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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKY-Sen: Even Moscow Mitch's Daughters Have Turned On Him For Becoming Trump's "Enabler-In-Chief"
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/12/1936744/-KY-Sen-Even-Moscow-Mitch-s-Daughters-Have-Turned-On-Him-For-Becoming-Trump-s-Enabler-In-Chief?detail=emaildkreKY-Sen: Even Moscow Mitch's Daughters Have Turned On Him For Becoming Trump's "Enabler-In-Chief"
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Monday April 13, 2020 · 1:06 AM EDT
Jane Mayer from The New Yorker has a really good piece out about how U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells (R. KY) path being Trumps top enabler showcases how Moscow Mitch truly is the Dr. Frankenstein to Trumps Frankenstein Monster. A number of Never Trumpers like Bill Kristol and Rick Wilson tear McConnell a new one in the article but whats brutal about this piece is how people who knew and once admired McConnell have turned on him:
John David Dyche, a lawyer in Louisville and until recently a conservative columnist, enjoyed unmatched access to McConnell and his papers, and published an admiring biography of him in 2009. In March, though, Dyche posted a Twitter thread that caused a lot of talk in the states political circles. He wrote that McConnell of course realizes that Trump is a hideous human being & utterly unfit to be president, and that, in standing by Trump anyway, he has shown that he has no ideology except his own political power. Dyche declined to comment for this article, but, after the coronavirus shut down most of America, he announced that he was contributing to McConnells opponent, Amy McGrath, and tweeted, Those who stick with the hideous, incompetent demagogue endanger the country & will be remembered in history as shameful cowards.
McConnell also appears to have lost the political support of his three daughters. The youngest, Porter, is a progressive activist who is the campaign director for Take On Wall Street, a coalition of labor unions and nonprofit groups which advocates against the predatory economic power of banks and billionaires. One of its targets has been Stephen Schwarzman, the chairman and C.E.O. of the Blackstone Group, who, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, has, since 2016, donated nearly thirty million dollars to campaigns and super pacs aligned with McConnell. Last year, Take On Wall Street condemned Blackstones detrimental behavior and argued that the companys campaign donations cast a pall on candidates ethics.
Porter McConnell has also publicly criticized the Senates confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh, which her father considers one of his greatest achievements. On Twitter, she accused Kavanaughs supporters of misogyny, and retweeted a post from StandWithBlaseyFord, a Web site supporting Christine Blasey Ford, one of Kavanaughs accusers. The husband of McConnells middle daughter, Claire, has also criticized Kavanaugh online, and McConnells eldest daughter, Eleanor, is a registered Democrat.
All three daughters declined to comment, as did their mother, Sherrill Redmon, whom McConnell divorced in 1980. After the marriage ended, Redmon, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy, left Kentucky and took over a womens-history archive at Smith College, in Massachusetts, where she collaborated with Gloria Steinem on the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project. In an e-mail, Steinem told me that Redmon rarely spoke about McConnell, and noted, Despite Sherrills devotion to recording all of womens lives, she didnt talk about the earlier part of her own. Steinems understanding was that McConnells political views had once been different. I can only imagine how painful it must be to marry and have children with a democratic Jekyll and see him turn into a corrupt and authoritarian Hyde, she wrote. (Redmon is evidently working on a tell-all memoir.)
Mayer points out that while Kentucky is a red state, McConnells loyalty to Trump could put him in a tough position for re-election. Especially since Amy McGrath (D. KY) is proving to be a pretty strong candidate:
McGrath outraised McConnell in the first quarter of this year, reporting she received $12.8 million while the Republican incumbent raised $7.8 million. She now edges out McConnell in total fundraising, bringing in nearly $30 million to his $25.6 million. The Senate majority leader is projected to win the seat but by a narrow margin, according to polling data analyzed by FiveThirtyEight.
McGrath is attracting small donors from both in and out of state, making up 63 percent of her fundraising total through the end of 2019. Small donors make up just 16 percent of McConnells funds, totaling nearly $2.8 million as he relies more on PACs and his colleagues campaign coffers.
Banking on Democrats dislike for McConnell, McGrath has also issued several Facebook ads targeting the incumbent senators handling of the Coronavirus outbreak.
Its a high profile race, McConnell is the second most powerful Republican and Democrats intensely dislike him, said Raymond La Raja, a political science professor at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It is a national race that attracts small donors.
ooky
(8,922 posts)Stuart G
(38,414 posts)BSdetect
(8,998 posts)Indykatie
(3,695 posts)iluvtennis
(19,846 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)And their mother worked with Gloria Steinem! Its boggling!
Indykatie
(3,695 posts)I consider myself a Liberal who is a progressive thinker.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)So I see that there is a difference in just how far left you feel as a Liberal. When you say youre a Progressive it means you lean further left than the moderate Democrats. I believe in government the way ALexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie do. As being there for the well-being of every single citizen, down to the the least of us. Our taxes should pay for universal healthcare and a free education and the basic human needs of housing for every single citizen while allowing Capitalism and personal wealth as long as it doesnt take these basic rights and benefits away from anyone. And it should add to the well-being of all citizens.
Exploitative Capitalism should be banned. No more slave wages or dangerous working conditions. Everyone has the right to a living wage even above and beyond their basic needs of health, housing and education.
LisaM
(27,801 posts)I remember being very interested and reading about it a few years ago, though information was a little scant. It sounds as if there is more stuff available now.
IronLionZion
(45,426 posts)Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)a tell-all? Hopefully, she will reveal why he was dismissed from the army after just weeks of service? Maybe this book is contingent on whether or not he loses the campaign. His marriage to Elaine Chao is interesting. More of a business deal, maybe? She got access for her father's drug shipments, and he got to look straight?
beachbumbob
(9,263 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,881 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)A parasite that feeds on parasites.
N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,715 posts)It really bothers him...this is going to haunt him in his dreams...yea right!
TryLogic
(1,722 posts)crickets
(25,962 posts)I want the resounding "Fuck off!" so, so much. May this man disappear into ignominy, never to hold any position of respect or responsibility again, his name forever mud.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,321 posts)Hekate
(90,643 posts)...for this article given his record of scorched-earth revenge.
Will read the whole thing later, then try to get into NYT for the Jane Mayer article. Thanks, Babylonsister.
AllaN01Bear
(18,150 posts)alp227
(32,016 posts)Blue Owl
(50,349 posts)Polybius
(15,381 posts)Ron Reagan is another perfect example. You never hear about high-ranking Democrats having kids who grow up the be Republicans. Is there a single R in the Kennedy family?
treestar
(82,383 posts)that exists in the right wing home is rebelled against. The open mindedness in the left wing home does not invite rebellion.