McConnell’s defense of democracy far too little, far too late amid Capitol coup attempt
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, gave a nice little speech about democracy on Wednesday; unfortunately it was overshadowed by an armed coup attempt at the Capitol, forces unleashed by his four years of enabling of President Donald Trump.
McConnell always appeared to emphasize the clown car aspects of Trump’s presidency, rather than the death cult, chuckling as he used Trump to meet his own ends in stacking the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court.
He stood up for democracy at the end, disavowing his even more villainous sidekicks like Sen. Josh Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz, who have actual blood on their hands for feeding Trump supporters a toxic stews of lies about who won the election.
“The voters, the courts, and the states have all spoken,” McConnell said. “If we overrule them all, it would damage our republic forever.”
Well, the damage is done. The sight of MAGA-hatted, armed thugs storming the Senate and House chambers was shocking, even to an electorate that felt it could no longer be shocked by Trump and his merry band of grifters. The extent of damage or bloodshed is not yet clear, and we can only hope there will at last be a reckoning, not just for the rioters, but for the president who brought our proud country to this point.
The aftermath will begin soon, questions about the lack of police support, and the fact the mob was treated far less harshly than an average weeknight protest against police brutality. There is even chatter about ousting Trump in the last two weeks of his reign with the 25th amendment for inciting such a coup attempt.
But there is plenty of blame to go around. McConnell and the rest of the pandering delegation, like Ky. Rep. Jamie Comer, have fanned the flames of resentment and deceit, always giving Trump just a little more room to feed his delusions. As the most powerful politician in Washington, McConnell could have shut this election farce down immediately. Everyone knew there was a good chance it could end this way. And thanks to McConnell and his power-hungry friends, it just did.
When the Senate reconvened later Wednesday night, McConnell condemned the “unhinged” crowd that stormed the Capitol, but unlike Sen. Charles Schumer, he failed to even mention Trump’s name. Schumer, on the other hand, made it very clear in his speech that “this president bears a great deal of the blame, this mob was in great part President Trump’s doing ... Today’s events would not have happened without him.”
As Schumer pointed out, the riot was the culmination of the past four years of Trumpism, with its “alternative facts,” its shameless rule-breaking and corruption, its continued embrace of racist policy and white supremacy, the shift toward authoritarianism by a raging narcissist who was too incompetent to govern but all too skilled at manipulation. It was all clear where this was all headed, and McConnell and his ilk were content to watch it flow on.
In some cosmic poetic justice, McConnell gave his speech just as it appears he will be getting a new title, that of Minority Leader, thanks to Georgia voters. But it’s all too late. The United States of America has now suffered an attempted coup, something that has not happened since the last bloody act of sedition, the Civil War. McConnell often speaks of working at the desk of the Great Compromiser, fellow Kentuckian Henry Clay, who tried to save the republic from that war. But McConnell can no longer lay claim to Clay’s legacy. Under his watch, along with the rest of the Republican party, the republic has been damaged forever.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 4:28 PM.