McConnell once said "you must have confused with someone else. I don't do policy, I do politics."
McConnell made a Faustian bargain with a president for a few wins but history will judge them as the two most responsible for the decline of America as the shining city on a hill.
2
Here is an argument that Trump has not been "acquitted". In a criminal trial, if 11 jurors vote guilty and one votes not guilty the defendant is not acquitted. In an impeachment/removal trial, if 66 or less of the Senators votes not guilty the president is not acquitted. In both these cases the jury is hung.
In the criminal context the government has the right to retrial. Show me where the Constitution says the House managers cannot continue investigation and retry the president.
1
Fascinating, the man (McConnell) is a strategic genius. He so out maneuvered the Democrats they should hide their heads. Personally I feel that McConnell has done more damage to the Republic than Donald John Trump, and Mitch has enabled POTUS. SAD!
1
Anticipating the possible election of a Democratic president, no doubt Mr. McConnell has already ordered his staff to determine whether the House has to deliver articles in order for the Senate to conduct an impeachment trial.
Yes, he's "very good at what he does." But that's not especially praiseworthy, once you take into account what it is that he actually does.
1
McConnell had no grand strategy. No witnesses and vote.
1
Some might find the arm-twisting and threats that are part and parcel of party politics in the Senate fascinating. When the process results in legislation, it could also be for a good cause. But when the whole purpose is to produce strictly enforced abdication of personal responsibility in each and every Senator, when the cause is best described as jury tampering, the personal details and back story are just plain disgusting,
30
It's quite stunning that this one man controls the government in ways that only cement his power and do not benefit the country.
Just think: if 20 or so people had voted to convict, this cancer on the presidency would have excised and our country could begin its long recovery from the nightmare of a criminal in the White House.
3
The south shall rise again. And Mitch McConnell will be the modern Jeff Davis.
McConnell delivered by simply continuing to breathe. Did anyone think Republicans who supported Trump through every lie and traitorous action were ever going to turn on him? Puhlease
2
Possibly the most successful Russian agent in history. Folks in Kentucky will be cleaning profane graffiti off Mitch’s tomb for decades.
3
The ends justify the means. Diabolical.
What, I thought the brilliant politcal tactician and strategist was Nancy Pelosi?
3
"we can be smart or we can be stupid," eh, mitch? no, you could have been patriotic or you could have been partisan. you chose partisan and we all - republicans, democrats, and independents alike - will suffer for decades to come.
3
Such scheming to support and disregard obvious wrongdoing by Trump. It borders on treasonous. How did the Republican Party get so low?
2
Senator McConnell is a master of the process. Love him or hate him you have to give him kudos for being one of the best masters of the process in our lifetimes and maybe our country's history.
3
@Nature When a United States Senator's obligation to the United States Constitution and the American citizens, particularly during a Presidential Impeachment Trial, so blatantly conflicts with a partisan use of his/her "mastery of the process", a "mastery" resulting in depriving American citizenry from seeing and hearing from fist hand very relevant witnesses and further prevents American citizens from reviewing (likely incriminating) relevant documents during the "process" - an impeachment trial.., "kudos" is not really what that senator has earned from American citizens.., or from history.
6
@Nature
Give the devil his due? Sorry, but committing perjury is a crime and I don't have to give him kudos for breaking his oaths or for obstructing legislation or for refusing to do the job he is paid to do.
6
@Nature
The "process" McConnell subscribes to is obstruction, obfuscation, nationwide voter suppression and voter file purges to help rig the R vote, the courts, the Electoral College...and to enjoy the nationwide gerrymander that is the United States Senate.
McConnell is a 'master' of rigging the match and tyranny of the corrupt minority.
He certainly deserves the Presidential Medal of Corruption.
7
This was a fascinating article. Thanks to NYT for giving us the inside scoop on McConnell's machinations and power.
I think that McConnell out-extorted Trump.
After giving Trump the favor of an acquittal, what will McConnell ask in return?
Now that Trump no longer "owns" the Republican Senate since McConnell now clearly owns Trump, what must Trump do to show his unending gratitude?
1
This is the way politics has always been played. McConnell is probably the most effective majority leader in the history of the Senate.
The Democrats are just jealous they have no one like him. He will be reelected.
2
@Ian
If you consider "the most effective majority leader in the history of the Senate" to be the man who has prevented the Senate from doing it's job of legislation by withholding bills, refusing to advise and consent on a Supreme Court nomination, refusing to honor his oaths to the Constitution and to a fair and impartial trial thus committing perjury, then you may be right. I hold different standards than those.
