The signs of McConnell's malign influence were always there

[dajoki]

How Mitch McConnell Enables Trump
He’s not an institutionalist. He’s the man who surrendered the Senate to the president.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/opinion/mitch-mcconnell-trump-emergency.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20190218&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=2&nlid=89651072emc%3Dedit_ty_20190218&ref=headline&te=1

<<snip>>

In 2010, as minority leader, Mr. McConnell stated that his main goal was not to help our country recover from the Great Recession but to make President Obama a “one-term president.” A self-declared “proud guardian of gridlock,” he presided over an enormous escalation in the use of the filibuster. His innovation was to transform it from a procedural tool used to block bills into a weapon of nullification, deploying it against even routine Senate business to gridlock the legislative process.

The two forces that characterized Mr. McConnell’s career, obstruction and increasing the power of corporate money in our democracy, have worked hand in hand to diminish the Senate and paralyze American politics. The flood of outside money incentivized obstruction over cooperation, and a new generation of Republicans embraced Mr. McConnell’s obstructionist tactics. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, for example, owes his standing to a few filibusters and a super PAC: As a freshman senator, he used Mr. McConnell’s tactics to shut down the government in 2013 and parlayed the resulting attention — and fund-raising — to run for president (and lose to Mr. Trump).

Republicans actually took the Senate majority in 2014 in large part on claims to restore the Senate. Unsurprisingly, they broke their promises. Under President Trump, Mr. McConnell continued to run roughshod over Senate traditions, jamming the $1.5 trillion tax bill through without so much as a proper hearing. The one place the Senate has functioned efficiently is in judicial confirmations, but even here Mr. McConnell has cast aside bipartisan norms and reduced the Senate to a rubber stamp for some unqualified, extremist judges, including those rated “unqualified” by the American Bar Association.

<<snip>>

Since that scare, Mr. McConnell has rigidly adhered to whatever the base wants, institutions be damned. When the base wanted Judge Merrick Garland blocked, he obeyed. When the base wanted Mr. Trump embraced, he obeyed. While Paul Ryan was playing Hamlet in the summer of 2016, Mr. McConnell quickly endorsed Mr. Trump, providing institutional cover and repeatedly assuring Republicans that Trump would “be fine.” Mr. McConnell didn’t think Trump was going to win — he has said so himself — but he probably figured that the damage could be contained.

The crass self-interest at so many turns now poses a danger to our democracy. With Mr. Trump increasingly erratic and Robert Mueller’s investigation advancing, there is simply no reason to believe he will stand up for American institutions when it counts. He has already demonstrated a willingness to put his self-interest above America’s national security: In a classified briefing in 2016, Mr. McConnell reportedly cast doubt on C.I.A. intelligence about Russia’s interference in our election and threatened that if President Obama publicly challenged Russia, he’d twist it into a partisan issue. And when the four congressional leaders drafted a bipartisan letter to the states urging them to take action to protect our election infrastructure against Russian interference, Mr. McConnell categorically rejected all efforts to strengthen the letter.

<<snip>>

[dem4decades]

1. McConnell name could go down in the history books as a traitor to the nation.

[bluestarone]

2. Agree! I would change one word tho.

I would change the word COULD to the word WILL!!!!!

[DBoon]

3. "gravedigger of democracy"

he has finalized our transition to an oligarchy

[Baltimike]

4. Moscow Mitch has been in cahoots with ant foreign adversary that would keep him in power

He is a traitor and deserves a traitor's fate.

[RAB910]

5. McConnell is and was a traitor to America

He puts the interests of the anti-American Republicans above all else including America and our Consitution

[Guilded Lilly]

6. The truest traitor to The United States. Comrade McConnell.

[lovemydogs]

7. Just as Gingrich broke Congress, McConnell is breaking the Senate

[Fuzzpope]

8. The Dr Moriarty of our times.

He vastly eclipses Trump in terms of the criminal trophy he represents for his perpetual acts of despicable contempt and willfull harm to the American people.

