state laws on abortion, it is essentially gone in red states anyway. it is a mere formality to allow red states to ban it.
1
Remember George Washington only joined the insurrection because he and his pals were eying lands beyond the Ohio river that a treaty between the British and the Natives declared beyond their reach. So the history of "power for power sake" but let us add for grid sake too, has been at the very core of the USA from day one. With the election of Trump, yes people the election, the true nature of this enterprise has come into the open, not embarrassed by any principles of morals or vision of humanity beyond the golden shine of the toilet bowl.
3
Excellent eloquence!
Can you imagine a situation that if the Democrats had gerrymandered congressional districts that kept them in power that the Gang of Five would still rule in favor of it? I think it would be struct down so fast. our heads would spin.
5
Americans can blame only themselves by having supreme court appointments a partisan issue. If it’s partisan it shouldn’t be a life long position. By having a right wing majority in the Supreme Court America becomes close mr each day to a dark anti human rights country no different than Russia or China. This country has no moral ground anymore to discipline other countries about human rights.
2
In addition to McConnell's stated commitment to making Obama a one term president through obstruction and his refusal to allow a sitting president to nominate a Supreme Court justice has directly resulted in a Republican majority departing from long held norms and their support of a president with strong autocratic tendencies. Trump is as outrageous as McConnell's political maneuvers. The audacity of McConnell and the complicity of his party opened the door to Trump.
4
Trump does not dominate our universe. Just the headlines. Few accomplishments. We shall overcome.
3
Mitch McConnell usurped the right of the President to appoint a Supreme Court Judge granted under Article II of the Constitution. He actively prevented the Senate from meeting its constitutional obligation to advise and consent. I hope that history will one day look back and name him the Traitor to our constitutional democracy that he is.
Sadly, I will never understand why President Obama let him.
6
And thus, focused on “winning” the political chess game, he may have cost us our country.
3
Mitch McConnell, despite pretending to serve as the senior Senator from Kentucky, was raised in Alabama and has maintained a life-long allegiance to the agenda of the Southern Confederacy. That agenda is solely committed to maintaining the political hegemony of White males. As such, McConnell supports the suppression of minority and progressive voters through unlimited and secret corporate contributions to repressive political candidates and their demoralizing advertisements, political gerrymandering that disenfranchises opposing voters, and the repeal of health care that helps minority voters stay alive. Mitch McConnell should be seen for what he is: a traitor to the United States of America.
3
A case can be made that McConnell is one of the most evil men in the history of the United States, given his long-term objectives and the amount of power he wields to implement his hateful agenda. The sad part is that he will rule for many years to come, even after Trump leaves office in 2024, and his legacy of right-wing political hacks on the Supreme Court will last far beyond his last day in the Senate.
1
Let's give credit where credit be due. The voters put these guys in office... No matter how you choose to slice it, they won the election.
2
If Mr McConnell were a Republican cut from the cloth of so many who have honorably served our nation it would be one thing but this is not the case.
For all intent and purpose he has betrayed every value and irreparably besmirched his political party and our nation.
He is a small man.
2
Blame the Democratic leadership, from President Obama on down, for not fighting harder to have a confirmation hearing for Judge Garland. McConnell knows how to play dirty & his style of politics gets results!
1
The malign son of Alabama Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr.'s prime passionate purpose has been to reverse the outcomes of the Civil War and Civil Rights eras.
Unlike Jefferson Davis who chose violent secession, McConnell chose to eat and erode the Union from within. Unlike Barry Goldwater, McConnell chose deception and duplicity in order to win elections and to stay in power.
The legacy of Mitch McConnell is to erase Antietam, Gettysburg, Montgomery, Birmingham, Selma and Memphis from any lasting historical American significance.
9
To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
(Newton).
McConnell is really trying on his tricks, like he has done before, but does this silly little man know that actions have consequences, and he may ram through an extreme right wing Supreme Court nominee, but remember that nothing is forever.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted 15 Supreme Court
judges to negate the right win dominance, so why can't the
Democrats change the number to 15 places, and appoint
them when they have control of both Houses of Congress,
and the White House.
After all there has been 6 changes of numbers over history.
The Democrats should make this a political issue for the elections, and make sure that the numbers come out and vote for the Democrats.
McConnell will go down in history as the chump that
made the Republicans irrelevant.
10
McConnell will go down in history as the man who brought down a great nation.
2
Nothing sums up why Republicans have maintained their Congressional dominance since 2010 than Obama's knuckling under to McConnell's demand that he keep his mouth shut about Russia's interference. As he consistently did over major issues (immigration, gun control, the selling of Obamacare, Syria), Obama demonstrated that while his heart was in the right place, he lacked the killer instinct essential to political victory. Answering McConnell's hyper-partisanship with a stance of non-partisanship was nonsensical - and craven. He undoubtedly rationalized his silence with the assumption that Hillary would win. But that also showed his habit of underestimating the ruthlessness of the Republicans. Turning the other cheek may make Obama a better man than his implacable opponents, but it has cost the American public dearly.
11
McConnel outrageously claimed that he refused to hold a hearing on Garland because he wanted the voters to have a say. It was clearly a lie then - he robbed the voice of all of those who voted for Obama - and is irrefutably a lie now, when he rushes to get the vote for this second appointee before the Senate elections. The theft of Garland's appointment should go down in history as treason. It is also a key reason that tryant Trump was able to sneak through the gates. Had Garland been appointed, many Republicans would have had much less motivation to swallow their obvious distaste.
2
This is the America Neoliberals gave us. Starting with Bill Clinton and his triangulation toward the Right on prisons, welfare, etc. Then Obama, the big illusion of hope President. Finally the DNC killed the rise of a man who would have knocked Trump to the curb, Bernie Sanders. Neoliberalism has been the death of the progressive cause and Hillary Clinton, who's never had a job in her life not either given to her or bought, is a hundred millionaire. Thanks, Democrats!
3
Mitch McConnell is a throwback to Strom Thurmond and James Eastland of the 1948 Dixiecrats who bolted the Democratic Party and turned the South deep red and remains so today. McConnell's legacy will be his determination to uphold and defend the old southern way of life. His refusal to honor a Supreme Court the nomination made by a black president would have made the fathers of the old Southern way of life extremely proud of him.
2
From the time McConnell, flanked by Cornyn and cronies with smugness and glee, stated in no uncertain terms they would not allow an Obama nominee, it became clear after the election he was well financed and knew the outcome in advance. Mueller should add one more name to his investigation and pull videos, emails, phone records, bank accounts, etc. of McConnell and his ‘charming’ wife.
4
McConnell will be known in history as the man who was most un-democratic, un-American politician (even more than Trump). He has done more to change American to the worst.
3
This not going to end well for Mitch McConnell, whose 35 year Senate career will be remembered chiefly for his racist obstruction of President Obama - including disrupting Obama's attempt to discharge his Constitutional duties - and McConnell's now complete support of the debauched and likely treasonous presidency of Donald Trump.
McConnell seems to have no financial worries, having reportedly been gifted with $25 million by his father in law, Chinese-American finance magnate James S. C. Chao.
So why does McConnell hold so tightly and cynically to his Senate power, in spite of having few ideological goals or achievements? Does he exercise his power purely for it's tyrannical thrill? Like the Joker, does he 'just want to see the world burn"?
For a man who eager to erect a mausoleum around his Senate "legacy," McConnell had 35 years during which he could have built many achievements he could point to as protecting his country and enhancing the lives of his fellow citizens. He could have wielded his power in service to leaving this country a better place than he found it when elected 35 years ago.
Instead, he did THIS?
1
One has to wonder what the Kentucky voters are thinking when they vote for McConnell. One has to wonder if Kentucky voters think at all.
27
Two can play this game. Perhaps in 2020, the Democrats will control Congress and the White House. The number of seats on the Supreme Court is set by Congress. Increase the number from 9 to 11 using a straight majority vote in the Senate. And then ram through two new appointments. Tit for tat.
4
His legacy will be that he set the stage for the downfall of American democracy. That should appear on his tombstone.
19
This from a state that's one of the largest recipients of federal aid.
2
All who have been paying attention understand that Donald Trump has been lying, cheating, and bullying for decades. There is no surprise that he continues his foul and self-serving behavior after taking on the role of President of the United States. The truly appalling problem we face today is the enabling and deceitful behavior of Mitch McConnell, who has completely abandoned all pretense of serving the citizens of the United States or respecting the rule of law. McConnell will indeed be remembered by historians as a crucial figure of this era, but not in any way that could be considered positive for our nation's values, our status in the world, or our future.
4
Finish FDR's work, if the Democrats take back congress and the White House, they need to pack the court. The gloves came off when they blocked Obama's pick.
5
I have a serious question. Are there no legal challenges we can mount against McConnell? Trump? When any action taken had to be with the approval of a complicit House & Congress, the will of the people is effectively ignored. I can’t believe the Founding Fathers didn’t anticipate that. We need help.
2
We do need help. But please, don't ask Russia.
Actually, it was Harry Reid who gave us this world when he eliminated the filibuster rule for the confirmation of Federal judges. And it was for the futile (and small potato) purpose of packing the DC Circuit in an effort to try to save ObamaCare. You reap what you sow.
3
Correction. This is the world democrats created for themselves. First they removed the filibuster to stack the lower courts with their picks, paving the way for republicans to do the same with Supreme Court nominees. Then they pushed the ACA onto Americans and ignored the huge price middle class Americans had to pay. They chose to ignore opposition and dismiss it as "racism". They made their bed, and now they want to blame everyone else for it.
5
ACA is extremely popular despite dummies crying "socialism." Racism is the truth. Is anyone sensing Trump's birth certificate?
1
Here is a succinct, compelling narrative of America's foremost political prostitute. Moving from a pro-choice, basically decent representative of the people in his early career, this political chameleon wrote the book on how to manipulate 'the system' to his own political advantage. Paul Ryan, are you paying attention?
The really sad part is that his own local constituency has never really noticed!