5
I am amused by all the outrage here. Mitch McConnell is exercising political power and precisely the same way that Nancy Pelosi did when she gave the green light to proceed with the articles of impeachment.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
3
@David H Most people understand when a person confesses to a crime, they should be held accountable. Trump confessed to the crimes he committed and was impeached for. In fact, he bragged about his crimes to his adoring fan base of which you are a part. Madam Speaker did her job, Mitch McConnell protected a criminal. I suggest you commit a crime, go on TV and brag about it. Let's see if you will be allowed to remain unpunished. Just an exercise in logic if you can handle it.
Mitch McConnell has done more to destroy the U.S. Senate as an institution than any other person in U.S. history. He stole a Supreme Court seat, packed the Judiciary with right wing ideologues, many of which the American Bar Association has labeled as unqualified, and now he has fixed a trial so that the most morally deficient, corrupt and power-hungry President in U.S. history escaped removal for trying to bribe a foreign nation to involve itself in our 2020 elections. He has also exposed 52 of the 53 Republican U.S. Senators as being too weak to hold their Offices.
5
The true face of unfettered, and undeserved Power.
VOTE THEM ALL OUT.
1
Nothing is impossible. Al Capone beat the courts many times against charges of murder, prostitution, illegal gambling, extortion, money laundering, bootlegging, etc, etc. The Capone myth was sustained by his handling of the press (the fake news disseminators) and giving the appearance of being a serious business man. It was all very effective until one day it wasn’t. He was charged and convicted of tax evasion and was sentenced to 11(?) years in the “slammer”.
Not even Mitch McConnell will succeed when the charges against Trump are the commission(s) of illegal acts. Whether Mitch could be charged with aiding and abetting would be of interest
The silver lining is that Republican Senators were revealed to be as corrupt as Trump. Their refusal to even hear witnesses and to vote against removing a man from office who is an unrepentant repeat offender will haunt their campaigns for months and years, if not their consciences.
1
The best course is to let the voters decide who is president no some group of Congressmen who didn't like the outcome of the last election. Admittedly what Trump did was wrong, but he should have been censored for what he did, not removed from office.
Most of the people who complain about Trump never bothered to vote in the first place. If people are so upset with a Trump Presidency then let them show what they can do. The Democrats lone message is "Trump is bad!" But, they never offer concrete solutions of their own to help the public with jobs, the high cost of prescription drugs, the DACA's and rebuilding our infrastructure. The Democrats show an incredible unwillingness to compromise. If the Democrats want to win the White House then they need to be problem solvers not whiners and complainers.
At the end of the day this is a Democracy. If you want to get elected show us your best stuff. If people want change then let them work for it. In France if they raise the price of gasoline or the tuition at the local college they riot in the streets. Not in the USA. And, the politicians count on the American people's willingness to not get involved and to go along with the status quo.
1
@Louis
Trump won the electoral college by minimal votes, not by popular vote. That he lost. He won with help from a foreign country and is soliciting it again for this election. He won by gerrymandering and preventing people from voting. The vast majority of people I know who complain about Trump voted against him. You obviously have not been listening if you don't know that hundreds of bills have passed the House but the Republican Senate refuses to even debate them. Who exactly is refusing to compromise if the Republicans refuse to even talk about solutions? The Republicans have said, for nearly a decade, that they have a better plan than ACA but have NEVER presented one word regarding healthcare for a replacement. You haven't been listening to the multiple plans the Democratic candidates have been offering as solutions. You admit that what Trump did was wrong but refuse to acknowledge that it was indeed a crime. You might want to take a little time to examine whether you're willing to accept from a Democrat that which you so easily excuse from Trump.
2
McConnell was given a free pass to do what he did by the Times and other significant media outlets. How many people can get away being in a position to set up the rules for a trial when their spouse works for the accused?
1
An article in Politico profiles an academic who says that elections are all about turnout, not issues; winning is all about who is energized enough to go vote. In 2018, the people who were energized were Democrats who were horrified by the election of Trump. In 2020, Democrats are even more motivated to vote. After over three years of enduring Trump's corruption and ignorance (Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called him "dumb as a rock"), Republicans' lockstep defense of him, and most recently, Trump's anti-Prayer Breakfast speech and his rambling, bitter, foul-mouthed victory speech, Democrats never want to listen to Trump again, or his Republican enablers, and will crawl on hands and knees over broken glass to get to the polls to vote them all out.
This academic predicts a Democratic president, a Democratic House, and a good chance for a Democratic Senate. Wouldn't it be a relief to finally have a functioning government, and get rid of all the crooks?
1
McConnell is very good at what he does. He is more dangerous than Trump.
2
Was there ever any doubt that McConnell would put the republican party ahead of the United States Of America?