His place lies deep within the Ninth circle, the final quarters of traitors to their fellow men.

No justice will be sweeter than witnessing this heathen's downfall.

[Perseus]

9. Good article but I coud not disagree more with this paragraph

"Among the casualties of President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build his border wall is the reputation of the majority leader Mitch McConnell as a Senate institutionalist."

Anyone who thought McConnell had any reputation worth noting has not paid attention to his political career. He is also a con, and is very happy to be with the other cons, he doesn't care about the country and never has, he will do anything to put money in his bank.

He is not a casualty, the USA is the casualty of politicians like McConnell, Ryan, Jordan, and the many corrupt republicans who occupy undeserved sits in politics.

For anyone who wanted to believe that McConnell is there to serve the country, after his declaration when Obama won the presidency, was not listening to his words, they were only looking at the video. Anyone who would think that his words were patriotic lacks the concept of patriotism themselves. McConnell is just a filthy human being like many of the republicans in power today, the sad thing is that these swamp people are training young republicans to be like them, it will take decades to clean up the republican party, the filth is very hard to get rid of.

[dalton99a]

14. +1. There is no daylight between the GOP leadership and Donald Trump

They're all traitors and thieves

[dajoki]

18. That's what the article said...

how he was an obstructionist his entire career.

[Dan]

10. Mitch did not cast doubt on the C.I.A. Intelligence....

Mitch didn’t care.

[Perseus]

11. A big mistake by Obama was to not go out with the information of the Russian hacking

Of course that I am not, and have not been the president of the USA, but I would have gone out with the information that Russia was helping elect the orange buffoon...go ahead McConnell, make it into a partisan issue, it would eventually byte him when the truth had been known, it would have made people aware of what was going on and maybe look into the propaganda that was going out to the public.

That, to me, was a big mistake, Obama should have never stayed quiet about it, you have to expose it, the end result of Hillary loosing may have been the same, or maybe not, we shall never know now.

[dajoki]

19. Yes, I agree n/t

[kairos12]

12. Turtle's only priority is to avoid a primary challenge.

[dalton99a]

13. Mitch McConnell the institutionalist is a stupid myth - like Paul Ryan the budget expert

And yeah, both are fiscal conservatives - the best fiscal conservatives ever!

[Perseus]

15. This wil be the title of McConnell's biography

"McConnell, He is the man who surrendered the Senate to Donald Trump."

I added the last name of the guy to the title, the rest is from the article.

[Amimnoch]

16. He's a traitor and a coward.

[DFW]

17. One of Mitchie's greatest skills was choreography

He always had a small faction of Republican Senators who went out portraying themselves as independent-thinking possible breakaways, for whom this or that controversial issue was just a step too far into extremism (e.g. Collins, Flake, Murkowski), when in reality it was almost never their intention to cast any vote that ran contrary to McTurtle's wishes.

They never had ANY intention of denying McTurtle his votes on decisions that were REALLY bad for the country (Kavanaugh, tax bill, confirmation of most of Trump's unqualified cabinet, etc.). And yet, maybe to hold the Senate Democrats back from going on a full war footing, he let those few Republicans pretend to have "serious concerns" about some vote when in reality they had none whatsoever.

It was pure theater, and McTurtle has proved to be an adept stage manager.

Flake is gone now, but if some bill were to come before the Senate instituting the death penalty for women having abortions or doctors performing them, we all know what would happen. Collins and Murkowski would express their grave reservations, and then, after "solemn assurances" from McTurtle that no one would REALLY be put to death, they'd vote for the bill, and pretend to "express their disapproval" as thousands of women get put on death row to Kavanaugh's and Alito's delight. It'll never happen while Pelosi is Speaker, of course, but if they can find a way to put the likes of Trump in the White House, maybe they can engineer a few more of those "surprise upset Republican victories" they have been so good at, and make her minority leader again. If THAT happens, let the Inquisition begin.