1
Before McConnell, Gingrich.
The American Way is to fight dirty. Democrats lose this fight by definition.
The sustained victory of Republican's dirty war against liberalism, the failure of Democrats to rally to their own cause, it's hard to believe at this point that this isn't what Americans really want.
All Democrats seem to come up with is the occasional charismatic candidate able to prevail alone against the withering assault of dirty tricks.
But Republicans have a radicalized hateful electorate & an army of Machiavellian leaders.
Maybe in a few more terrible terms, Democrats will find another exceptional star to save their presidential hopes, but this redstate mood, their president, their congress & court, will just have to die out for things to change.
But for now the wind in their sails is too strong for the pendulum to swing back.
Expect Brown v. Board of Ed to be reversed. After Roe v. Wade is gone, that's what they really want, segregated services & second-class citizens divided along ethnic lines, a white-nationalist stand-your-ground nation.
30
Agreed. It would be really good to have liberal candidates at the Congressional level make the case for improving social security and be mean and aggressive about it, or social security or health care and fully funded college for everyone.
Reps say they are for business but break the back of the tax system so long term social investments cannot be made. Liberals have a very real vision that this whole process has to be earned and paid for every step of the way. Whatever it is that Mitch McConnel represents in effect it takes care of very few at the cost to nearly everyone else. Yes, I am arguing that the liberal side has a conscience and the McConnel side does not.
1
It's too bad the Democrats don't have politicians as competent and determined as McConnell.
1
Mitch McConnell is the very embodiment of the reason we need term limits.
3
I am so grateful Hillary in the the president. This is actually turning out to be just great!
This sort of analysis of McConnell should have been done by the Democratic Party twenty years ago, and the Democrats should have reacted accordingly.
McConnell's biggest victory was also revealing about Obama. Obama knew Russia was tampering with the election, and McConnell said that to reveal it would be considered "partisan politics". A real Democrat, who cared about our democratic republic (And in my opinion Obama was not the first and doesn't really care.) would have said, "So what? You guys practice nothing but partisan politics all the time", and released the information, which we, the American voting public, was entitled to have.
And what was the threat from McConnell anyway? What was he going to do? This column doesn't say, because he couldn't have done anything beyond having a really big tantrum.
LBJ would have eaten Mitch McConnell for breakfast. Any old-style Democrat would have.
2
Thanks for desecrating the Supreme Court, Mitch!
It’s a shame that he won’t live long enough to see all of the suffering that he’s responsible for. Seems like that would take some of the fun out of the whole process.
1
The evil that is Mitch MCConnell in creating our dysfunctional government may be as long lasting and as forceful as that we attribute to trump. He doesn't have to worry about his legacy--history will not forget his role as a great force in contributing to the divide in this country. He may be soft spoken, and not as crass as trump, but the damage he has created is just as significant.
5
If there's any country left that has a Lens of History to peer through, it will not be kind to McConnell.
Think "McCarthyism".
3
Welcome to the new world folks. We are only in the second season of the hit reality show aptly named “As America Becomes Great Again”, brought to you by the Koch Brothers and friends and hosted by the game show host in chief DJ Trump, who spins and tweets like he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
No, I'm not going to even read this nonsense. McConnell did what we should expect him to do.
And No: this is the world that HRC and the Democratic Party gave us, with a weak candidate and no real Party leadership. And not enough voter turn-out as a result. Did anyone ever address the hatred that Obama inspired in white men?
I mean, I think Obama is a great person and was a very good President. But lots of older white guys just hate him, mainly for being Black and weak. In their view he just watched as global business outsourced their jobs away, and enriched the business owners at their expense. And he constantly sympathized with lazy and dangerous black people.
There is an economic reality behind the job loss, whether caused by outsourcing or automation, but it still needed to be addressed. And the same goes for the loss of privilege of white people. Clearly no one is supposed to be entitled to special treatment, whether black or white. HRC instead appeared to be looking for even more special benefits to give to gays and lesbians and all the rest of the confused. But how big of a constituency is that, really? Even if we agree that such people are treated unfairly in many cases.
Many of the angry Republican voters are unreachable, at this point, and the only hope is to vote the Republicans out of office. That means trying to change a few minds, and maybe succeeding with some fence-sitters, but really it means getting Democratic voters to actually go out and vote.
1
Like in the real world where most CEO's have to retire at 65 the same should go for our crop of behind the times senators/congressmen/women. Long past due to leave, Pelosi, Boxer, Feinstein, McConnell etc. This way to the egress.
1
McConnell's Legacy will cement a divide between the Parties that will last for decades.Sooner or later ,the Democrats will hold the mandate of Government, & it will be payback time. In the meantime, nothing of consequence will be accomplished as the parties will continue to bicker & do whatever is possible to block each others agendas.The losers will be the American people.The only way they will ever get together would be in a war.
3
Thank God we have Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer on our side raking in all that corporate donor cash. So we can elect more corporate friendly Congress people that can then vote for Trumps agenda. Like Doug Jones in Alabama, who the poor black people came out for, who then voted for Trumps millionaire tax relief theft.
Obama ran on giving us the Public Option. When in office with a super majority he then pushed through Romney-Care with 50 votes, when he could of even went for Single Payer, if he went to the people. The people were mad because he did not deliver on Hope and Change and worker lives were not made better. No one on Wall Street went to jail for the 2008 crash. Those guilty of Iraq war crimes in the Bush Administration were not prosecuted. He then ended his presidency by not standing up for Justice Garland and McConnell for the theft, no price to pay at all again.
When will the Democrats fight back against the Republicans? Sadly they both have the same door base.
4
Okay. I've read all the negative news. I know how bad the situation is, with the levers of power controlled by a traitorous, corrupt party led by a narcissistic madman. And I know the miserable news about the Supreme Court. I don't want to read any more about it, unless there is some hope or strategy offered. Even if it involves violent insurrection. It's better than nothing. If somebody doesn't know already what's going on, let them read all the depressing news. Me, personally, I want a reason to hope, to keep fighting, to go on.
11
You have written an article about a man who has always been representative of the cliche', proto-typically despised politician since the invention of democracy.
Someone who is in politics because they can't do anything else. Not to be a public servant but as a self-perpetuating position in society for his own relevance. The fact that he has lasted this long has given him more power, an actual voice, greater hubris and only goes to show how good a parasite he really is. This type of politician, who was eventually replaced by corporate lawyers as the ultimate anathema has today become vaguely benign compared to the new bottom feeders; Marketing advertisers, robo-callers and spammers. It's all a matter of perspective.
4
And yet, he's the man with the power. Go figure.
Well, that's a pretty toxic legacy. Usually politicians have an eye on how they will be remembered
Time to take Mitch’s world for what it is: a weak-chinned trough feeder without a moral compass feasting on public funds.
He’s a better depiction of sleaze than the characters playing good ole boys in Hollywood pics of old, such as Deliverance or White Lightening. The only difference is Mitch plays dress up in suits and, occasionally, brushes his teeth, maybe.
5
“Holding a long-term majority on the court greatly aids his highest cause — Republican victories in future elections — as recent rulings on voting rights and gerrymandering demonstrated once again.”
Long term... that’s cute. One thing that gives me at least some comfort is the fact that there really is no “long term” for McConnell, or Trump for that matter. They’re throwing some haymakers on the way down, but no amount of gerrymandering, fundraising, SCOTUS picks, etc. is going to add to the rapidly dwindling number of heartbeats they have left. And McConnell’s betting big on us heathen atheists being right because he hasn’t exactly been hedging his bets the last few decades.
And as for his future legacy amongst the living? Well, he “won” but winners don’t actually get to right the history books. My generation is going to remember him for trying to FORCE us to live by a conservative ideology we (for the most part) despise. Congrats.
1
What's McConnell getting out of betraying our country?
What power would be satisfactory? What material thing would compensate a man for betraying every vow he swore to uphold, our Constitution he swore to protect as a lawyer and then as a Senator?
The evil these men are doing is Shakespearean.
2
Mitch McConnell, one of the founding fathers of the Dystopian States of America.
3
“Any society has to perform at least two big related tasks — raising the young and pursuing of the good. It takes a village to do both these things. As Yuval Levin reminded us in an essay in First Things a few years ago, people are only capable of exercising responsible freedom when they are embedded in and formed by social institutions — like family, schools that take morality seriously and a shared civic order. It’s not a do-it-yourself job.”
So why have you been pushing Republican ideology all these years? Sounds like you are more in tune with Bernie Sanders.
The extraction on the middle classes wealth started With Ronald Reagan's policies. Mitch realized then that a large enough block of people could be conned into thinking giving fabulously wealthy people more money will get you more money. Mitch made it clear he will fight tooth and nail to keep these very low intelligence people conned. The rich took Mitch on as the High Priest of the church of Greed.
He will go down in history as the man that crusified democracy.
2
It’s time for all who aspire to enter the University of Louisville to think seriously about attending a different institution until the administration removes the McConnell shrine in their library. Sad.
2
Mitch McConnell is an extremist and a saboteur. I can think of no one who has done more to damage, and possibly destroy, the working of our government. McConnell has dedicated himself to undermining democracy and the will of the American people. He undercut a twice-elected president at every turn, he helped to obliterate the barriers between the voice of the citizenry and the overwhelming megaphone of the wealthy, and in the most brazen, unconstitutional act in historical memory he stole a Supreme Court seat from President Obama.
McConnell is no patriot. Were he a patriot, he would have supported the release of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Instead, he played politics, and treasonously embraced the interference by a foreign adversary in one of our most sacred democratic institutions - the vote.
Frankly, the damage Mitch McConnell has done to the United States would be a terrorist's, or autocrat's, dream. McConnell is a disgrace to everything decent our nation is purported to stand for.
3
McConnel may indeed have created the world in which we live, and Trump may well dominate it, but let’s not forget who actually made this all possible. That would be John McCain, who legitimized the radical right with his foolish and ill-advised choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate against Obama in 2008. That is the pivotal moment back to which our current slow death of democracy can be seen to have started. McCain is an American hero whose legacy will be forever tarnished by that decision. You cannot put the genie back in the bottle.
