Jonathan Martin, Politico’s senior political columnist and politics bureau chief, has written a long profile of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. It depicts the 82- year-old as declining, decrepit and searching for encomiums at the end of his public life.
I live in KY and McConnell is a cancer on the state and country. His legacy is one of destruction and hate. He despises democracy. It looks infuriates me that this shallow empty suit is still in the senate. Look how he enable Tuberville weakening our military by preventing the promotions of the brave men and women in the armed forces!?!
You beat me to the comment, Leigh! I am in Louisville and also know all too well his corruption. I heard that some years ago, Harvard released a study naming the legislative branch in Kentucky as the most corrupt in the country, and I wasn’t even surprised. So many of us hate him here, that I find myself wondering how he could have honestly won his seat this last time.
I have never been able to get my head around the fact that he holds such huge power after winning by something like 40,000 votes. I too cannot believe he or Rand Paul were legitimately elected.
I completely agree. He is terrible. He enabled and pandered to Donald Trump, and has done nothing but block and obstruct. He paved the way for Donald Trump.
I just posted this but I lived in Louisville for 21 years - now I am across the river in Indiana (where I was born) - I can see Louisville from my front porch LOL So I do know who Mitch is very well. I used to see him at U of L baskeball games - back in the late 1970's ... My husband was a professor at U of L - now my son is :)
McConnell wanted and willingly took on former President Obama and proclaimed him a ‘one term President’. He authorized the denial of a hearing for Merrick Garland, but allowed the illiterate Trump to play a game of darts to select the nominees for the Supreme Court, it was past known about his racism. Because of this game, McConnell put this country in the position of reversal of basic human rights when his clear mind was slowly eroding at the time. One can only wonder, what he sacrificed to accumulate the amount of wealth he obtained in opposition to the good of the people. The adage, ‘you can’t take it with you’ is ringing true and the fight about term limits is mute in this case of Mitch McConnell. I hope America has learned an important lesson from this awful experience.
Aug 16, 2023·edited Aug 16, 2023Liked by Steve Schmidt
“My job is to make sure he’s a one-term President.” That was the fist public statement from Mitch McConnell after President Obama’s historic election. He’s been a small and petty man for years.
*By the way Steve, as a former English teacher (retired), I used words from your column as part of my vocabulary lessons. Today’s word would have been: encomium. 😁
Well said, Loren. I am a firm believer that we make the beds we lie in. His current mental/physical health status is a reflection of what he has done over many many years. People blame Trump for the current Supreme Court and the turmoil it has rained down on us. I blame McConnell.
McConnell showed his true colors when he made up some "rule" and stopped Obama from appointing Garland to the Supreme Court, then turned around and laughed at his lie when he pushed through the Barrett appointment!
As the Leader of the Senate, I believe McConnell is responsible for the disintegration of respect for Congress.
We need to elect Democrats who will have a commitment to vote for structural changes, such as term limits for members of the House and Senate and changing the rules regarding "holds" on appointments, and I'm sure there are others. Those would be two important steps Democrats could take to demonstrate to the American people that they are serious about fixing this dysfunctional arm of our government!
Republicans constantly demonstrate what hypocrites they are, especially when they talk about nothing but Biden's age, when Trump and McConnell are far worse specimens of health than Biden!
Yes, but considering what a, er..., whimp Merrick Garland is, I'm glad he never made it to the Supreme Court. The damage he's done to this country by waiting till it was too late to get trump convicted of any one of the 91 charges he's indicted for, shows his lack of leadership, courage and backbone. Then letting special counsel Robert Hur smear Biden with that "report"
about his age and failing mental accuity, shows Garland's lack of authority and ability to oversee the correct adherence to the judicial process.
Obama must take some blame for the members of the Supreme Court. I voted for Hillary but gritted my teeth and voted for Obama. Wonder how the supreme court would look today if Hillary had been elected. Ah-hum.
Whatever else anyone might think about him, this is the time that we really feel the loss of John McCain. He certainly would have more than a few pungent words to say about the Republican's collective cowardice and specifically McConnell's silence and Lindseed Graham and Kevin McCarthy's despicable fawning over the Mira Lago fruitcake.