Trump better hope that Mitch McConnell, his new “fixer”, lives long enough to “fix” all of Trump’s future lawsuits against him when he leaves office. Tax evasion, multiple sexual assaults, money laundering, contract disputes, etc., etc. All of his other “fixers” are in prison.
1
McConnell should retire. He is morally corrupt, saying before the impeachment trial started that he would work in "total coordination" with the White House on impeachment tactics. All his preparations were most likely directed by two lawyers who served as White House Counsel during the trial and who also had made campaign contributions to McConnell : Ken Starr and Robert Ray, according to Open Secrets.org. And no doubt White House counsel Pat Cipillone, who is revealed in the forthcoming book by Bolton as being in the room during Trump's bribery acts, was "coordinating" with McConnell.
The U.S. Senate, under the direction of Trump and McConnell, has made a sham of democracy. Where is the separation of powers as designed by our founding fathers???
Mitch McConnell was preparing for a trial for nearly a year? Wrong. He was preparing for nearly a year to NOT have a trial.
1
This was an interesting article. Forget everything else. I need to know the following. The Democrats suggest the trial was a sham and was not done fairly. I am seriously asking whether they believe that what they did in the House during the Impeachment Investigation was any less of a sham? I can't understand how they can stand up and complain about a sham in the Senate when they did the exact same thing in the House. Could they actually believe that what they did in the Impeachment Hearings was fair? Is a lie a lie if you actually believe the lie?
1
Though Senator McConnell relishes “wins” and the power associated with them it strikes me that he really has little power at all. He isn’t advancing a legislative agenda. He lost the House in 2018. He’s hugely unpopular. Instead he has become the ultimate servant to Trump and his cult.
At this point the only power he has is to protect the president from his misdeeds. McConnell isn’t winning for himself, his legacy or the Republicans. He’s “winning” for a president with no ethics or morals. Sorry Mitch but that makes you and your party (but hopefully not democracy) the ultimate “losers”.
Russiagate was a fiasco.
The Mueller Report was a fiasco.
Impeachment was a fiasco.
What's next? The 2020 election fiasco for Democrats?
1
The fiasco is whatever remains of the republican party.
1
Instead of claiming a "Pyrrhic victory" Schumer would sound less pathetic if he just said "we did our best but they outnumber us and their leadership threatened and bribed their members to ensure their support."
1
This country does not need a "master tactician." It needs a leader.
1
When it comes to party unity, the Democrats have nothing on the Republicans. (Oh, I am not a Democrat or Republican. ) Republicans have that ability to get their members in line. Democrats, well,...are inept.
Not one word about what was right for the country.
1
Yes, like John Gotti, the new "Teflon Don" D.J.Trump has been acquitted again !
Don Trump, with the help of his consigliere Mitch McConnell and numerous captains, enforcers and associates, has again avoided conviction.
He will continue with his verbal assassinations and political "hits" but like John Gotti, Don Trump will eventually pay the consequences under direction of the prosecutors from the Southern district of New York !
Until then, we must have hope that the Constitution, people of courage and the strong resolve of the faithful, will preserve our democracy !
1
The shameless manner in which Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell abdicated his duty to the constitution and willingly agreed to clean the dirty linen of Trump in the august precincts of the Senate is not only unprecedented but reflects poorly on the intrinsic strength of the democratic institutions or was it all a part of the conspiracy hatched in 2016 in collaboration with external forces ill disposed to the US?
'“We can be smart or we can be stupid,” Mr. McConnell warned."'
What about we can do right or we can do wrong?
We can each honor or oath to uphold the Constitution or we can break our oath.
Seem Republicans are a party of "the end justifies the means". Just doubly sad since the end is wrong, too.
Republicans in the Senate held partisanship and power politics over principle.
McConnell has ensured that the Senate is now an irrelevant institution.
1
All this sounds contrary to the oath senators took to be impartial in the trial!
2
The answer is simple, McConnell is willing, even eager, to do things decent people will not, to go places that people with values will not. And there is no higher authority to stop him. He does not even have to be particularly clever if he is willing to bend or break lokg standing traditions and conventions. He only needs to be utterly amoral and have no values.
When there is no referee a cheater will always beat those who play fair.
21
@AR He was elected by, and can be removed by, the Republican majority in the Senate. Collectively, they are his enablers. In normal times they would be higher authority to stop him. They have abdicated this responsibility.
2
How does McConnell sleep at night knowing he manipulated the whole impeachment trial without allowing even a single witness appear before the Senate? How can he look in the mirror and tell himself, I stood by the President who is man of honor, a man of great intellect. The President's victory speech yesterday was filled with rage, lies , name calling and what was so sad was to see these lawmakers stand right there and cheer him. They embolden him, they are his enablers.