Mitch McConnell's refusal to hold hearings on President Obama's nominee for Supreme Court Justice, Judge Merrick Garland, violated the plain meaning of Article II, Section 2 of our Constitution. So, what did Obama, and out Democratic leadership do? Pretty much nothing and this includes the press.
3
It is because of people like mitch mcconnell that I am considering to never vote for any republican who runs for public office. No matter what.
I am thoroughly disgusted by the antics and biased behavior by people who are supposed to represent us but only really representative themselves.
4
I weep for what my country's government has become.
5
What I want to know is: how can one person, the majority leader of the Senate, block a President's choice to seat a justice on the Supreme Court? Where in the Constitution does it say one person, elected from one State, can control who will sit on the Supreme Court. I also wonder why Mr Obama and the democrats sat on their hands during what was the bald-faced hijacking of the word and intent of the Constitution of the United States. Our democracy is crumbling because good men and women are doing NOTHING to preserve it. This article displays what an empty vessel McConnell truly is. I understand one seeks externally what one lacks internally. Totally explains McConnells infatuation with power.
8
Where is Jon Stewart when we need him to show McConnell for who he really is - as he did for so many years?
5
No, the real story and scandal of the week was articulated by a pointed article by Dam Liptak and Maggie Haberman today in The NY Times that discloses how the Trump administration seduced Justice Kennedy over the past year and more with appointments of his former clerks to federal judicial positions, including Justice Gorsuch. What is more important and disturbing is the role that Justice Kennedy's son, Justin, had in financing Trump when he could not obtain financing through NY banks. Justin was a high ranking executive in Deutsche Bank who directly dealt with Trump in financing his desperate businesses. Deutsche Bank is not a paragon leader for financial ethics and has had numerous US federal banking violations and fines over the years. I have had a favorable impression about Justice Kennedy for many years for his judicial ethical and intellectual conduct. Now this gives me pause on how to review him. I find this greatly troubling for our future.
3
Uh, no. Look at the decisions made by Harry Reid re flibuster for judicial nominations.
4
We forget that Kentucky voters have had several chances to replace McConnell the most recent being Allison Grimes and they failed the test. A lot rests on their shoulders. A prime example of how voters need to be informed and not just complacent.
2
I believe Sen. McConnell has always been honest about his goals. He has been open about his intentions to increase the power of the wealthy in American society and nothing has ever caused me to doubt that he is working hard to realize that goal.
Unfortunately, he has been extremely successful.
8
If there was ever a case for term limits on Senators, this article points to the why.
Thank goodness there are term limits for the presidency so this long national nightmare will end one day. Or will it? Nothing seems impossible anymore.
Here's hoping the Dems get it all back and add 2 Supreme Court Justices to the bench to counter what is happening in this country right now. It can be done.
Another annus horribilis in the books.
Thanks Mitch!
6
There were better times. There were times when both sides could manage to get together and compromise to come up with solutions to our problems. Sometimes it worked better than others, but even when we agreed to disagree we could manage to find some common ground. Having said that winning has always been what it's all about at the core of politics so that's nothing new. There have always been those in the ranks of both parties who concentrated on winning re-election and then did very little in contributing new ideas while hanging around for the next election I believe they used to be called career politicians. My state has one who has needed to go for years. The biggest problem today and over the last 30 years or so, isn't win at all costs Mitch McConnell and the Republican rise to power, it's the Democrats lack of ideas, messaging, and the will to attract young creative minds to the party who can take those ideas to the people. There have always been Mitch McConnells and they will continue to exist. Making a better whatever it is the American people need and getting that message to them will trump anything the McConnells of the world can come up with. The mid terms are right around the corner, Democrats? Do you have anything new to offer the American people?
2
Actually, a return to Liberal politics would be new now. What is new about the Republican agenda other than it is culminating in an illiberal kleptocracy that has essentially surrendered to an adversarial foreign power?
3
Why not go back to the days when teenage girls were forced into unsuitable marriages, homelessness, or prostitution due to an unwanted pregnancy--or illegal, expensive, and dangerous abortions, suffering septicemia, future infertility, or death? Why not risk losing mothers with children at home to care for, children who will go into foster care? Why not see the rates of crime rise, which correlate with the numbers of unwanted children from 20 years before? It's all coming up, folks, to the betterment of society, care of those making American great again!
15
Thank you for so eloquently articulating the dangers of the so-called pro-life agenda.
I note that the author of this Op-Ed wrote a book titled "The Cynic" about Mitch McConnell and I couldn't agree more. When The Senate Majority Leader said on Tuesday "The Senate stands ready to fulfill it's constitutional role of offering advice and consent on Trump's nominee to fill this vacancy.", cynical was the first word that came to mind. Two other thoughts followed. One, this must have been a written statement because an honest man, surely, would have choked on these words after his recent history of blocking any consideration of Obama's choice. And two, since he admits to the "constitutional" role of the Senate in providing such counsel, can we have him impeached for, criminally, ignoring that role?
14
Hypothetically consider if any of these scorched-earth political outrages originating from McConnell and party hacks had come from the Democratic party and how the Republicans would have responded. Our system that assumed that both sides were essentially honorable with respect to the process and norms is now truly broken thanks to the Republicans Not able to even understand the basics, Trump is simply kicking the pieces around for some added theatrical effect.
14
Actually, Mitch McConnell having this power was given to him by the Democrats who oversaw the 2010 Mid-term Elections, especially Schumer, who was in charge of the Senate campaign. Democrats ran away from Obama and the Affordable Care Act, failed to come up with convincing policy objectives, chose poor candidates when they fielded any candidates at all, and had lost touch with the electorate. Handing control of both houses insured the gridlock that followed and had been a stated Republican goal.
No surprise, then, that having the same people in charge now has shown a failure to come up with solid, easy-to-remember campaign goals and slogans.
McConnell has simply taken advantage of, to an extreme, of the opportunity knuckleheaded leaders of the Democratic Party gave him.
Hopefully now, those who’ve claimed that there’s no difference between parties and candidates see the fallacy of that statement. Completely different judges and courts!
6
Why do you think democrats ran away from Obama and the ACA? Because they were very unpopular and democrats knew it. This is the great disconnect between progressives and the rest of the country. They simply do not get that other Americans have the same right to see their preferred policies enacted. And, no, our country doesn't simply disintegrate when progressives are out of power.
5
Another “conservative” activist trying to conflate progressive (a serious threat) with liberal democrats (feckless and out of touch). Nice try but only reactionary conservatives fall for it.
1
No, the country doesn't "disintegrate" when liberals are marginalized---but it won't be a pretty picture in the future, when we're all breathing dirtier air, drinking fouled water, living with unmitigated climate change, lack of support from our former allies, and half of the nation's inhabitants (women) who no longer enjoy the right to control the destiny of their own bodies---to say nothing of the relentless redistribution of wealth and income upward to the 1%. Perhaps eventually Trump supporters will wake up and realize that the policies he promotes are actually making America SICK again.
President Trump won on his own and Mitch McConnell had little influence on his victory. The people liked what they saw and heard and decided to give a non-career politician a chance. They wanted someone who promised the people change and actually delivered.
It has worked out quite well with Mr. Trump's Supreme Court pickings being a real plus for conservatives. We could not be happier with his choice of Neal Gorsuch and he is likely to choose the next justice who will be as qualified and intelligent as Mr, Gorsuch. That person will decide cases according to the constitution and follow it as intended. This will be a very important time for the Supreme Court as there are some important cases on the docket waiting to be heard.
There is no doubt that President Trump has been influenced by Mr. McConnell and vice versa. I think he is on full board with many of President Trump's policies and he is very pleased with the results. He has supported our president much of the time and has given him his encouragement. There might have been a few rough patches at first between the two men but I think they now understand one another.
Mr. McConnell has been a career politician and Mr. Trump is new to the game so to speak. For a novice, Mr. Trump has been pretty darn successful. Many of us could not be more thrilled with his governing and want him to continue down this triumphant path. We want him to make America great once again. He certainly is doing his job.
4
Boy will you be disappointed when Trump brings the American economy crashing down around his ears. This is a man, remember, who has been bailed out of bankruptcy no less than four times (and subsequently had to turn eastward from New York for financing--and I don't mean to Nassau County). He's already increased our debt enormously with the tax cut, and now he's spoiling for a trade war. Hold onto your MAGA hat--a federal bailout borne by taxpayers is coming.
1
"We could not be happier with his choice of Neal Gorsuch and he is likely to choose the next justice who will be as qualified and intelligent as Mr, Gorsuch. That person will decide cases according to the constitution and follow it as intended."
If Gorsuch had any integrity, he would have not accepted the nomination until Merrick Garland had a hearing and a committee vote. But you and he don't care. You want what you want...at any cost. You can't win elections on turnout so you suppress votes, you can't raise enough money from people so you make corporations into people without limits.
Gorsuch and the next guy will be just what you're looking for. I guy like Mitch, who'll twist and turn the truth to give themselves the answer they want.
The only rule is win.
1
My definition of Trump's success and our country's greatness is the polar opposite of yours. I don’t even agree with your view that Trump "won" the election by himself.
That Russia interfered with our election can no longer be denied by anyone except those who believe in literal interpretation of the Bible, that the 2nd amendment gave citizens the right to own weapons that our founding fathers could never have conceived of, and that Trump is a devout Christian—despite his trouncing of the commandments purportedly handed down to Moses.
Success is in the eye of the beholder. If getting your way through bullying, mean-spirited name-calling, impulsive threats, unabashedly lying, refusing to accept criticism or evidence of facts contradicting your views, and inciting others to conduct themselves likewise are characteristics you look for in the leader of your nation . . . Trump would certainly be your man. I prefer a leader who conducts him- or herself appropriately for the position—is wise, ethical, respectful, compassionate, noble, impartial, magnanimous, and willing to negotiate.