He will forever be remembered as "the toadie who could have stopped Trump (twice), but didn't due to cowardice, weakness and an immoral party-over-country mentality". And now, we all suffer the consequences. Ugh.
Audrey, I felt the same foreboding feeling at both Impeachment hearings. The Republicans all lied through their Oath of Office. Their party has been despicable. We have to get out to vote these idiots out of our government. 🇺🇸⚖️
Mitch McConnell's legacy is a horrible one. He outright stole two Supreme Court seats and he COULD have ended the Trump fiasco once and for all--had he voted for impeachment in either trial, many Republican Senators could/would have used that as cover and the danger of another Trump Presidency would have been ended forever. He is directly responsible for the fact that democracy in this country is on its deathbed.
Mitch McConnell and every Republican who supported, assisted, lied, and otherwise did the bidding of trump, will be remembered for trying to install a fascist into the Oval Office. I'm not sure there is anything worse than that.
Beautifully and eloquently said, Steve, and 100% true. Faction over country and abject cowardice. Their dishonor will remain forever. I blame him more than anyone for where we are today. I was a never Trumper from day one, and DJT is a cancer that continues to eat America alive, but the failure to impeach after January 6 is on the Republican senators who voted no, and especially on McConnell. History will judge him and the rest, and they will deserve to be seen as the traitors they are. They failed all of us.
History, history, history. What about 10 years from now, if Trump is elected. Nobody will care about what history will say about him when they can't breath the air, drink the water, or pay their rent.
Excellent and factual article. The cowardice crowd of the beltway. There is nothing more contemptible then leadership by cowards. DC likes to view itself a Star Wars empire when it is more the liking of the Lords of the Flies revision.
They are collectively afraid that if they don't abjectly follow Their Dear Leader to the letter, he will call for them to be challenged in their respective primaries by tRump sycophants. They are terrified of losing their cushy political positions and actually having to work an honest living.
Not to mention the kompromont, which there has to be. It is the “Russian-Putin way” and these Republicans are ALL compromised beyond words. Undeniably. Not to mention the Chinese government influence. Sorry, but there are too many facts. And no, I cannot personally believe Elaine Chao fell head long in love with McConnell and sits at his declining side out of love or caring. She is doing her job and her job is not about marital fidelity. Flattery and appeasing greed go a long way toward propping up moral cowardice.
I can assure Charles, they will lose in their districts. I see happening in my own backyard. The GOP party is finished. Unless the Republican Party birthright is offered another advantage at security, safety and personal prosperity they are prepared to go down with the ship. Jim Jones has convinced them of their thirst for MAGA. We are losing our freedoms daily and now their fight(GOP)is too weak. It’s dreadful to watch.
The GOP is totally pathetic. Every Republican president since Dwight David Eisenhower has opposed Soviet/Russian aggression and every Republican congressional leader has fully supported this stance. Until Trump that is. Trump sucks up to Russia and China and not a peep is heard from useful idiots like Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell.They either bleat about how great Trump is (Graham) or don't say anything at all (McConnell). You can bet that if John McCain had not been taken from us far too soon that he would have more than a few pungent things to say. I fear that as the legal noose tightens around Trump, he will get more and more desperate; who knows what he'll do in that case.
McConnell is the instrument that propelled us to today. We talk that certain actions are a sin or sinful, but there are those that are sin. McConnell is the sin that has been destroying this country. Yes, Trump, but before Trump there was McConnell working to transform the Senate and this country into his own image.
I find it interesting that McConnell and others work to preserve their legacy, their place in history. The truth, they could have been hero’s, standing in the gap to preserve the legacy of this country, of Democracy. Instead they are the sin destroying it.
Diane Feinstein's legacy is much better than McConnell's. History will not be kind to Moscow Mitch, who used his position to enrich himself and his family and attack the foundations of the country. Like Queen Jezebel in the Old Testament, may the dogs fight over his bones.
Totally. She was a speaker at a Women in Engineering conference that I attended in the early 90's. She was inspirational and motivational, which I needed at the time, being a young female engineering professor. I cried. Mitch and his ilk (e.g., Grassley) make me cry for other reasons.
I wonder if his fading mind even understands where we are in this country and how his undying partisanship contributed to the demise of American democracy.
