Trump Is Horrible But Mitch McConnell Is Really Destroying America

[dajoki]

Trump Is Horrible But Mitch McConnell Is Really Destroying America
https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2019/5/27/trump-horrible-mitch-mcconnell-really-destroying-america

Inside Donald Trump’s cacophony of crazy stands Mitch McConnell. The Senate Majority Leader has his hand firmly on the dial that determines presidential power, and for McConnell setting that dial is an exercise in pure partisanship.

He became the Senate Majority Leader when the Republicans regained control of the 114th Congress in 2015. With his eye on Republican control of the federal judiciary, McConnell blocked President Obama’s judicial nominations to lower federal courts by refusing to bring them to a Senate vote. The Kentucky Republican turned the dial of presidential power for Obama as close to zero as he could.

The big pay-off came in 2016 when Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia and McConnell refused to move Garland’s nomination forward in the Senate. Republican Donald Trump took office as president in 2017 with a very high number of judicial vacancies to fill, along with the top prize of a Supreme Court seat, all thanks to McConnell. With a Republican in the White House, even incompetent Trump, McConnell brought the dial of presidential power to Spinal Tap’s legendary eleven.

The Unitary Theory of the Executive is supported in some conservative circles and has found its way into recent Republican administrations. Popular in both Bush administrations and now on steroids in the Trump administration, it basically declares the president’s powers under Article II of the Constitution broad enough to give the president far-reaching control of the executive branch and diminishes Congress’s Article I powers to check the executive. As we see this theory of presidential power put into practice, it is the Senate Majority Leader who controls the level of presidential power.

<<snip>>

With the presidential election of 2020 on the horizon we must recognize the need for a Democratic majority in the Senate. If McConnell or any other Republican leads the Senate in 2021, the dial determining presidential power will find its way to the bottom once again should a Democrat win the presidential election. In order to clean house after Trump, the Democrats must control Congress completely along with the White House. If not, Democratic voters, indeed the American majority, will find themselves frustrated yet again with the Republican minority holding progress back at every turn. Taking the Senate is an uphill fight for Democrats, but it is a fight we must not lose in 2020.

[Me.]

1. Both Are

[mopinko]

2. it's so much bigger than twitler.

it's the whole damn gop, faux news, rw radio, and the damage they have done to the citizens of this country.
as much damage as their ire has done to our govt, i often wonder how much damage they have done in their own lives. living in a constant state of anger and delusion is not healthy. it is usually damned dangerous.
start w the opioid crisis, and go down the list. farmer suicides at crisis stage. and on and on.

crimes against humanity, and against america.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

3. Unless a strong Democrat runs in Kentucky in 2020, Mr. 18% will win.....

Dirty, deceitful, and dangerous Mitchie will coast to another victory.

We have to take back the Senate and demote him.

[PatSeg]

4. In many ways,

Trump is a tool for more powerful republicans with an agenda. Unfortunately for them, he can't always be controlled, unless of course you're Vladimir Putin.

With all that we see happening in plain sight, I shutter to think what is happening behind closed doors.

[Initech]

5. McCarthyism is bad, but McConnellism is 100 million times worse.

He really is the worst SML in the history of this country.

[dogman]

6. As a youth, I wondered about Hitler's rise to power.

How the people did not see through him baffled me. We heard they were just being "Good Germans", responding to his calls for nationalism. Now we are seeing "Great Americans" respond to those same nationalist calls. Personally, this was the worst Memorial Day ever. I truly grieve for my Country.

[uponit7771]

7. Moscow Mitch is the one who's enabling Red Don

[Pepsidog]

8. I totally agree. McConnell has done more damage to the country than any other living human being.

Murdoch comes in a close second place.

[IronLionZion]

9. Mitch knew Trump would be president

why else would he block Garland? All polls pointed to a Hillary win back then. It would have been pretty dumb to block Garland just to get a much more liberal judge from Hillary.

Mitch knew because he's totally in on it.

[Saviolo]

10. The danger that Mitch McConnell poses cannot be overstated:

I've said this before and I'll say it again:

Mitch McConnell is the gravedigger of democracy.

As long as he's getting what he wants, he's going to keep going. If Trump's voted out, he'll continue to obstruct as he did with Obama. He rushed dozens and dozens of judge nominations through when he knew he could get his friends from the Federalist Society on the bench, and withheld nominations for years under Obama until there was a shortage and a crisis. This is all in addition to his blatant theft of Merrick Garland's seat on the SCOTUS.

He's super rich, insanely powerful, completely out of touch with any constituency that doesn't include other extremely wealthy and powerful people like himself. He will actively harm the poor, women, POC, LGBTQ+, and immigrants, because none of those people even exist in any meaningful way for him. They're (we're) an abstraction. He will suppress votes, gerrymander, lie, cheat, block Senate votes, obstruct, whatever he thinks he needs to do to give his party the tiniest edge. Not even because he believes in the party, but because it will keep him in power.

[global1]

15. We Here At DU Know This About McConnell - But How Do We Get.....

the message on Mitch and the Repugs out to those Americans that aren't as plugged in as we are here?

I know that we have to beat Trump and we're looking for a candidate that can beat Trump in the General. However, just concentrating on beating Trump IMHO is short sighted. We need to run a campaign on beating the Repugs in 2020.

We need to list somewhere on DU - all those things that the Repugs have pulled to set this country back. We need to list their stances on abortion; climate change and the environment; healthcare; Medicare and Social Security; infrastructure; beating the drums for a war; women; LGBTQ; immigration; the economy and jobs; reducing taxes for the middle class and not the rich; student loans; foreign trade; working with our allies; Post Office; as well as all their support for anything that Trump is pushing for (i.e., the Wall, etc).

We need to contrast where the Repugs are at with these issues as opposed to where the Dems are with these issues. We need to show the American People why they need to support and vote for the Dems if they want to see this country succeed again.

I would like to go to one place here on DU where we have all these issues spelled out with where the Repugs are versus where the Dems are - and why the Repug stances are negative and why the Dems stances are the way to proceed.

We need to get these messages out to the American People and we need to stress the importance for them to get out to vote (GOTV).

There will be a lot of pressure on the Repugs and Trump to suppress votes; cheat and steal votes and rely on Russian or other foreign interference in our elections.

I hope somebody here on DU (that has an organized mind and is good with issues) can take the lead and spearhead such a resource here on DU that all of us DUer's can use to stress the importance of why it is imperative that they GOTV in 2020.

[Vinca]

11. Taking back the Senate is imperative and beating McConnell would be a dream come true.

In the meantime, I wish there was something we could do to force him to bring bills the House has passed to the floor of the Senate.

[MyOwnPeace]

12. There is nothing we can do..........

except keep driving the message that the House is sending bills and bills to the Senate - where they die.

Dickwad IQ45 says that it is the Dems who are obstructing.

NO, the Democrats in the House are passing bills for health care, the environment, defense, and other important social and legal matters. WE need to show America that it is being done - and when IQ45 cries, NAIL HIM WITH FACTS!

And yes, as much as I truly do HATE IQ45, McTurtle is much worse!

We MUST Get Out The Vote!

[EveHammond13]

13. Putin's Mitch

[SleeplessinSoCal]

14. McConnell isn't mentioned in this op-ed, but ...

He could be.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/05/kentucky-farmers-are-afraid-to-criticize-trump-because-they-fear-republican-retaliation-retired-farmer/

The new Republican Party uses intimidation for its rural votes. And McConnell is a walking bag of horse flop. So is his wife...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/elaine-chao-transport-secretary-still-owns-road-paving-company-stock-she-promised-to-get-rid-of?ref=home