If a nation that turns its back on its own citizens—those in Puerto Rico and minorities here—refuses to provide refuge for refugees and, instead, holds them hostage; bullies its allies and refuses to make compromises; despite its advantages, insists that other nations are exploiting it; makes pacts with hostile nations and praises corrupt leaders is your idea of "great," I can’t disagree more.
Sometimes political accomplishments are not evident in legislative "wins". Rather they are evident in what a politician stopped from happening. There is no accounting for those accomplishments. People only count passed legilation as a "win" when in fact those laws might really do damage or cause losses to Americans. It sounds like his space needs to be updated to count some of the things he successfully blocked as wins on his part.
There is a method to McConnell's madness. While a majority of the NYT's readers are probably progressives who believe in big government and that government is the solution for all problems, many of McConnell's supporter believe the opposite. For those who believe that limited government is better the gridlock that McConnell has caused may be the only thing preventing government from growing even larger. For instance many progressives believe that government should take over the health care system which could cause up to 20% of our economy to be taken over by government. Gridlock may be the only thing preventing it. Who said government is responsible for providing healthcare? Government's responsibility is to provide national defense and maintain law and order. Many people do not want Washington in their lives interfering or telling them what to do. They want to be left alone to make their own decisions as well as provide for themselves. They do not want the government to provide for them. These same people believe in building up churches and other religious institutions and realize that if they suffer setbacks that these are the institutions to take care of them, not the government. For those who want government out of their lives anything that makes government look incompetent is actually good as it demonstrates why government should not get any larger. Obamacare is probably the best example as anyone who works hard and doesn't qualify for subsidies will tell you
6
I wonder how many of those independent, 'I want no part of the govt in my life' are willing to give up their medicare once they have it.
5
Really? And what about those of us who want the government to stay out of our bedrooms, the decisions women make about their own bodies, and whom we each select to love and spend our lives with? How do you reconcile that? Hmmm?
Seems to me you want less government for you but more government for "them".
That is nothing more than hypocrisy.
1
This from a state that's one of the largest recipients of federal aid.
There would be plenty of fodder for the NYTs to investigate surrounding the establishment and funding of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. The Louisville Courier-Journal has attempted to delve, but has been thwarted by McConnell. Pay-to-Play is the mantra of this crafty pol, who is the master of political manipulation in a state, city, and university that has raised the repugnance of political self-dealing to the stratosphere. McConnell embodies all that is wrong with our political system.
26
When the history of the decline and fall of the U.S. is written, Mitch McConnell will be prominently featured. I pity my grandchildren and the world they will live in, thanks to McConnell and other enablers.
27
I will be forever indebted to Mr. McConnell for the brilliant moves that you so deftly describe here. I may not like his style or countenance but the good that he has done for this country is incalculable.
7
To improve the country you approve of undermining our Democracy? He stole my vote for Obama when he refused to hold a hearing on Garland, and he had the gall to claim he wanted the voters to have a say! Yes, just like he's eager to have the voters in the Fall have a say, right? Such an obvious and despicable lie that you are cheering on.
1
No, everything he has done is calculable: just look at the Koch's checkbooks.
1
McConnell did not display any brilliance. He displayed petulant obstructionism, feeding the basest racist instincts of Republican voters who never accepted the legitimacy of the duly elected (twice!) President Obama. McConnell declared the Republicans to be the Party of No, a nihilist platform. Brilliant? No, just insanely cynical, putting his trust in the ignorance of American voters. Call it "success" if you wish; I call it deplorable.
1
The blame that Harry Reid deserves can't be overstated.
In 2013 he made the dreadful mistake of exercising the appropriately named "nuclear option", breaking decades of Senate tradition by allowing presidential nominees to be confirmed with a simple majority. He may have had his reasons, but once that genie was out of the bottle it was probably inevitable that it would be extended to Supreme Court nominees. It paved the way for the Republicans to steal a seat, and it will ultimately lead to a more conservative and polarized court.
There is scant evidence that McConnell would have done this if not for Reid. For all his faults, McConnell respects Senate traditions and has (thankfully) categorically rejected Trump's call for the filibuster to be scrapped.
60 votes in the Senate has been the primary moderating force in our government, ensuring that legislation and nominations enjoy some modicum of bipartisan support. It has also prevented wild swings to the right or left as the parties take turns in power. Messing with that was a terrible mistake.
14
I don't know that Reid had much choice. McConnell brought Senate business to a halt. It is now paying off in spades for him, as all the judicial appointments to the Federal bench that he stalled, he is now filling. McConnell, stalled/delayed/prevented virtually all Senate action. To accomplish anything Reid had little choice. I think it's clear that McConnell only talks about Senate tradition when it suits him, and lies about the rest, as being made abundantly clear with Kennedy resigning.
27
When dems retake the Senate the first thing on the agenda should be the nuclear option across the board. And the reason for Reid’s decision was due to McConnel’s refusal to move the nomination process forward for federal judges during the Obama years. Does McConnel care that his legacy will be more aligned with McCarthy than Madison? Does he care?
1
Sean:
Yours is a mistaken view of why things were halted. Harry Reid was Obama's "enforcer". Like a thuggish enforcer he controlled what did and didn't get past him. The greatest ruse was that Obama and Reid were able to convince Americans that it was the GOP that was preventing movement. Harry Reid was, once again, at the center of the problem.
This is the new politics as practiced by Mitch McConnell. Forget about Senate rules and customs. Forget about legislating. Mitch is all but about the exercise of brute power to ensure that a minority party with the support of Trump's base can rule over the majority. Mitch is playing Cromwell to the President's Henry VIII.
24
Yes but Cromwell did not last long thereafter
Central to McConnell’s strategy are the three pillars of the Republican Party: Dark Money, Gerrymandering and Voter Suppression. This could only be achieved with a Republican (note not “conservative”) majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. And I have no doubt that McConnell will try and ram home any Trump appointee. He may even succeed. But the continued overreach of Trump and the Republicans will hasten the national demise of the Republican Party just as Pete Wilson’s short term success in California (running as an anti-immigrant candidate) has made that state bluer and bluer. So go for it Mitch and by all means pursue your very unAmerican agenda as your ultimate legacy will a generation of Democrat dominance and sooner than you can imagine.
42
Problematic but quite omitted in this piece is that Congress never passed any campaign finance reform in the aftermath of Watergate. Now a quaint, distant memory of a time before the PC dominated our lives, Watergate signaled a massive failure on Congress's part to act on many issues. And the Congress that we have had to endure ever since is not truly representative of the American electorate, responsive to its wishes or forward-looking. Instead it is dominated by greedy, unscrupulous people in the mold of Mr. Haney from TV's long-ago "Green Acres". This is the Congress that we deserve perhaps, but one in which it must also be said that both parties increasingly morph into each other until it's virtually impossible to tell them apart, in their anxious efforts to pander to voters...
7
They aren't pandering to voters. No. They are beholden to their corporate and wealthy/elite donor over-lords. If they were pandering to voters we would be a Democratic Socialist state. Every poll shows we are a VERY. progressive country, ready to head in that direction, but an elite, white, male, wealthy, backwards, conservative, powerful, few holds us back. Bernie knows what we need, what we want, what we DESERVE as human beings. WE have to DEMAND it.
1
McConnell clearly believes that the end justifies the means, regardless of the cost. His focus on the political process rather than policy has helped cause much of the polarization that exists in our country today. His refusal to sign on to the letter about Russian interference in the election will affect this country for generations. History will not be kind.
58
It seems to me that history is currently being written without the tedious chore of using facts. This trend may continue ......
1
What McConnell gave is Trump and the Trump Party. religious rpublicans and even not so conservative moderates voted for was the Supreme court seat held open by McConnell. It looks like Republicans fight a strategic war while the Democrats figh for tactical battles like Gay Rights, open border immigration and world affairs. If we don't understand, Trump will have four mor appointments - Ruth Ginsburg is older than Mr. Kennedy and that sat may become open. All we will have is a prayer that the The bbconservative Roberts may became a somewhat moderate judge. Note that Bill and Hillary's 1993 Health CAre reform effort gave us Gingrich and Obama's health care effort gave us McConnell/Ryan. Universal Healthcare is a strong moral issue but a large mojority of people don't feel the pain for not havig it. When I was young, working for AT&T, for us highly educated technical professionals, we had physical exam once every two to five years. And I and my family did not have much medial expense, less than with AT&T had offered. So young people did not want to pay for health insurance on their own because they knew that they can always get emergency care and will not die. So find strategic ssues, not human morals issues. Win the war and then results wil accrue. The battle for the 2018 vote should be the next Supreme Court nomination.
14
With Mr. McConnell, I often wonder whether, deep in his heart, he believes that what he's done is best for the country, or even merely for his electing constituents, or whether he has the clarity of conscience and separation of ego to accept that his actions are driven by craven, petty self-interest.
36
I think McConnell is the worst of all possible leaders. He fools the undereducated electorate he has into thinking he is helping them while all thew while he is the wolf watching the hen house. Sadly he dragged those awful Koch brothers in at the last minute and beat Alison Grimes who would have been such a great senator. He will get his due appearance sooner or later. He has been on the dole for 30 years and his wife quite a few. She is another one that should not be in politics . I pray he is never elected again.
1
Petty self-interest.
After all he has done in the past decade, If you think McConnell has anything resembling a conscience, I have a bridge to sell you.
33 years in the US Senate and Kentucky per capita income comes in at 46th out of 50. Why even one Kentuckian still equates enriching the already rich, undermining Social Security and Medicare and repealing affordable health insurance as good for Kentucky is an enduring mystery. A scamjob tragedy wrapped in senatorial decorum and tradition.
162
Thank you, Eric Carey, for sharing this enlightening information. It galls me to no end to see how many working-class and middle-class Americans get conned by the Republican party into voting against their economic self-interest, who take advantage of racism and other bigotry (against gays and immigrants).
1
Thanks for putting the same thing I meant in better prose!