51
@Guz I don't know, but I'm guessing that Mitch sleeps better in D.C. than he does here in Louisville, given that just about any time he's in town, there are protests at his house!
4
It's all about power and money. It's the Republican's last chance to grab all the money and power before changing demographics eventually kick them out.
4
@Guz
McConnell congratulates himself. He has served the highest cause. He has promoted the interests of his party.
Anyone who does not see the inherent dangers of political parties is blind. Parties run most governments, including our own. They discourage courage. They diminish individual integrity. They can't be trusted.
3
My only response to this article is that Mitch needs to be removed from office more than Trump. Vote him out!
29
I truly fear for our country.
16
McConnell is a fine Majority Leader but a corrupt senator, if one defines violating one’s oath of office and conspiring with the subject of an impeachment trial to prevent justice from being done as corrupt.
Meanwhile, Trump turns a “prayer breakfast” into an all-but-incoherent series of rants against any and all who oppose his blatant criminality.
‘Here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart of./Donald Trump go find another country to be part of.’ - paraphrasing Phil Ochs “Here’s to the State of Richard Nixon” - I don’t think he’d be upset with me for recasting his lyrics
6
I guess when you have a majority it’s easier to look like a genius. Now under Trump our mediocre antiquated republican senators are looking like geniuses. Who said dinosaurs are extinct?
8
Not once does Mitch McConnell admit that Trump’s Ukrainian quid pro quo was wrong.
McConnell is completely immoral and should be thrown out of office this November.
He has destroyed enough of the Constitution and made a mockery representative government.
What an angel of darkness McConnell is.
63
@Socrates He didn't admit it was wrong because following past precedent it was not wrong. There are hundreds of examples of past Presidents doing the exact type of thing Trump did without consequence. The difference is that it is only wrong when Trump does it.
@RD Can you please provide a few examples of the "hundreds" of past Presidents doing the exact type of thing? I don't believe you.
3
Is there a limit the number of times a president can be impeached?
Next time we catch him, impeach him again. The opportunities are boundless.
9
This wasn’t a trial. It was a “trial.”
4
Great reporting. If Nicholas Fandos was on the the city desk of a metropolitan newspaper the title would be, "Crime Boss Acquitted Through Jury Tampering."
Gotta give credit where due, however, McConnell knew his jury and as developments unfolded reacted timely to serve the needs of his boss in the White House by manipulating each individually.
12
McConnell is extremely effective at what he does; so is the Devil. Grudging respect, here, for both of them.
8
If anything that last 3 years has taught us, it is that McConnell, Fox and the WH are committed to lying, vilification, and overturning the constitution, for the sake of money and power.
It is pretty much what George Washington fought against in ousting George III.
Therefore comments are useless until these creatures get out of the way of the freedom fought for so long ago.
12
McConnell delivered a clear corruption of the Constitution and Justice. He and his wife need to be eliminated from American politics
15
“'If this was all about politics, and it was, at least at the moment I think it is fair to conclude that we won and they lost,' Mr. McConnell said . . . ."
I thought it was about upholding the Constitution and honoring one's obligation to the people. I think it is fair to conclude that politics won and the people (and democracy) lost.
17
Mitch McConnell did it! He promised a rapid trial along with an acquittal, and he delivered! What a guy!! But what did he actually accomplish. He taught us all that fear of Donald Trump can lead good men to turn bad. It can turn the truth into lies, lies into truth, and a person of discretion into a seeker of alternative facts. Sort of like Diogenes with the lamp turned off. He unleashed a hungry, angry lion of a man who would eat his young if it served his purpose. He opened Pandora’s box, allowing whatever evils exist in the president’s brain to roam free and unfettered. Guns? We can have more OK Corrals! Immigrants in need of refuge? Cage ‘em all! Affordable healthcare? You’ve got to be kidding! Personal attacks? Let’s get started? And so on. So Mitch and his minions performed a reverse exorcism, destroying good and preserving evil. Term limits are badly needed. A clean election is a must. God help us all.
18
I’ve never felt so cynical & disgusted about my country & the state of our democracy in my entire life. You did it, Mitch. You kept your sheep in line, despite all the evidence & Trump’s corruption. You won! But I wonder, how do you look at yourself in the mirror? How do you square your “win” with all the harm you’re doing to our country?
I am sad now, but soon I will be energized. And then I will make donations to defeat GOP senators & I will make calls & I will fly to a swing state to GOTV in the fall. I will fight your dirty deeds, for the sake put this wonderful country, and you, Mitch, will lose in the end.
24
Mr. McConnell was a steady hand in leadership!!!!
1
Isn't he clever.
2
"Win more elections"- hot take from someone who just rubber stamped cheating in elections.