McConnell was more interested in getting ultra conservative judges on the federal bench and specifically on the Supreme Court. He deluded himself into thinking tRump was just pretending to be a total lunatic and that tRump would be amenable to the Sage Wisdom of the Republican Elder Statesmen in Congress. Well, we see how well that went: four separate criminal indictments for tRump, Rudy Guiliani permanently disgracing himself in the annals of history, "inspiring" far too many of our fellow citizens to storm the Capitol Buiilding to commit murder and mayhem, and exposing for all to see that for most Republicans, keeping power trumps (sorry) the principle of loyalty to your country. I am confident that they will all face judgement eventually for their sins. The American people are a resilient bunch; we will survive this like we survived previous threats to our democracy.
Part of the "survival" includes cleaning up the Supreme Court by getting rid of the "pay to play" justices, or adding 4 more justices who actually honor the Constitution.
I live in KY and McConnell is a cancer on the state and country. His legacy is one of destruction and hate. He despises democracy. It looks infuriates me that this shallow empty suit is still in the senate. Look how he enable Tuberville weakening our military by preventing the promotions of the brave men and women in the armed forces!?!
You beat me to the comment, Leigh! I am in Louisville and also know all too well his corruption. I heard that some years ago, Harvard released a study naming the legislative branch in Kentucky as the most corrupt in the country, and I wasn’t even surprised. So many of us hate him here, that I find myself wondering how he could have honestly won his seat this last time.
I have never been able to get my head around the fact that he holds such huge power after winning by something like 40,000 votes. I too cannot believe he or Rand Paul were legitimately elected.
Pathetic pair! Who is to blame? The Kentucky voters! Take the blame and kick them to the curb?
I promise you, we keep trying...
That was a very sketchy election. Kentucky would have us believe that KY Dems voted for Biden and McConnell on the same ticket. I simply don't buy it.
And I now wonder who is puppeteering McConnell. Rand Paul has been quiet too.
According to recent reports, apparently his wife is doing the puppeteering these days and strictly controlling access to him.
Considering her own history of powerful connections, you raise a huge point! She will not go gently into the night.
Elaine has been right beside him. She apparently has no love for democracy as well.
Absolutely—she is a corrupt as he is.
Or more.
Elaine does not know democracy! China and Daddy have taken care of her, and now-them!
I completely agree. He is terrible. He enabled and pandered to Donald Trump, and has done nothing but block and obstruct. He paved the way for Donald Trump.
I just posted this but I lived in Louisville for 21 years - now I am across the river in Indiana (where I was born) - I can see Louisville from my front porch LOL So I do know who Mitch is very well. I used to see him at U of L baskeball games - back in the late 1970's ... My husband was a professor at U of L - now my son is :)
Leigh Woodward your words truthfully made my soulful tear flow down my face ..thanks for you honest response…hugs Marsha
McConnell is the living embodiment of the stinking rot that is all that remains of the Republican Party.
Just barely sentient at this point.
McConnell wanted and willingly took on former President Obama and proclaimed him a ‘one term President’. He authorized the denial of a hearing for Merrick Garland, but allowed the illiterate Trump to play a game of darts to select the nominees for the Supreme Court, it was past known about his racism. Because of this game, McConnell put this country in the position of reversal of basic human rights when his clear mind was slowly eroding at the time. One can only wonder, what he sacrificed to accumulate the amount of wealth he obtained in opposition to the good of the people. The adage, ‘you can’t take it with you’ is ringing true and the fight about term limits is mute in this case of Mitch McConnell. I hope America has learned an important lesson from this awful experience.
“My job is to make sure he’s a one-term President.” That was the fist public statement from Mitch McConnell after President Obama’s historic election. He’s been a small and petty man for years.
*By the way Steve, as a former English teacher (retired), I used words from your column as part of my vocabulary lessons. Today’s word would have been: encomium. 😁
Karen, I too, noticed encomium and had to look it up.
😂Steve stays with the expansive vocabulary!! I had to look up “defenestrate” a few months ago.
He could have a whole new Substack called, “Steve’s Word of the Day.” Lol
That's why I like to read articles written by really smart people. I always learn something new.
So true; my thesaurus would get a good working out if I wrote anything close to his pieces.
I just had to look up defenestrate! Who knew?
I had to look it up, lol.
Ditto!