You and I are so right, don't those people ever get it??
1
The answer: religion (Jesus), abortion, guns. Nothing else matters to the deplorables, not even their own collective wallet.
1
Both sides have cashed in on the unrestricted flow of money into the election process. Donald Trump succeeded mostly because he verbalized the concerns of the middle class who were seeing their lives and communities destroyed by globalization, and their requests for help ignored by both Democratic and Republican mainstream politicians
12
yeah, he sure verbalized it. Too bad he didn't really give one flip though, and is destroying the country in the mean time. Also, democrats have tried hard to put a stop to the cash flow in campaigns. the republicans have fought it at every turn. Likely because they'd rarely win if it was an even fight.
Thank you for this article. I have never been a fan of this politician, but now I have a greater understanding of his “stealy” nature. He enjoys many privileges because of his work in destroying our democracy. He betrays the values of our constitution. Why do Kentucky voters keep him as their Senator? I will think twice before I visit the state of Kentucky again.
41
McConnell is and has been for a very long time, a professional politician. He loves the power he can manipulate and is a far cry from the Lincoln Republican civil servant.
So perhaps it is wise to focus on the word "power" and who now has a chance to gain more of it. I would suggest that this rise to power lies in the hands of a few moderate Republicans courageous enough to call our their leadership, particular in the Senate. Murkousky and Collins come to mind. Where these two to form an alliance that stood as no votes until the the next Senate is seated, regardless of who the nominee to the Supreme Court would be, they will create for themselves super powers that McConnell currently lusts.
In fact, they could together eradicate the power of Trump and McConnell should they both vote NO on any nominee, pushing out any real Advise and Consent until the next Congress is seated. That would be a legacy neither of these two Senators ever could have envisioned wielding.
And I for one believe that the country will hail them heroes of historic proportions.
46
McConnell belongs in jail for hijacking the Supreme Court and for his organized sedition against President Barack Obama, a functioning Congress and the will of the American people.
A tiny, tiny, tiny little man, just like the reprehensibly greedy, selfish, power-hungry Birther-Liar-In-Chief.
"A nation-destroyer" is what his gravestone should read.
215
Then, surely, Harry Reid should be in jail right beside him. Maybe Obama too for allowing the democrats to face such humiliating defeats across the political spectrum. Responsibility stinks. Much easer to lash out at opponents.
Excellent
He should be in jail, but Karma will catch up with him. Ugly on the outside and the inside.
His partner in crime Speaker Ryan is equally as bad and I despise both of them.
2
He IS quite small. Was quite surprised at the photo of House & Senate leaders & Cabinet at Camp David with chinless diminutive McConnell in his old man jeans.
Dominating the news cycle is Justice Kennedy's replacement. It should be Mitch McConnell's impeachment, for violating the Constitution to secure the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Bench.
Article II, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution provides,
“[The President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint…Judges of the Supreme Court.”
Under the Constitution, the President has the power to select SCOTUS nominees AND the Senate has the duty to advise the President about his nominees and the power to approve or disapprove, i.e, consent to or not consent to, the President's nominees. The Senate does not have the authority to ignore the President's nominations and it does not have the authority to shutdown the process.
Mitch McConnell's refusal to hold hearings on President Obama's nominee for Supreme Court Justice, Judge Merrick Garland, violated the plain meaning of Article II, Section 2 of our Constitution. His actions converted the constitutional duty of the Senate to "advise and consent" into an extra-constitutional power to withhold its performance of its duty completely. In the process he, in effect, nullified the Senate's duty to "advise and consent" and stripped the President of his constitutional power to meaningfully "appoint" "judges of the Supreme Court," in flagrant violation of the wording of Article II, Section 2. In doing so, Mitch violated his Oath of Office and has never been held to account.
246
Obama is a constitutional lawyer. I will never understand why he did not insist on this.
67
Or we need to amend the Constitution that the Senate has 90 days (180 for a lifetime appointment) to reject a Presidential nomination, or is it considered approved. I don't think the founding fathers ever thought that someone as unethical as Mitch McConnell would ever be the leader of the U.S. Senate.
20
You can't impeach Senators. The voters of Kentucky have to come to their senses and throw out both Mitch and that other goon, Rand Paul.
11
I find I enjoy some prescience in regards to NY Times editorials. It's not the first time I find a similar thought expanded beyond the 1500 characters and brief time granted us in a comment later in a column. To wit:
Marie
Boston - June 27
RE: "McConnell Says Senate Will Move Swiftly on a Replacement"
Of course he will. This time.
Through his action and inaction McConnell has likely caused and will cause more damage to this country than Trump has.
There could be no Trump without McConnell.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/us/politics/anthony-kennedy-retire-su...
I am happy to find I am not alone in my conclusions of McConnell impact on this country.
50
It's a real shame McConnell's current term isn't ending this election cycle. Even in Kentucky he would find it necessary to dedicate more time than is usual for him in campaigning, and thus keep him away from Washington and reduce his opportunities for mischief.
As the architect of the "Party of 'NO!'", Mitch IS the face and soul of the regressive political discourse that has given all Washington legislators favorability ratings in the teens.
28
History will not be kind to Mr. McConnell. After the next Civil War, rogue Republican apologists will erect statues of the senator in an attempt to justify the party's efforts to appropriate the government by strategic rather than democratic means, claiming loyalty is a higher virtue than morality. But the relics of Republicanism will, in time, lose their credibility as the population in America becomes more diverse, and the inclusive children of our generation take over. Narrowing the gap between rich and poor, regulating fire arms, and stemming global warming will be the important issues of the day--essential for survival. Republicanism will be viewed in retrospect as a case of mass hysteria. Then people from both parties--Democrats and Whigs--will pull down the statues of Mr. McConnell, and history texts will refer to him briefly as "a stubborn senator who helped instigate the war." Democracy will have withstood another assault and resumed its plod toward its ineluctable destiny.
25
I clicked on "Recommended." I wish I could click on it 100 more times, at least. I hope our nation does not resort to another civil war, but I share your views.
And I also strongly support your right to express your views. We must not neglect the battle for free speech and free press, a battle that Republicans have been waging for way too long.
1
I wish I had your optimism.
1
In the long run, history will not be kind to Mitch McConnell. But in the long run, we shall all be dead and we won't care. Mitch McConnell likely will outlive me. He is presiding over the creation of a legacy of oligarchy and the end of our Republic. My contempt for Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Donald Trump and John Roberts won't matter to my grandchildren. They will reach voting age during Trump's administration and live under the Republican oligarchy.
1
Fate. End of story. To credit these self-serving men with anything more is preposterous. This is how it worked out for them...it certainly was not a well thought out grand strategy. It was just another lifetime of constant campaigning. Nobody will remember Mcconnell for anything in about 10--25 years.
20
The shocking thing to me is that anyone would like the kind of world that is being built through these actions. By neglecting the existential issues of our time, climate change and the avoidance of nuclear war, McConnell and his friends leave the US and the world in a precarious position, with the worst effects likely to appear within a few decades. We need wisdom in our leaders, but we get this petty jockeying for personal advantage. It is possible that with the power of media and marketing we will never be able to rise above this again.
49
I do not like what Senator McConnell stands for, although that matters little at the moment. He is hardly the first of his ilk--he is a modern example of the philosophy of dirty hands: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dirty-hands/ . From the introduction to that essay in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
"Should political leaders violate the deepest constraints of morality in order to achieve great goods or avoid disasters for their communities? This question poses what has become known amongst philosophers as the problem of dirty hands. There are many different strands to the philosophical debate about this topic, and they echo many of the complexities in more popular thinking about politics and morality. All, however, involve the idea that correct political action must sometimes conflict with profound moral norms. ..."
McConnell and other like him represent a variant of the ends justify the means. They reflect Machiavellian strains. It appears enough of our citizens agree to have given us the current guy in the White House.
During the Warren and Burger courts, Republicans could win little. Over decades they organized on a political grass-roots level--something modern Democrats had ignored (and are paying for). This will not shift easily. It will take years of groundwork to shift the current court balance. Democrats are going to have to rely on state legislatures more than the federal courts and congress--even if they could win both houses.
57
This is such a great comment! Working toward an end, with the means properly aligned, is equal to building a house on a foundation vs. dune of sand.
7
I am not a great fan of Senator McConnell - particularly his role in preventing President Obama from choosing the replacement for Justice Scalia. It is only fair, however, to point out that it was Senator Harry Reid who, while Senate Majority Leader, made it possible for a Supreme Court Justice to be confirmed by one vote. Justices will die and retire in their own time and Presidents will choose per their ideaology, but the senate is supposed to be the counterbalance and thanks to Mr Reid that balance is limited....
14
Reid eliminated the filibuster for judicial appointments because McConnell and the GOP were blocking Obama appointments to the federal bench.
Appointments to the Supreme Court were not part of the "nuclear option" - they were still subject to a 60 vote threshold - until Mitch McConnell changed the rules to pass Neil Gorsuch 54-45.
McConnell broke the Senate, hopefully the shrine in Kentucky will eventually offer an apology for the damage he has done to the Constitution and the nation.
But don't worry abou Mitch, somehow after a lifetime of being a mere "public servant" he has amassed many millions of dollars. As he said in 1977 "I will always be well financed....."
52
Actually, Republicans would have changed the rule when it suited the anyway.
1
Like the Flip Wilson character, Geraldine Jones, who famously said, "The devil made me do it!", progressives keep blaming everyone other than the person who set the precedent.
It is very sad for our country that Mitch McConnell is in the Senate. He has helped his wealthy supporters and no one else. His legacy will be obstruction.
84
Hypocrisy, thy name is Mitch McConnell.
Modern Republicans in office have to have a yuge talent: telling lies with a straight face.
Too bad for the rest of us.
82
This is hardly a new tactics for Republicans: Henry Cabot Lodge!!!
Mitch McConnell is not the first Senate Majority Leader to play these political games, but he is arguably the most effective. Harry Reid was of a similar bent, but he could simply not play the game at this level. Chuck Schumer? Forget about it, Schumer is not only not in the same league as Mitch McConnell, he is not even on the same planet.
