{"id":39795,"date":"2024-02-07T21:50:32","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T03:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=39795"},"modified":"2024-02-07T21:50:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T03:50:32","slug":"the-hunters-are-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2024\/02\/07\/the-hunters-are-out\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hunters Are Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are we seeing the end of Senator and long time <strong>GOP<\/strong> leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Senate GOP leadership screwed this up\u2014and screwed us. Even while refusing to let us see the bill they claimed to be negotiating on our behalf\u2014for MONTHS\u2014they were never in doubt, insisting we\u2019d be dumb and even unpatriotic NOT to support it. This is a disqualifying betrayal. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PZnI6KorFK\">https:\/\/t.co\/PZnI6KorFK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BasedMikeLee\/status\/1754340927034778057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Senate GOP leadership screwed this up\u2014and screwed us. Even while refusing to let us see the bill they claimed to be negotiating on our behalf\u2014for MONTHS\u2014they were never in doubt, insisting we\u2019d be dumb and even unpatriotic NOT to support it. This is a disqualifying betrayal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Posted just a few days ago, it&#8217;s one of several signifying instances collected by Steve Benen. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow-show\/maddowblog\/mitch-mcconnell-faces-calls-ouster-two-gop-senators-rcna137676?icid=nextpost_top\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he doesn&#8217;t think McConnell&#8217;s yet near the cliff&#8217;s edge<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>My point is not that members like Cruz and Lee will successfully soon replace their party\u2019s Senate leader. That\u2019s unlikely. But the fact that this far-right duo is going after McConnell, against a backdrop of setbacks, challenges, partisan infighting, and congressional dysfunction, leave little doubt that the minority leader\u2019s power has diminished, and McConnell\u2019s influence appears to be ebbing away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But I&#8217;ve noticed that shifts in power in the <strong>GOP<\/strong> do happen with some rapidity. My guess is that, soon enough, someone in the <strong>GOP<\/strong> will decide that McConnell is a liberal, start shouting <em><strong>RINO!<\/strong><\/em> because they want to be a Kentucky Senator, and McConnell&#8217;s age and general decrepitude will work against him. He may gracefully retire rather than fight it.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;ll be <em>Another <strong>RINO<\/strong> run out of a position of influence<\/em>, and someone, probably more than one, will prance about proclaiming victory, that they&#8217;ve purified the Party.<\/p>\n<p>The ironic part of the deal, of course, is the complete ignorance of history. If it weren&#8217;t for McConnell&#8217;s dishonorable leadership when Justice Scalia died, and, later, when Justice Ginsburg died, <strong>SCOTUS<\/strong> would be short two conservative Justices, probably Kavanaugh and Barrett, <em>Roe vs. Wade<\/em> would still be shielding Republicans from the mistake of pushing anti-abortion legislation, and the USA would be in a far better place. But McConnell couldn&#8217;t make himself lead his caucus in voting for impeachment on either occasion, seriously miscalculating the depth of Trump&#8217;s pathological narcissism, and, having followed Gingrich&#8217;s proclamations for the Republican Party, is faced with a Party getting ready to kick out a loyal Party man, so loyal that he dishonored himself, for <strong>Not Being Loyal Enough<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Poor guy. And it&#8217;s not even clear, at least to me, that he&#8217;s smart enough to realize he&#8217;s been playing a leading part in the stage drama <em>The Dissolution of the Republican Party, and The Reduction of America To Second Rate Status<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>And now a third-rate McConnell will soon be replaced by some fourth-rater extremist, who&#8217;ll fight for Trump&#8217;s favor.<\/p>\n<p>I seem to be cranky tonight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are we seeing the end of Senator and long time GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)? Senate GOP leadership screwed this up\u2014and screwed us. Even while refusing to let us see the bill they claimed to be negotiating on our behalf\u2014for MONTHS\u2014they were never in doubt, insisting we\u2019d be dumb and \u2026 <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2024\/02\/07\/the-hunters-are-out\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39796,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39795\/revisions\/39796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}