12
This article has it wrong. No senator has ever voted to convict a President of his own party.
Until now.
McConnell is not a winner. He’s a loser.
35
Mitch McConnell is the narcissistic puppeteer pulling the strings of a narcissist president
9
It is true that Mitch McConnell is a master Senate tactician. But he is being given way too much credit for Donald Trump's acquittal. The real reason the President was acquitted was fear. Whether it be fear of Donald Trump, his base or of the re-election chances of the Republican senators, we see that with the exception of Mitt Romney, none of the remaining Republican senators had the courage or guts to adhere to their oath of office and put their country's interests first. And they feared Senator McConnell, an individual who would sell out his country for a nickel and go running to Donald Trump to rat out any Senator who does not blindly follow Donald Trump or the Senate Majority Leader. This master Senate tactician will be forever remembered in American history as being responsible for leading a group of senators that left a permanent stain of dishonor upon the United States Senate.
13
@Howard Herman Absolutely. If McConnell had wanted to get 20 GOP votes to convict, THAT would have taken a ton of work. Trump's lawyers could have run 72 hours of YouTube cat videos as his defense and the result would've been pretty much the same. They're all scared of Trump - including McConnell - and to protect themselves in the short term they gave him far more power.
Although he lacks the mastery of LBJ, for all practical purposes McConnell has wielded power better than most majority leaders. He severely cramped Obama and now controls more power than even Trump cares to admit. He singularly changed the entire judicial system whether blocking Supreme court appointments or approving scores of federal judges.
4
HOW he managed to manipulate the Senate to betray the constitution to maintain blind partisanship isn't as important as THAT he managed to manipulate the Senate to betray the constitution to maintain blind partisanship.
He will be remembered for treachery, not brilliance.
9
The man as an ethical moral individual is log gone. A fine example of a politician who sold out for power.
4
McConnell had one huge advantage your story doesn’t mention — the Republican Senators are afraid that if they buck the President he’ll cause them to lose their next primary election.
For them, electoral success is more important than anything, including the health of the nation.
So McConnell had a jury that was determined to be led by him to an acquittal in the least painful way possible.
4
Mitch plays hardball, proposing rules that are beyond unreasonable, then "compromising," with handwritten changes, to a plan that is merely unreasonable. This is in stark contrast to Democrats, who pre-compromise in the hope of gaining Republican support, like eliminating the public option before presenting the Affordable Care Act. So Sanders and Warren, trying to play hardball, get criticized by Dem leaders as being unelectable.
4
McConnell is adept at putting up barriers to democracy, be it blocking Merritt Garland’s nomination or blocking the impeachment of a president who committed crimes against the Constitution. There is no ethical leadership in the Republican party.
5
Mitch McConnell craves Authoritarianism more than anyone. He is a greater threat to the republic than Trump. We are in trouble. We were never guaranteed democracy, and it is rapidly going away. The appeals to bigotry are effective.
7
Yes, McConnell delivered for Trump, and stood his ground in the face of the truth. But as more information will trickle from now until November, the vote to aquit will look more like the farce it was. He is already preparing to face that onslaught, he actually prepared for it already. By that time the Republican coup on America will be complete, and if there one lesson from the impeachment event, is that the justice system plays a crucial role. As long as the rule of law is interpreted by conservative judges, their point of view, no matter how distorted, will always win. It is all about winning at any cost. The double negation applies here perfectly: a rigged vote interpreted by a rigged court, is a valid vote. I see more orders of halibut and fried chicken coming...
5
There is no better mime than Justice Roberts. Whether he is looking to the golden light above that guides him, or acting like he is concerned with the death of democracy. He is particularly good at the being boxed in and helpless shtick.
2
Long story short: abandoning all scruple makes it all go down smooth… a fine lesson McConnell imparts unto future generations.
3
It’s not so much Mitch McConnell’s tactics that are concerning; it is his motivation. Is he so obsessively partisan that the fate of the nation doesn’t concern him? Does he value Republican (big business, social conservatism, Christian religious influence) hegemony above democracy? It’s not what he does, it’s why.
The Leader is the most dangerous man in politics today, including President Trump who is a dynamic figurehead but a political neophyte compared to McConnell.
He’s up for re-election. He brings the bacon to his KY supporters. But what’s he do for the majority of voters there, other than confirm their sense of superiority and indignation? What does he do in DC that’s in the national interest by constipating Congress?
His time is up. Table him permanently. Bring him to the floor. Vote him out.