10
"the Republican Party, as more business-oriented than the Democrats, would need to maintain the flow of large contributions to be able to win elections"
This works when you have a distracted public that allows itself to be divided and conquered by the efforts of right wing plutocrats like the Koch bros and Murdoch. Money doesn't only influence politicians- it also buys media driven propaganda.
The question is, how far can these forces push this country to the right before the broad American electorate wakes up to what this strategy is about?
The Republicans have proven that all that matters is power to them, so it is up to Democrats and independents to bring America back to some version of true democracy.
I am waiting for Democrat politicians to bring campaign finance reform to the forefront of our platform. If Mr. McConnel is so against it we should be all-in for it.
56
We don't have ourselves to blame for McConnell, we have the people of Kentucky to blame for him. Thanks guys. The rest of us would really have appreciated it if you had just not reelected him so long ago. You could have elected him governor and then you would have been the only ones to suffer under him.
149
Not all Kentuckians are fans of Mitch but McConnell figured out long before Trump that he could convince people to vote against their own interests. And he has built up a war chest over the years that has helped him solidify his power. Money may not equal speech but it sure means power. In the meantime, Kentucky remains on the wrong end of national rankings for education, income, addiction,etc. The state Democratic Party has done a poor job of developing candidates to take on Mitch and the other GOP office-holders although Alison Grimes made a valiant effort against Mitch in 2014. With the state party under new leadership and an outstanding candidate, Amy McGrath, taking on the incumbent in the 6th district, we hope to turn part of the Bluegrass state back to blue.
10
I agree and I'm from Kentucky. I 've never voted for him but I am truly and sincerely sorry for us all.
1
Donald Trump, in losing the popular vote for President by 3 million, continued the tradition of George W. Bush in the election of 2000. What with systematic gerrymandering, it is said that the GOP rules both houses of Congress although drawing fewer congressional votes. Now McClelland's smug behavior underscores the theft of a Supreme Court nomination President Obama was entitled to make in 2015. This is the great accomplishment of McConnell: he has defeated democracy, and carries on largely in secret, with the text of bills not revealed in advance of the vote, zero cooperation with the Democrats, and much gloating and smirking, with Patriotic reverence to flags, anthems and wars, but never to the principles and methods of Democracy, "of, by, and for the people."
86
There are constitutional remedies for our SCOTUS problem. If Democrats can take control of the House and the Senate, they can stipulate that any legislation they pass may not be reviewed by the SCOTUS. If Democrats can win the WH in 2020 they can increase the number of justices on the court.
13
If Democrats increased the number of Supreme Court Justices what would prevent Republicans from doing the same in the future? It could become a never ending action.
5
Nope. In Marbury v. Madison (1803), SCOTUS established the principle of judicial review and asserted its authority to rule on the constitutionality of all legislation passed by Congress.
10
Marbury v. Madison.
1
A person without a moral compass can achieve much in politics. In history he will be known for stealing a SCOTUS seat.
But the stealing of the presidency in 2000 was the theft that is most important that changed history.
It is true that McConnell and the Republican party answer the call of money above country..
181
It's ironic that when historians look back on the collapse of the American empire and the rise of China to world supremacy, they won't even remember Mitch. Trump will get all of the credit. But Mitch did all of the work.
209
Every management system I can think of, whether corporate, banking or governing, rewards the talents of an infighter who knows the doors of power. Decency and consideration for the well-being of their larger enterprise is not usually a strong point. Pride that goeth before the fall is their lot.
24
Remember when there were statesmen? Statespeople I guess. Those who met each decision with the question: What is best for the people of this country?
There was a time when the job of a Senator was to stiudy issues and vote for the interests of America as they understood the issues. Sometimes we knew of Senators and weren't even aware of their party affiliation.
Enemies can unite a people. I like it when the enemies of America are oppression of people everywhere, dictatorships, human rights violations. Now, our enemies are the other party, the other tribe. This is a hopeless situation. We lost America. Thanks, Mitch.
118
Normally, you'd be right - 'enemies unite'. The problem is, there are now 3-4 propaganda channels on my cable plan that repeat all of the administration's lies 24x7. In effect, there's a good part of the electorate that thinks the sky is green. There will be no unity for as long as there is unchecked misinformation.
30
"There was a time when the job of a Senator was to stiudy issues and vote for the interests of America as they understood the issues. Sometimes we knew of Senators and weren't even aware of their party affiliation."
~~~~~~~~
When was this period you refer to?
I consider myself something of a history buff, yet I have no knowledge of any such period in the history of our country.
In fact, I recall reading of a duel to the death between at least 2 of our country's Founders.
And then there is the case of one southern lawmaker physically attacking a Massachusetts Senator with a cane on the floor of the US Senate. Then there are the legacies of Joseph McCarthy, Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond.
Is it possible that our nostalgia for this idyllic past is a bit misguided?
There are countless examples in history to counter your notion that we were a nation of statespeople: Nixon, McCarthy, Jesse Helms, George Wallace, ad nauseum. Is it possible that the real issue here is the fantasies on the part of both the left and the right of some formerly great American imaginary?
When the political history of this era is written for my grandchildren, Mitch McConnell should be held up, along with Richard Nixon, Lee Atwater and others as the creators and propagators of cynicism in the electorate leading to a decline in democracy.
It will be a bitter tale.
258
And the amazing thing is that McConnell doesn't even get that he'll be among History's Bums.
3
McConnell will be remembered right next to Benedict Arnold. Who I understand might get a pardon from t rump.
2
What this article tells me is that Mitch is as big a traitor as Trump, with one big difference: McConnell speaks with a calculating drawl (changed if his audience has a prejudice against the south) and Trump speaks with a whiny NY accent.
Of course they both lie in pursuit of power--no matter how many get hurt along the way.
321
You calling anyone a traitor is a joke. You no doubt supported Hillary, which gave us Trump. Neoliberal catcalls of traitor are so tired and worthless.
1
Interesting how so many on the Left are so fond of throwing around terms like ‘traitor’ and ‘treason’ these days (not to mention ‘Nazi’).
It reeks of totalitarianism, poisons the debate, and is tantamount to a call to violence. After all, Nazis and traitors must be destroyed.
Just knock it off, please.
It is long past time to boycott all things from Kentucky. Senator McConnell needs to face more pressure for the undemocratic things that he has supported over and over again.
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What do they have that most people want? I can't think of anything aside from whiskey, and personally, I can't stand whiskey, so no problem boycotting KY made products, lol.
Excellent idea. Sanctions against Kentucky. Am on board.
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Agree! I will only spend enough money in any red state to get out of it.
There is a very good bourbon made in Colorado so I don't need anything from Kentucky or Tennessee.
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I sometimes wish there was a hell as it would have a special place for Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump. Between the two of them they have derailed the steady progress since WWII towards a more civil and tolerant society, a country that cares for the less fortunate rather than the wealthiest. The Republican takeover of Congress in 2010 followed by the election of Trump in 2016 will be remembered as one of the sorriest episodes in US history. The repercussions will be as profound as 9/11/2001 was. Unless the House changes hands next November the only bulwark against Presidential abuse will be a free press. One can only hope it will continue to thrive in spite of Trump's efforts to delegitimize it.
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You think the free press is thriving? Better think again!
Paul Ryan equally guilty, a very evil man.
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I would also put Paul Ryan in that special place in hell.
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He might be an example of deft Realpolitik that will be studied forever, but this new world was enabled by the nomination of Tracy Flick.
Hillary should simply not have run.
Trump was eminently beatable, and putting up a singularly divisive and disliked candidate, even as polls showed historically low favorable ratings, was possibly the worst in a long line of mistakes by Democrats, who seem to have a knack for not taking their own side in a fight.
The country pays an enormous price for that failure.
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"Mitch McConnell ... is the figure who was quietly making it all possible, all along.
First, there was Mr. McConnell’s vigorous defense, going back to the early 1990s, of the role of big money in American politics, which would help Mr. Trump not so much in terms of funding his campaign, but in helping shape the conditions for his appeal."
So let's get this straight. The "first" way that McConnell "quietly" helped Trump "all along" was by so egregiously promoting the role of money in American politics that he managed to turn the whole country against the Washington establishment (including himself) "creating a ripe target ... for a billionaire populist running against “the swamp.”"
Yeah. And if that was McConnell's plan "all along", they should add a new wing to the University of Louisville library, dedicated to the greatest practitioner of reverse psychology in world history.
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I have wondered all these years why Kentuckian's kept electing him. I suppose it was the rich Kentuckian's for their own selfish benefits. Apparently, the Democrats became apathetic, capitulated to the Great McConnell and gave up the fight long ago. It took quite too long for it to sink in to less fortunate Kentuckian's. that the ACA was Obama Care and in their best interest. McConnell is a deft politician. He is sly, soft spoken, shrewd. Just the type of character to effect considerable damage to the USA. And he certainly has. His arrogance will be his demise, but unfortunately the damage that has been done to the Country will be considerable. In league with Trump, there's no telling how low they can go. If what we have seen so far is an indication, it's fearful what's coming. They are both drunk on power. When I think of the kind of man Barak Obama is and all the good he tried to do for so many, it is very saddenig how he was obstructed and blocked from so many goals. He did a lot of good with the Democrats,, but there could have been much more! McConnell was the leader in that obstruction. And the rest of the no conscience Republicans followed meekly along. The disrespect and vicious lies told about B. Obama will not be forgotten by the good people of this Country and his reputation will not be tarnished. We have some great historians keeping the facts straight about who he was for posterity. Mitch McConnell has a day coming to face Jesus Christ the King. Real Justice!
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To quote Mr. Obama "we won" The Romans said it the same thing a bir differently 2,000 years ago..."To the victors belong the spoils". Get over it. Trump won the election, Hilary lost. The rest is history. Somehow I think if Hilary had won and the Democrats ran the Senate you wouldn't be the least concerned.
