Opinion: How Republican leaders broke Americans' confidence

[In It to Win It]

WaPo

No Paywall

On Tuesday, the venerable Gallup organization reported that just 27 percent of Americans expressed confidence in their institutions — the lowest level of trust since the questions were first asked half a century ago.

On Wednesday, Mitch McConnell showed us why Americans feel this way.

Republican senators announced that, under orders from the Senate Republican leader, they were pulling out of House-Senate talks finalizing details on bipartisan legislation to help the United States compete with China on semiconductor chips.

It wasn’t because McConnell objected to the China bill; he was one of 19 Republican senators who voted for the Senate’s version. It’s because he objects to a second, unrelated bill Democrats are working on to lower prescription drug prices.

McConnell wants to stop Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), from using a process known as “reconciliation” to pass that prescription-drug bill by a simple majority vote, immune from any GOP filibuster. And to stop Americans from getting cheaper prescriptions, he is willing to sabotage American manufacturers (and therefore assist China) by denying them $52 billion in support under the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.

In both cases, Americans lose — because McConnell thinks it’s to Republicans’ advantage in the midterm elections. He is willing to hurt the country, and help the Chinese, in order to harm Democrats’ political standing.

“Let me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill,” he tweeted.

And let me be perfectly clear: This cynicism has destroyed Americans’ faith in their government.

[UpInArms]

1. I can only wish

For a quick and miserable death for Moscow Mitch

[Hamlette]

2. wow, and it's from Dana Milbank. He's been good lately. I always thought he was a lightweight.

maybe I judged him too harshly.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. The ongoing assault by Moscow Mitch is more important than trump's bloviating.

[uponit7771]

4. +1, if Moscow Mitch didn't enable Benedict Donald we'd be in a better place

[Mad_Machine76]

5. Surprised

This article doesn’t somehow manage to fit some Biden blame in somewhere. Impressive.

[Initech]

6. The Washington Post is wrong - democracy doesn't die in darkness.

It dies in plain sight. And thanks to assholes like Mitch McConnell and Clarence Thomas, they're aiding and abetting its' demise. And we're screaming at them like Leonardo DiCaprio in Don't Look Up about it and they seem to not give a shit about it. Thanks to the GOP and Fox News, fascism will come to America before we even know it, and by the time we can do something about it, it may be too late.

[nakocal]

7. Republicans have been fucking the US for decades

But since they own most of the US media, they get away with it as the media ignore what the republicans are doing or just say congress, implying that both sides are the same.