10
Everything is all about politics to Mitch including ensuring elections are above board and inclusive of all voters. He cannot see beyond the end of his nose. Unfortunately, the voters of Kentucky, in electing him, have put a very small-minded man who cares more about winning via special favors, in control of our democratic republic. Both Mitch and Trump have ushered in a Republican party, representing a minority of Americans, that puts greed, the accumulation of power and notches on the bedpost ahead of good governance. At this point even Mr. Clean might not be able to clean up the mess they have made.
4
McConnell did what Trump told him to do, lie about everything.
The GOP has sold America out and needs to go the way of the Whig party.
6
This whole fiasco is reminiscent of the OJ Simpson trial. In spite of overwhelming evidence the dirtball lawyers get an acquittal for their dirtball client.
We can only hope for the parallels between the two trials to continue; not only for the sake of justice, but also to see what Trump looks like after a few months of no hair and skin treatments.
5
A trial without witnesses is the very epitome of a sham! I hope voters will see this and as McConnell said "win more elections". His party of the billionaires by the billionaires, somehow supported by people that will never be in that club, must be defeated at the polls. They have stacked the deck in their favor so it will be an uphill battle, fight hard to win Democratic seats in this election! Vote! Our country depends on you, we do not want an Oligarchy, or Monarchy!
5
To write that the democrats were itching to impeach is to put it wrongly; impeachment only became a thing because we have a president who was (and still is) constantly and egregiously violating the norms of permissible conduct--this is the real reason why McConnell started preparations so early.
8
Call it what it was: a sham trial and blatant coverup.
6
Nothing more can be said . It’s an utter disgrace to the country. I’d pray for us, but apparently conservatives don’t believe in that anymore either.
5
In reading this it is hard not to think of what is going on with the GOP as a coup against the country. The issue is not the rule of law but rather how to frustrate and subvert it. One suspects Mitch has earned the appellation 'gravedigger of democracy'. The US is heading into some very dark days. Wonder if it will survive?
5
Mitch McConnell is the Grim Reaper of American democracy and representative government who governs the country through Senatorial fiat via the nationwide Senate gerrymander and voter suppression laws that fraudulently elevate the Republican party to power in the Senate, the Presidency and the Supreme Court.
The idea that he is some sort of strategic maestro ignores the underlying reality that today's Republican Grand Old Power comes directly from rigging elections for the last 20 years, starting with the 2000 Presidential election, continuing in the Senate and the House with widespread voter suppression laws and tactics that elevate GOP 'winners' to office.
McConnell's rejection of Merrick Garland by the popularly elected Obama and McConnell's subsequent admission that he would jam through a Trump Supreme Court nominee in the same circumstance show that this man is corrupt, amoral, unethical and unfit to serve the country in any capacity except as a destroyer of decency and the United States Constitution.
The fact that the Republican party (except Mitt Romney) blindly follows McConnell's political criminality over the cliff of minority rule is an American catastrophe.
The fact that some Americans support McConnell and the GOP's amorality and lawlessness simply demonstrates that America is in deep trouble.
"Even if there was a quid pro quo, it did not matter."
Nothing matters to Republicans, except Grand Old Power, cheating and 0.1% Welfare programs.
November 3 2020
16
McConnell's treachery is all to apparent. He, because his wife is a cabinet member of Trump's administration, knows what is actually happening in the White House. His refusal to hear witnesses was not based on Senate "principle" but rather on his desire to deliver the acquittal as quickly as possible, despite overwhelming evidence of the President's guilt. He will go down as one of the most successful manipulators of the Senate, and also one of the most ethically challenged.
4
It didn’t take any particular wizardry from McConnell to get Republicans to March in lockstep (or should I say “goose step”) with Trump. The outcome of this “trial” was a forgone conclusion. Republican politicians and the Republican electorate are looking
to change our government system from a democratic republic to a neo-Fascist dictatorship and are on the verge of success. Bernie Sanders and his followers have worked very hard to disparage and fracture the Democratic Party and have been pretty successful. They wanted to blow the party apart with their revolution and now, they got what they wanted - chaos and discord. It’s not likely that the party will unify behind the eventual nominee and the election will more than likely be handed to Trump. In his second term, it’s likely that Trump will have the opportunity to appoint another extreme right-wing to the Trump Court (SCOTUS) and the ultra right takeover of the US will be complete. It’s sad but it is unmasking Americans for what we really are, a nation of hate and greed driven hillbillies.
3
"We" won? McConnells "we" are the Republican Senators representing about 152 million Americans. The "losers" are the Senators, representing 170 million Americans, who voted to remove Trump. For sure, the American people didn't win.
4
This was all pretty obvious to me from the onset of the Ukrainian revelations. McConnell has always realized that impeaching trump would ruin the GOP for the next decade, and SCOTUS was not yet chaired by 9 Republican judges.
Defend trump or GOP armageddon.