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That's the problem. It's not about victory, it's about governing, something the GOP has decided to ignore.
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I'm sure the whole world would be far less concerned if Hillary had won and the Democrats controlled the Senate.
What do you imagine Hillary might have done to generate a comparable amount of concern?
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Trump won the Electoral College, not the majority of voting citizens. You don’t see anything wrong with that? Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot and it was Hillary in the White House. You and your Republican friends would be apoplectic.
The fact is, our system is in dire need of repair, especially the need to ensure one person - one vote, majority rules. Failing to implement such change imperils our country’s future.
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Regardless of your politics, you have to admit that he has been remarkably effective in achieving his objectives. Otherwise, why so much harping about one man?
Democrats, there is something to be learned here, not the rabble rousing tactics ( he is boring if anything), not the in your face politics (a la Maxine Waters), but the quiet persistence in pushing an agenda with steady hands on the levers of power. Passion fades, perseverance endures.
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One would hope the goals and moral choices of a politician are the important qualities not what power they achieve.
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It is difficult to admire talent when it is in service to the most destructive and indecent impulses in political history. Under his stewardship, the GOP is killing the real source of the golden eggs they feast on. Billions cannot buy back reputation. I’m watching America die in real time so Mitch can “win”.
But I take your point. Less drama, more steel and stealth.
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Ends are more important than means? Machiavellianism is not a virtue nor is it celebrated - I see history judging him harshly if not for anything else but for enabling Trump who has hurt the country and lined his and his families pockets by using the office and not serving the country.
Legacy -- not a favorable one indeed. He got his wife a job and both are making money - nepotism may be the legacy
Indeed, MConnell's legacy will be known as the person who put Trump in power and supported his antidemocratic policies. Most sadly, McConnell, as much as Trump, has been responsible for dividing Americans to a level not seen since the Civil War.
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Don't give McConnell all the credit. The entire GOP is moving the US toward a theocratic, NRA-sanctioned combat zone, where conservative donors and corporations write the laws that we'll be living with for the next two decades. Call our current country what is is. Dystopian.
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CITIZENS UNITED killed fair elections.
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I have no doubt that Mr. McConnell hates Trump like poison - the fact that the author could write a whole book about him and not understand that basic fact is somewhat sad.
But Mr. McConnell understands how our democratic system works - you know the whole anchor-weight of the constitution and such. Guess what - he who wins the electoral college gets to be president - and it was not Mr. McConnell's votes that did it.
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I can never understand the lack of accountability. Blame always seems to go to the President, whoever it may be at the time, but when are the senators and representatives held accountability in states such as McConnell? When is held to take responsibilities for opiodids, poor state public education, lack of job training for jobs of the future, better family planning, etc. etc. All of these Republican states suffer from more poverty, less educated, less forward thinking career opportunities and little they do in Washington actually benefits their states. That's great you'll give Trump another Court Justice but McConnells teachers will still be underpaid, opiodids will continue unabated, unwed mothers will increase and lack of job opportunity beacuse of poor education/training for white males continues. Blue states should just stop funding red states and maybe then McConnells constituents will vote the bum out.
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If you can't win on merit, change the rules.
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Democrats, look in the mirror. You are looking at the problem. It's not GOP calculation, it's Dem miscalculation. In moving further to left, as appears to be the case, the center will be lost too.
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American politics, as any political scientist will tell you, has actually moved to the right of center since the 1950s. The creative thing is, powerful people have been creating the narrative of “lefty democrats” to cash in on fear.
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Oh give me a break. Any Democrat moves to the ‘left’ would only, in effect, rebalance the nation - after its 30 year long severe & dangerous listing to the starboard side. Thanks to this new breed of ‘party, power, & profit first’ Republicans, there’s not enough characters in a NYT’s comment to enumerate the damage that’s been done to the institutions that made America unique among free nations.
Anyone that has been keeping track of the contemporary history of our nation can chart the ‘full speed ahead’ path the Republican Party has taken to turn the country away from the successful formula our founders had crafted to protect the nation from tyranny. Fast forward approximately 250 years to the recent horror show at the border & by golly, we have so much to be proud of: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-most-damning-element-of-this...
No, it was propaganda and religious minded zealots who have joined the cult of trump.
The Democratic mistake was to assume that the liberal ideas described in the Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution were indeed self evident.
Zombies don't reason.
Oh, by the way, no one is coming for your guns.
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The decision not to reveal Russian interference in the 2016 was made by Obama, not McConnell. Sure, McConnell threatened to make it a partisan issue, but the president didn't have to give in to the threat. In a democracy you tell the public everything unless there's some overriding reason not to do so. In this case there was none. 'OK, McConnell, you tell your story and we'll tell ours,' was all Obama had to say. Let the people decide. I'm tired of cowardice by today's Democratic leaders. FDR, HST, and JFK would never have backed down to a vicious political hack like McConnell.
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I wouldn't assume that the Washington Post article the author cites for this contention is in any way accurate. The second paragraph of the article has subsequently been proven to be completely fabricated:
"Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances."
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Proven by whom?
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No, the article is correct. No one is claiming those individuals were American citizens, but the U.S. and western intelligence community is unanimous in its conclusion that Putin-sponsored foreign operatives hacked both the DNC and RNC, then gave the stolen DNC data to Wikileaks. I c
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If the final outcome of the dalliances with politics and the subtle erosion of democracy by McConnell turns out to be massive civil unrest and massive chaos in America, what will his heritage be then? He is the ultimate power behind the "Borgias of America" the Trumps and their look alikes, which is not a very wonderful endorsement for this slippery skinned politico.
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This is the world that voter apathy allowed Mitch McConnell to give us. Right now every nominated Democratic candidate should have a 100% approval rating among Democratic voters and every eligible voter who cares about our nation's future must get to the polls in November. No excuses. Mid-term apathy must be a thing of the past this November and every November and whoever Democrats nominate to run in 2020 must have our unqualified and unlimited support. Nothing short of this will save our democracy.
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I didn't think it was possible to mention the abolishment of filibusters for judicial appointments without crediting Harry Reid, but Mr. MacGillis has done just that.
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Harry Reid and the Democrats kept the 60 vote to end filibusters for Supreme Court nominees. It was McConnell and the Republicans who did away with that tradition with the Gorsuch nomination. So, yes, no need to mention Harry Reid.
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Reid ended the filibuster of lower court judges after years of Republicans refusal to allow votes. McConnell ended the filibuster of Supreme Court Justices after week, before the Democrats even attempted a filibuster. The two cannot even be compared.
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Not to mention the fact that McConnell publicly announced a policy of deliberate obstruction on EVERY Obama administration policy and appointment. No need to rationally and reasonably consider them. Just obstruct them all, even if it means judgeships sit empty and the infrastructure of the country grinds away. Whatta guy! His party will pay the price once the feckless Democratic Party apparatus is dismantled and replaced with something more youthful.
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wonderful article,amazing distressing history.Thank you,Alec
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Mitch McConnell is one man. A very shrewd and driven man, but powerless without the cooperation and support of many others. You know much more about him than I will ever want to read or know, but I know that one man can fall, if we have the will to topple him.
We need to elect leaders with passion and drive.
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No, we need a revolution. A literal revolution.
Tell that to the KY voters who keep drinking the poisoned GOP Kool-Aid and allow him to keep rampaging around DC, destroying our democracy to sell it to the highest bidders.
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It is hard to imagine anyone more cynical that McConnell.
He pays lip service to protecting the interests of his constituents in Kentucky while failing to bring them any tangible improvements to their lives. In the meantime, the only benefits he delivers are to already rich individuals e.g. Donald Trump and corporations who, apparently, need to be protected from their customers and employees.
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He did recently get HEMP declared a legitimate farm crop.
Then why do his constituents send him to DC every six years? He’ll be there until he’s six feet under.
But Kentucky keeps electing him! Why?
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Mitch McConnell does not believe in democracy. Democracy depends upon compromise and without it we get either oligarchy or anarchy. We still do not know which of these two outcomes will be McConnell's lasting impact on America, but we can be certain that neither outcome will be good.
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Can oligarchy and anarchy coexist? I’d say yes, and reluctantly sense their approach.
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Or perhaps civil war. And while us plain folk duke it out all the republican politicians well go and hide. Trump, McConnell, Nunes, Miller etc. There are those that love creating chaos but are never around for the real fight.
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We already have oligarchy. Anarchy happens after the people kill and eat the oligarchs.
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There will come a day when the GOP isn't in power and they will rue the McConnell rule when it comes to the supreme court. Without the filibuster the minority won't have a voice if they disagree with the majority. We will see more liberal and more conservative picks because neither side will have to appeal to the other. I expect to hear cries of how unfair it is for the minority not to have a voice from both sides.
In the long run it will be healthier for our country. Nothing gets done with constant gridlock. The filibuster has been long abused and needs to be sent to the dustbin of history. Majority rules and if you don't like it, win elections.
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Hopefully the Supreme Court will lean right for many years as it had leaned left for many years. It is now the conservatives time to vote on the important issues and win in court. President Trump has already chosen one conservative Justice (Neal Gorsuch) and is about to select a second conservative. He may even get lucky and be able to name a third if one of the liberals (guess who that might be) retires.
The Supreme Court will most likely remain in conservative hands for a very long time with two Supreme Court picks being guaranteed and with a third it is a definite. The times they are a changing. It is wonderful to see this switch over from liberal to conservative. We owe President Trump and his supporters for making this possible. He kept his word that he would accomplish this and it is such a relief. For once we have a president who not only promises change but actually delivers. He is making America great again.
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The Gorsuch seat was stolen. No good will come of that in the end. You are short-sighted in this. A radical minority cannot rule indefinitely over a moderate majority. Oh, yeah, and where is that wall Mexico is paying for? Or that great health plan he promised? He's always stiffed anyone who trusted him. Now it's your turn.
May I ask for who.
“I will always be well financed, and I’ll be well financed early.”
That sums up his commitments.
