Mitch McConnell took to Twitter today to attempt to make Democrats look bad for holding an impeachment inquiry over the Ukraine scandal. Unfortunately for Mitch, what he said pretty much described himself and was left egg on his face.
Here’s the tweet:
Already, House Democrats’ impeachment “inquiry” is violating norms and precedent. They are denying Republicans and President Trump the same rights that Democrats and President Clinton received during those impeachment proceedings.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) October 16, 2019
Let’s look at McConnell’s own record of following norms and precedent.
Mitch McConnell hardly followed precedent when he denied President Obama his Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland from even getting a hearing. That was a norm every President was afforded.
Mitch McConnell hardly followed precedent when he had to “nuke” the 60 vote threshold to get President Trump’s nominees for the Supreme Court on the court.
Mitch McConnell held up debt ceiling votes in ways that no one has before during Obama’s two terms.
But wait, there’s more … as The Guardian reports:
… he used his Republican majority to cut the time for debating Trump’s court appointees from 30 hours to two – thereby enabling Republicans to ram through even more Trump judges.
McConnell doesn’t give a fig about the Senate, or about democracy. He cares only about winning. On the eve of the 2010 midterm elections he famously declared that his top priority was for Barack Obama “to be a one-term president”.
Between 2009 and 2013, McConnell’s Senate Republicans blocked 79 Obama nominees. In the entire history of the United States until that point, only 68 presidential nominees had been blocked.
Democrats seem to be done playing by so-called “rules” set forth by McConnell and Trump — who have over time shown themselves to have no interest in actual fairness, any precedent, or norms. They only care about winning — democracy be damned.
Of course, McConnell will continue to bellyache about Democrats and norms, but it is painfully obvious now that it is all a smokescreen.
Fortunately, for America, people seem to be waking up to Mitch McConnell and his smoke and mirrors game. In the 3rd quarter alone, his challenger, Amy McGrath, raised nearly 11 million dollars to defeat McConnell in 2020.
Featured image via Flickr