2
Republicans wield power in key positions in the government, and are not afraid to ignore the Constitution and their oaths of office.
All of the boundaries are gone.
Mnuchin and the Treasury Department are handing over all records requested by the Republicans, and none requested by Democrats.
Bill Barr is protecting a dictator in the White House from any and all investigations into wrongdoing.
John Roberts permitted a complete sham trial to go forward without any real attempt at justice.
And yes, Mitch McConnell, who promised not to be an impartial juror in the impeachment trial, has succeeded in derailing democracy.
This was no true acquittal.
Trump is celebrating that he was only found guilty by half of the Senate.
McConnell knows the rules.
He knows how to manipulate the process.
But he can’t change reality, he can only create an alternative version of it.
Not only is Trump above the law.
This entire administration is operating outside the law.
Restore the rule of law.
9
When morality comes face to face with politics, there’s only one winner.
So, as nauseating as things are, at least McConnell indicates Dems have a chance to vote them all out in November (assuming the DNC gets its act together, and the election is free and fair - a tall order, to be sure)
1
I'll repeat what I said before: the route to escape this corruption lies with the Senate. With the release of another encouraging jobs report, Trump stands an excellent chance of getting reelected. The Senate races are more achievable. We need to do whatever it takes to come out and vote down ballot this year.
14
@Kristin,
and we need to make sure to not only keep the house but expand the majority there.
I would totally sacrifice the WH for the senate and house, the only power that matters now.
we can worry about the WH when all the evil has been swept out elsewhere.
3
@Kristin
We have 9 months to go and with Trump completely off the leash I do not see how he can avoid cutting the current bull market off at the knees.
Also note that the Market is not the economy. Having a strong Dow, NASDAQ, or S&P is good for people who hold investments but it really does nothing for the check to check people. The economy is not great, but the Markets are booming. That prosperity only affects a minority of Americans and probably does not help most Trump voters, but as we have heard from the farmers, who have nbeen directly harmed by his policies, they are willing to suck it up so they can poke "the libs" in the eye again.
1
He did NOT reach his desired end: a quick, but not remotely credible, acquittal. And winners "at the moment" indeed; we shall see whether the victory is indeed Pyrrhic.
14
Treason - that IS how!
22
What a disgusting, disgusting man.
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No, it was not All about politics, and Mr. Trump's vitriol yesterday reinforced that fact. It was principally about the Nation/Rule of Law and Facts. The end product showed that Republicans care only about their jobs (power and money); Nation and facts be damned. But there will be a reckoning about the people we elect - who are presumed to work for us and for a country we cherish.
Since we already have 'the chosen one' I am not waiting for a messiah. I will be content with a mecenas.
11
“These guys would win more often if they win more elections,” he said, “and they have the opportunity to do that this year.”
Beyond cynical, even for good ol' Mitch. Democrats won the Presidential election in 2012, which should've been enough for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland to receive -- at bare minimum -- a hearing in the Senate.
I don't know how it can or will ever happen, but the day that Mitch McConnell is no longer in the Senate as either a Majority or a Minority Leader, will be a good day for these United States.
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@Joel
Exactly correct. Democrats have been far too slow to realize is that there is nothing too cynical for McConnell and his GOP. Winning at all costs by any means necessary is the only thing that matters.
And as for Garland, remember that McConnell recently stated publicly that he would absolutely ram through a S. Ct. nominee for Trump in an election year. Complete hypocrisy and they don't even bother to hide it anymore.
11
Is he any more disgusting than Speaker Pelosi, who used her House majority to start the impeachment process?
1
It's revealing that McConnell's metric is always win/lose rather than right/wrong. It's one of the ways he fits well with Trump. Ethics never enter into either of their calculations: winning is always the most important thing.
This similarity overcomes the many ways they are different: McConnell being a shrewd planner, a seeker of information (at least that supports what he's trying to do) and, when he has that information, decisive, happy to be hated as long as he wins, while Trump is the opposite in all of those areas.
Their victories please them in the short term. Whether our country can survive them is another question.
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Like it or not, McConnell was upholding a treasured American legacy: win by any means possible, including lying, cheating, stealing, bullying - whatever it takes. Just win. And evidently the American public is fine with this, because he's been doing it throughout his political career and he keeps "winning."
John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company had a simple technique for achieving monopoly: in an era when home heating oil was essential, the company would purchase an oil outlet in a region, drop the price below cost, and lose money for a while. They could absorb the losses; their competitors could not. Sure, patrons could have boycotted Standard Oil, but who could afford that?
Eventually, the competitors folded and Standard Oil could charge any price they wanted. Of course this is a grotesque distortion of the concept of a free and competitive open marketplace, but it worked. Once Standard Oil achieved monopoly, there was no limit to how much they could gouge the customer.