Funny. I had to stop to look up encomium! It IS a great new word.👍
Add term limits to SCOTUS! It’s obvious that from recent disclosures the need is clearer than ever!
Anthony Wilkins only thing I can figure is people usually didn’t live as long But term limits should be in Senate, Congress,
Supreme Court & President
ASAP…urgent so we can survive
Well said, Loren. I am a firm believer that we make the beds we lie in. His current mental/physical health status is a reflection of what he has done over many many years. People blame Trump for the current Supreme Court and the turmoil it has rained down on us. I blame McConnell.
he was literally the Father of all that is wrong with that move against Obama - there it started and the rot and ruin are total
McConnell showed his true colors when he made up some "rule" and stopped Obama from appointing Garland to the Supreme Court, then turned around and laughed at his lie when he pushed through the Barrett appointment!
As the Leader of the Senate, I believe McConnell is responsible for the disintegration of respect for Congress.
We need to elect Democrats who will have a commitment to vote for structural changes, such as term limits for members of the House and Senate and changing the rules regarding "holds" on appointments, and I'm sure there are others. Those would be two important steps Democrats could take to demonstrate to the American people that they are serious about fixing this dysfunctional arm of our government!
Republicans constantly demonstrate what hypocrites they are, especially when they talk about nothing but Biden's age, when Trump and McConnell are far worse specimens of health than Biden!
The "age" question: And all the scuttlebutt about Joe Manchin potentially running on The Labels ticket? He's 75.
Yes, but considering what a, er..., whimp Merrick Garland is, I'm glad he never made it to the Supreme Court. The damage he's done to this country by waiting till it was too late to get trump convicted of any one of the 91 charges he's indicted for, shows his lack of leadership, courage and backbone. Then letting special counsel Robert Hur smear Biden with that "report"
about his age and failing mental accuity, shows Garland's lack of authority and ability to oversee the correct adherence to the judicial process.
Thank you. Totally agree.
My one thought on this is that Garland slow,plodding deliberateness would be an asset on the Court!
It has been a liability in his current position!!
Obama must take some blame for the members of the Supreme Court. I voted for Hillary but gritted my teeth and voted for Obama. Wonder how the supreme court would look today if Hillary had been elected. Ah-hum.
Whatever else anyone might think about him, this is the time that we really feel the loss of John McCain. He certainly would have more than a few pungent words to say about the Republican's collective cowardice and specifically McConnell's silence and Lindseed Graham and Kevin McCarthy's despicable fawning over the Mira Lago fruitcake.
Linseed Graham = Elmer Fudd
He will forever be remembered as "the toadie who could have stopped Trump (twice), but didn't due to cowardice, weakness and an immoral party-over-country mentality". And now, we all suffer the consequences. Ugh.
Not to mention poisoning the Supreme Court makeup with his hypocritical tactics.
Audrey, I felt the same foreboding feeling at both Impeachment hearings. The Republicans all lied through their Oath of Office. Their party has been despicable. We have to get out to vote these idiots out of our government. 🇺🇸⚖️
Mitch McConnell's legacy is a horrible one. He outright stole two Supreme Court seats and he COULD have ended the Trump fiasco once and for all--had he voted for impeachment in either trial, many Republican Senators could/would have used that as cover and the danger of another Trump Presidency would have been ended forever. He is directly responsible for the fact that democracy in this country is on its deathbed.
On the other hand, his legacy may be celebrated as the person who brought about a White Nationalist Christian America!🥺
Mitch McConnell is arguably the worst career politician in American History. The damage he has caused America will take decades to undo.
Josh Hawley says “hold my beer”
It will NEVER be undone, never!
Cowardice is a forever Stain.
Mitch McConnell and every Republican who supported, assisted, lied, and otherwise did the bidding of trump, will be remembered for trying to install a fascist into the Oval Office. I'm not sure there is anything worse than that.
Perfectly said. Steve, thanks again for another pitch perfect piece.
Beautifully and eloquently said, Steve, and 100% true. Faction over country and abject cowardice. Their dishonor will remain forever. I blame him more than anyone for where we are today. I was a never Trumper from day one, and DJT is a cancer that continues to eat America alive, but the failure to impeach after January 6 is on the Republican senators who voted no, and especially on McConnell. History will judge him and the rest, and they will deserve to be seen as the traitors they are. They failed all of us.