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"But Mr. McConnell, prioritizing elections over policy, calculated that by blocking or delaying Democratic legislation, above all through aggressive use of the filibuster, Republicans would create a tedious gridlock that voters would blame the Democrats for. After all, weren’t they the ones in power?"
Democrats did not lose midterms in 2010 because they did not accomplish, in fact the opposite. Obamacare was unpopular when it was passed, and there has been a general consensus that the 2010 elections were a mandate to stop Obama and democrats from passing more progressive legislation. Republicans never paid the price for the gridlock because that is what the majority of the country wanted then. The blame for the current situation lies not with Mitch McConnell, who has done a fabulous job for his party, but with the Democratic leadership that has not been able to find a policy that resonates with the majority, and rally the democratic base to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Put simply, democrats have done a lousy job at winning elections, which is the the only measure of success that counts in politics.
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That is an exceedingly cynical definition of political success. I would argue that success in politics is successful policy and legislative platforms, which in turn garner political support and, yes, win elections. Success in politics should be measured by the efficacy of policy - educational attainment, per-capita incomes, life expectancy. Happiness.
How are Mitch's constituents doing by those measures?
Your view of politics seems as cynical as McConnell's, and portends an America that will moulder and die as the middle class erodes and vulnerable populations are further marginalized by scare politics that distract miseducated rank-and-file republicans who routinely vote against their own self-interest.
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What about gerrymandering and voter suppression laws created by the repubs? That's mainly why Democrats lost.
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Yes, it is hard to sell decent education and healthcare to people who do not have it. They would prefer to align with politicians who give huge tax cuts to millionaires, after all their cult leader tells them this will help them and that education is over rated but, they should not worry those big tax cuts to corporations will soon trickle down to them... They believe it, they have no ability to problem solve and look around and see it is not true.
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Mitch McConnell was duly elected, as were the majority of senators that supports him. This is the America Americans want. They have voted for the GOP the last 7 years, both in the House and in the Senate. Trump's America is America's America based on the voting.
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Trump list the popular vote by 3 million and would have lost the electoral college but for GOP gerrymandering.
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They have not been elected by a majority at all. Look at the gerrymandering and voter restriction going on. It's a wonder anyone votes at all when the outcome has been predetermined by election shenanigans. With the Electoral College taking the place of direct democracy the US has the most unfair "democratic" system in the world. As someone once said, if voting ever changed anything, it would be against the law.
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Katherine, there is no gerrymandering in the electoral college. It favors small states, both right leaning like Wyoming and left like Delaware. And every state is winner take all. An honest debate can be hard on those issues but gerrymandering has no affect on presidential or senate elections. Only house races are subject to partisan creation of districts.
By swinging the SCOTUS far rightward, protecting state state statutes that legalize gerrymandering and voter restriction, further weakening (maybe overturning) Roe.v.Wade, axing social programs like Social Security and Medicare, rolling back environmental legislation and financial regulation, increasing inequality through further regressive taxation, etc., etc., the Republicans will get their wish list filled. But at whose expense? The majority of the American populace who don't support any of it. A day will come when they rue their choices. This country is ripe for a new populist movement, and the R's don't care.
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or more likely, due to over two decades of the Faux "News" propaganda brainwashing of the incurious and uninformed average GOP or GOP leaning voter, a civil war will break out. It's not like any country in recorded history has only ever had one civil war.
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Except the whole point of this is to push that populist movement back as far as they can, and to make it harder for the majority of Americans to have their voices heard and respected in what is increasingly a minority-centric process.
Yes, these old white geezers will be gone eventually, and yes, what they do can always be undone. But they see the rising tide - a more liberal, more diverse population coming down the line - and they are doing everything they can to make it harder for that tide to hit.
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Sorry Stephen....but this is not 1776 and the US Army will not allow a violent revolution....and that is the only act that stop what is coming to America....the dissolution of our FORMER civil society.
_______________________________________________
60-years ago my Grandfather warned me that "there are a lot more of them than there are of you....and more being born every minute". Yes...of course he was speaking of the Deplorable Evangelical GOP.....but to him they were just "them".
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As a former Kentuckian myself, having followed Mitch McConnell's career for many years, I can say that he is one of the darkest figures in American politics. In the very early years he vocally denied the smoking-cancer- connection science, saying that his constituents were the tobacco farmers of Kentucky, when in fact it was the big money of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company that he was lusting after. He is a small man motivated by political jealousy and vengeance over his many years. He is well-known for keeping framed copies of the anti-McConnell political cartoons on the walls of his Washington office as motivation for his jealous vengeance. His vow at the very beginning of the Obama administration to not cooperate in any way with the elected president was perhaps the greatest act of political treason in recent times. And yes, his legacy will be not the election of Donald Trump, but the very toxic, if indirect, role he played in the creation of Trumpism itself.
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It was also political treason when McConnell told President Obama he would publicly excoriate him if Obama made a public statement about Russia's attempt to interfere in the election in the fall of 2016.
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Ironic that such nobodies rise to such heights of power.
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And one needs to add that his refusal to work with Mr Obama was only tenable because so many Americans could not accept the reality of an African-American president.
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Incredible. The end of the filibuster can be credited to Harry Reid, and nowhere is it mentioned in this article.
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So you think that McConnell wouldn't have ended the filibuster for Gorsich if Reid hadn't ended it for other presidential appointees?
Trump and the Republicans needed Gorsich as a victory for the base. I don't think there is anything McConnell would not have done to win the appointment.
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Denial runs deep through the progressive community. It's why reality keeps hitting them like a Mack truck.
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So since Harry Reid ended the use of the filibuster on some issues, Mitch McConnell has no choice but to end its use on the only remaining issue?
McConnell should pray that he's no longer in office when the Democratic Party resumes control of the Senate. The chickens will come home to roost, karma will have its way, and payback will be . . . well, let's just say it will be uncomfortable for Republicans.
Live by sneaky, underhanded, self-serving rules, die by those same rules.
3
More precisely, this is the world the Kochs gave us.
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Not wanting to make pubic foreign engagement in our elections is enough to taint McConnell forever with less than patriotic motives. That Obama accepted this threat to make exposure of a national threat as a partisan act is a sorrowful missed opportunity for courage. This is especially painful since McConnell never had Mr Obama's success in mind announcing as he did in 2008 that he'd make sure the Congress did nothing to help Mr Obama be successful.
I am in my 7th decade of life, and I've absolutely no hope that our institutions as they now are configured are working or can fix what ails us. My hope is in the young people and their campaign for school safety and safe water, the mothers' organizing for gun safety, the grass roots organizations providing legal help for captured immigrants, and the young candidates running (and winning) against entrenched interests in the Democratic party. It is these youthful people's future that is at risk, and I wish them good courage.
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I am in my eighth decade and echo your comment precisely!
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I’m 78, too, and couldn’t have said it better. It warmed my heart to see all those women demonstrating in DC yesterday. My son and friends will be doing so tomorrow in Atlanta. But, for the first time ever, I won’t be feeling celebratory on the Fourth. Kennedy’s resignation took away all my hope that this country can recover. It clinches the malignant clown’s ability to stay in power, thus avoiding prosecution for his multiple crimes, and locks in the right wing’s ability to quash the rights of women, voters, minorities, labor, and a free press. I wish that I could say that I’ll live to see America again.
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Dear Rosemary--As a senior citizen (I'm older than you by a few years) I honestly can't believe you could have one good thought about the Democrats. Barack Obama was the worst president for the elderly in American history. An average of 1% in Cost-of-Living Raises for those of us on Social Security? Bush 44 averaged 3% a year for eight years. Obamacare ruined the quality and cost of health care for everyone, but especially for seniors. Vote for anybody except the Democrats.
Two words: term limits.
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1, It's called voting
2, Senate/Congress will never bring this up for a vote
I agree 100% - part of the breakdown in our system has to do with senators and congressmen and women just holding on to power for the sake of power itself. Most no longer care about achieving anything for their constituents, only about getting reelected and making themselves rich and powerful.
WE NEED TERM LIMITS!
Two words: Harry Reid
When some American Thucydides in exile writes the history of the fall of the American Empire, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are not going to come out well. They are the enablers of the most corrupt, demagogic and evil administration in the history of the Republic. Trump makes Nixon seem patriotic by comparison. Paranoid and criminal though his Watergate conduct was. Nixon never played footsie with Russia, and his China policy was a coolly calculated exercise in geopolitics. Nixon didn't stiff his NATO allies, nor did he hate scientists and the environment. Trump is sui generis, and Mitch McConnell's refusal to recognize world class political evil will earn him a special place in history.
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Along with a place at the seventh circle of Dante’s Inferno
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Amen, Amen. And some will ask , as they should, "How did such people ever get into government or be re-elected?"
Make that a special place in hell.
If (and I almost wrote "when") American democracy slides into authoritarianism, Donald Trump will be the vehicle for this descent but Mitch McConnell will be its architect. Mr Trump is rightly hailed as a serial liar, however that trait pales in comparison to the hypocrisy of Mr McConnell. There is nothing he will not say or do in order to get his way. It is at once both astonishing and nauseating to watch as he argues today for that which he said was evil yesterday.
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USA will not survive another 20 years, a house divided cannot stand. It will be ugly and vicious, the terrorism scares have enabled surveillance unparalled to ensure no uprising against an increasing cruel and vicious (thoughtlessly as they pursue their own benefit) elite.
But then the same is happening around the world as the elite do their power grab conning the voters into thinking they are voting for their own interests,
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McConnell should have been impeached for holding out on a vote for Obama's nomination for the Supreme Court. I think often of the many times Trump has done things, or failed to do so, that would have had Pres. Obama in the dock in no time flat. McConnell and Ryan, to a somewhat lesser degree perhaps, are what evil looks like when appearing in the flesh. Someday, somehow I hope to see this corrupt administration pay for all the harm they are doing to this great nation of ours. Progressives and Independents need to vote in November. Failure to do so will bring us to a place we never thought would be our sad future.
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