This same principle is at work in D.C. at this time. McConnell's techniques are in direct opposition to the fundamental concepts of democracy. They are much more suited to a dictatorship or authoritarian system. But an uninformed and manipulated electorate is essentially powerless to resist. McConnell will continue to "win," and the Republicans will maintain their monopoly on power.
For Democrats, the obvious question is, how do we alter this trajectory?
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@TLMischler
Exactly correct and well said.
Republicans have combined great wealth and resources at the top with large numbers of angry false-information voters at the bottom. Throw in sophisticated propaganda/disinformation and coordinated gerrymandering, voter suppression and other dirty tricks, and you've got a very high hurdle for Democrats.
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@TLMischler
" McConnell's techniques are in direct opposition to the fundamental concepts of democracy. They are much more suited to a dictatorship or authoritarian system.:
But that is what we are now– an authoritarian dictatorship by president–and apparently proud of it!
Mitch McConnell did not have to do much to deliver an acquittal. The lack of evidence (not the tripe seen in headlines) acquitted Trump all on its own. While the media is quick to point out the acquittal largely followed party line, they need to be equally emphasize the impeachment itself was even more a party line vote.
3
@Everett the evidence was plentiful. As was the willful blindness. As was the complicity in a cover up.
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@Everett
I fully agree.
It had been an easy job. He just had to keep the already closed door tightly closed and put a lock on it. The door was already closed when indictment was received by Senate because there was no "(high) crime" committed, The undeniable misconduct that could have been a almost legally equivalent "misdemeanor" was hardly to explain and substantial evidence that has to be offered already in the indictment even in everydays shoplifter cases was not provided due to false non-legal tactical calculations of the managers.
The only risks forMr- Tru,p had been to enable a reality tv show without likely any legal relevance just to damage the image of the president in public or to open the way for accidental new findings or new evidence in the context of the taking of evidence by coincidence that might have enabled supplementary charges or more evidence beyond the original charge. This was the very last thing anybody on the side of the president and GOP was interested in. The job of Mr. McConnell was to not let it happen.
The legal trick "full assumption as true" perfectly explained by Mr. Alexander (if you ask me: briefed by Mr. Dershowitz) is an everyday measure to avoid useless hearings in many routine trials that reduced any remote risk to "zero". That´s all.
No stroke of genius and no masterpiece in any aspect. Just neat control of the damage done by denying what could not be denied by Mr.Giuliani following "Roy Cohn principles" Mr. Trump loves so much.
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@Everett
Except acquittal didn't follow party lines. The former Republican Presidential candidate honored his obligation to the Constitution.
2
The fact that Sen. McConnell was preparing for a Senate trial at the same time the new Democratic House wanted to focus on legislation - not impeachment as Republicans repeatedly and falsely claim - speaks volumes about what Sen. McConnell thought of his President. He obviously saw a president already engaged in activities that stretched the limits of what the founders considered to be impeachable offenses, and he took the steps to plan for an event the President would bring upon himself and sully American institutions of democracy. He knew!
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"Four senators had expressed enough qualms about the president to give them leverage to win concessions from Mr. McConnell..."
That's Collins, Murkowski, etc. pretending to be "independent" to get themselves TV time and squeeze bribes from leadership before voting party line when it counts as always.
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Ever since it became known that the Mueller Report would not give the Democrats what they needed to reverse the 2016 election the only obvious outcome was an impeachment. Since the Democrats gained control of the House in 2018 it's actually been more than a year that Senator McConnell has been preparing for an impeachment.
2
The entire process was all political, as noted by the easy math that the Democrats didn't have the votes to convict, and the House failed to find the evidence to change the easy math. Had they found that evidence, like the Nixon tapes, public opinion would have forced the Republicans to change their votes. Instead Trump's popularity has soared. There is no better indication than the polls to show how badly the Dems blew this.
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@dewey dog
I believe public opinion was that 75% of Americans (Rep and Dem) wanted to see witnesses and documentation in the Senate trial. But they got stonewalled by the Republicans.
It's rare to see that level of agreement in this current political atmosphere, so you have to wonder what affect that stonewalling will have on the election.
Also, here is an aggregation of polls showing Trump's popularity soaring to a staggering 43.8% approval: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
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@dewey dog
"Instead Trump's popularity has soared."
This is a "yuuuuuge" stretch! The recent poll indicating 49% approval is an outlier, and there is no way he has become soar-ingly popular.
Great article. I especially loved McConnell's last dig at Dems,
“These guys would win more often if they win more elections,” he said, “and they have the opportunity to do that this year." He neglected to add that they have a plan for that to- voter suppression.
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