Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) clearly isn’t taking his demotion to minority leader very well, lashing out on Twitter over Democratic attempts to use their new majority to pass legislation.
“Today, I made clear that if Democrats ever attack the key Senate rules, it would drain the consent and comity out of the institution,” McConnell whined. “A scorched-earth Senate would hardly be able to function. It wouldn’t be a progressive’s dream. It would be a nightmare.”
Today, I made clear that if Democrats ever attack the key Senate rules, it would drain the consent and comity out of the institution. A scorched-earth Senate would hardly be able to function. It wouldn’t be a progressive’s dream. It would be a nightmare.
I guarantee it.
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— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) January 26, 2021
Unfortunately for McConnell, he is in no position to make demands. As Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week, “[McConnell] is not the Majority Leader, he is the Minority Leader, and he is not going to get his way.”
McConnell is the reason the Senate barely functions
Let’s be clear: Mitch McConnell couldn’t care less about whether the United States Senate is a functioning body.
Time and again, he has shown that he is only concerned about maintaining power and securing political victories, no matter how many Senate rules he breaks or changes in the process.
As former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote in 2019, “No person has done more in living memory to undermine the functioning of the US government than the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell.”
Mitch McConnell can whine all he wants about Democrats finding ways to work around GOP obstruction and pass legislation, but it’s pretty likely that no one will take him seriously.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
