I wonder if former GOP Senate leader Senator McConnell (R-KY) has yet worked out that, by being clever, he’s endangered the nation. Recall that McConnell believed, at one time, that his most clever moment was refusing to hold hearings to put compromise candidate then-Judge Merrick Garland on SCOTUS. This, as history documents, was a decision surrounded with Republican mendacity.
Since then, while there have been several other incidents of note, the most significant was the trial of then-President Trump following the January 6th Insurrection. Senator McConnell could have voted for conviction, but he did not. He could have attempted to lead his conference in voting for conviction, but made no effort. Instead,
Clearly angry, the Senate’s longest-serving GOP leader said Trump’s actions surrounding the attack on Congress were “a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.” He even noted that though Trump is now out of office, he remains subject to the country’s criminal and civil laws.
“He didn’t get away with anything yet,” said McConnell, who turns 79 next Saturday and has led the Senate GOP since 2007. [AP]
Senator McConnell may have given many excuses, but the fact of the matter is that he was trying to avoid being the leader of the only American political party that has produced a President so wretched that he was not only impeached, but convicted. He pretty much said that he expected Mr Trump, when no longer protected by the Office, to be convicted and become anathema.
He got the first one right, but the Democrats and the Republicans both failed to offer candidates who are better actors, in the theatrical sense, than Mr Trump. Now McConnell, who is well known for hating Mr. Trump, has to deal with his enemy again occupying the White House, exercising Trumpian poor judgment, and possibly endangering the entire nation.
The McConnell Lesson – what happens when you think you’re too clever to actually do your duty. It’s better to eat the elephant shit sandwich than to be actually sat on by the elephant.