History, history, history. What about 10 years from now, if Trump is elected. Nobody will care about what history will say about him when they can't breath the air, drink the water, or pay their rent.
Excellent and factual article. The cowardice crowd of the beltway. There is nothing more contemptible then leadership by cowards. DC likes to view itself a Star Wars empire when it is more the liking of the Lords of the Flies revision.
They are collectively afraid that if they don't abjectly follow Their Dear Leader to the letter, he will call for them to be challenged in their respective primaries by tRump sycophants. They are terrified of losing their cushy political positions and actually having to work an honest living.
Not to mention the kompromont, which there has to be. It is the “Russian-Putin way” and these Republicans are ALL compromised beyond words. Undeniably. Not to mention the Chinese government influence. Sorry, but there are too many facts. And no, I cannot personally believe Elaine Chao fell head long in love with McConnell and sits at his declining side out of love or caring. She is doing her job and her job is not about marital fidelity. Flattery and appeasing greed go a long way toward propping up moral cowardice.
I can assure Charles, they will lose in their districts. I see happening in my own backyard. The GOP party is finished. Unless the Republican Party birthright is offered another advantage at security, safety and personal prosperity they are prepared to go down with the ship. Jim Jones has convinced them of their thirst for MAGA. We are losing our freedoms daily and now their fight(GOP)is too weak. It’s dreadful to watch.
The GOP is totally pathetic. Every Republican president since Dwight David Eisenhower has opposed Soviet/Russian aggression and every Republican congressional leader has fully supported this stance. Until Trump that is. Trump sucks up to Russia and China and not a peep is heard from useful idiots like Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell.They either bleat about how great Trump is (Graham) or don't say anything at all (McConnell). You can bet that if John McCain had not been taken from us far too soon that he would have more than a few pungent things to say. I fear that as the legal noose tightens around Trump, he will get more and more desperate; who knows what he'll do in that case.
Well said!
McConnell is the instrument that propelled us to today. We talk that certain actions are a sin or sinful, but there are those that are sin. McConnell is the sin that has been destroying this country. Yes, Trump, but before Trump there was McConnell working to transform the Senate and this country into his own image.
I find it interesting that McConnell and others work to preserve their legacy, their place in history. The truth, they could have been hero’s, standing in the gap to preserve the legacy of this country, of Democracy. Instead they are the sin destroying it.
Thank you for this, Steve.
Diane Feinstein's legacy is much better than McConnell's. History will not be kind to Moscow Mitch, who used his position to enrich himself and his family and attack the foundations of the country. Like Queen Jezebel in the Old Testament, may the dogs fight over his bones.
Totally. She was a speaker at a Women in Engineering conference that I attended in the early 90's. She was inspirational and motivational, which I needed at the time, being a young female engineering professor. I cried. Mitch and his ilk (e.g., Grassley) make me cry for other reasons.
I wonder if his fading mind even understands where we are in this country and how his undying partisanship contributed to the demise of American democracy.
Or maybe like Lady Macbeth he is scrubbing his bloodstained hands trying to get rid of the damn spot, he fades away with a sick conscience.
McConnell caved to Trump when it counted, like many other GOP lawmakers. Without their support, Trump
Trump couldn’t have taken over the party! Shameful that for them it’s party over country!
McConnell was more interested in getting ultra conservative judges on the federal bench and specifically on the Supreme Court. He deluded himself into thinking tRump was just pretending to be a total lunatic and that tRump would be amenable to the Sage Wisdom of the Republican Elder Statesmen in Congress. Well, we see how well that went: four separate criminal indictments for tRump, Rudy Guiliani permanently disgracing himself in the annals of history, "inspiring" far too many of our fellow citizens to storm the Capitol Buiilding to commit murder and mayhem, and exposing for all to see that for most Republicans, keeping power trumps (sorry) the principle of loyalty to your country. I am confident that they will all face judgement eventually for their sins. The American people are a resilient bunch; we will survive this like we survived previous threats to our democracy.
Part of the "survival" includes cleaning up the Supreme Court by getting rid of the "pay to play" justices, or adding 4 more justices who actually honor the Constitution.
Perfectly said Charles. I hope you are right about America surviving this.