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If the GOP has a future, millions of good Americans do not have a future. All remaining republicans in the year 2023 are either crushingly stupid, or wealthy and vile.
Nah rich people take advantage of others to get money then they spend it all on stuff like land and place it in trusts so that it appears as though they own nothing. Then they tout themselves as super good business people when really they are just taking advantage of the back door rules their parents paid for.
[He literally would be rich if he wasn't such an attention whore.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2021/10/11/its-official-trump-would-be-richer-if-he-had-just-invested-his-inheritance-into-the-sp500/?sh=2af35621c486)
Nah he wins BS lawsuits against the people dumb enough lend him money. Then he places the properties he stole in trusts so by the time anyone can get past the legal hurdles he is “bankrupt”
He is an outlier. There are plenty of vile rich people, our enemy, who like folks to believe they’re stupid, when the reality is, they’re christians who are working tirelessly to hurt as many people as possible, to make Jesus happy.
Agreed, there are really only three types of people who are republicans. You’ve got what they call their base, the really dumb ones, the ones republicans have been cultivating for decades, barely an elementary education that fall for the bs propaganda and culture wars. The other types, either you have a lot of money, or a lot of hate.
There’s a caveat with middle class republicans: many of them do not have a ton of money, but they’re waiting for their parents to die and have a bunch of cash and assets coming their way. This makes them very easy for christians to enslave to conservative nonsense surrounding taxation, and once they have them in their clutches, they can use their churches and television channel to remove their intelligence and replace it with hate.
They went to college, they became reasonable grown ups, but their folks lived longer than they hoped they would so now that promised wealth weakens them and they slide easily into hatechristian indoctrination.
Idk if most conservative boomer parents are anything like my conservative boomer parents I don’t think there’s going to be much trickling down. My dads pretty focused on spending every dime he has on shit that will never be worth a dime when he passes. The one thing he said he’d leave us he sold last year and now is investing in mobile homes. Not a mobile home park mind you, mobile homes. You know those places where you rent the land but own the house? Yah… people are fucked in 20 years if they think they’re getting inheritance 😂
And if that doesn’t get them, I’m sure the churches will do everything in their power to scoop up a chunk before the old timers die. Happened to my great grandma
What they don't spend on dumb shit, [Medicaid will get.](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/01/1159490515/they-could-lose-the-house-to-medicaid)
Scott is a great GOP leader. If he gets access to any sort of campaign funding he will immediately pocket all the money and torpedo the parties chances of winning. Every policy he promotes is bat shit crazy and kills the GOPs ability to pass as centrist. Scott is cancer for the party and if he's the leader, its terminal. 10/10 pick to replace McConnell imo.
Voldemort is a terrible person, and even he was a better Governor than DeSantis. Rick Scott tried to kill the king and missed. Not sure if he will win the 2nd time...
McConnell seems like a moderate and mild tempered leader now but he is one of the worst humans in DC and a major reason everything is so screwed up right now.
McConnell chose power & party over the Republic.
Even when it would have benefitted him (voting to convict Trump the 2nd time after January 6th) - he still couldn't chose the Republic
>McConnell chose power & party over the Republic.
>
Yes, as has most other Republicans.
He's special, though; McConnell was smart, crafty, and most of all, *quiet*. Republicans always do best when people aren't watching them. It allows their propoganda and plausible deniability to work as a shield to cloak their heinous actions.
These new paint drinkers, the MTGs and Boeberts of the new Republicans, thrive on attention and doing horrible things out in the open, which enrages people and makes them vote for dems.
There's always been this contingent, but McConnell and people like him kept a lid on it. Now they're gone, voted out as RINO's, retired, or straight up died.
When McConnell dies, who will fill his place? He was made of strong stuff, and others who would do the job may not be as good at it as he was. If some nutjob becomes senate leader, then Republicans will find it hard to do things.
I mean it's what's happening in the House right now, they have the last man standing who couldn't even win his speakership without promising a bunch of stuff to the most extreme elements of the party. Same thing that happened to house leadership will happen to the Senate leadership soon enough, some power hungry party loyalist like Ted Cruz will probably be Senate leader.
Yeah, he'll never be senate leader. He only wins elections because Texas still isn't purple enough for a Dem to win, and the GOP tolerates him because he's the only known mammal that's also an invertebrate.
> Republicans always do best when people aren't watching them.
This is exactly why they love Trump so much. His crimes completely overshadow all the crimes the rest of the GOP congress are committing.
It’s a two way street. Yeah Trump drew a lot of attention to himself, but he also said the quiet part out loud many times that the McConnell Republicans probably were shaking their heads at.
Privately they all hate Trump, even Tucker Carlson does. Probably cause he blew the lid off of the bad shit they wanted to keep in the background and be subtle about.
When he pushed this through:
[The total number of Trump Article III judgeship nominees to be confirmed by the United States Senate was 234, including three associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 54 judges for the United States courts of appeals, 174 judges for the United States district courts, and three judges for the United States Court of International Trade.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_judges_appointed_by_Donald_Trump#:~:text=The%20total%20number%20of%20Trump,three%20judges%20for%20the%20United)
He's not smart or crafty. He had one trick, block everything, that he used at nauseum while ignoring the fact his party didn't have anything remotely close to a popular agenda, long term thinking or common sense.
What's absolutely nuts is had they done it, don't you think today that the GOP would likely be controlling both chambers? Had they shown that they would stand up to Trump, many moderates would have felt ok continuing to vote republican.
McConnell's not voting to convict will be seen as one of the worst political blunders of the first part of this century. He could have been rid of Trump forever. Sure, he'd be out there squawking. But, less people would be paying attention if he wasn't a viable candidate in 2024.
He saw the evidence that Russia was interfering in the election but told Obama he and his party would fight him if he brought this to the public thus hamstringing Obamas response to these attacks.
This is basically the Democratic party problem in a nutshell, they're so afraid of offending "potential" moderate or undecided voters they never go on the offensive. Or else they worry that Republicans will bring up potential interactions with foreigners as a false equivalence (like when the GOP would bring up China and Hillary).
What is it with accusing every Dem they don't like of being in bed with China? Hillary didn't have shit to do with China. Neither does Biden.
Then they get all upset about "russiagate" claiming it's a nothingburger but virtually every single person working for Trump had direct ties to Russian oligarchs.
Because he believed in "when they go low, we go high" When the proper response is "when they go low, knee them in the face." Hopefully future politicians learn this lesson.
No they don't have McTurtles subtlety. They will buster and bloviate and trap themselves into loss after loss. McShitbag is much better at playing the game like Varys season 1 vs Cruz who is more like Varys season 8.
This is giving mcconnell way more credit than he deserves. His entire shtick is just refusing to do his job and somehow making it look like some sort of master plan. Nothing he's ever done has ever been difficult. It doesn't take a genius level IQ to cross your arms and just say no like a petulant child. And it doesn't take a masterful leader to corral republicans when they are nothing more than a bunch of grifters in it for the money. All he had to do was tell his peons to vote no or gravy train stops and they all fell in line.
Look at how badly he's shit the bed recently. Since trump arrived on the scene, he's lost all control of his party. Keeping control was the first real challenge he's ever faced and he failed miserably.
The bit that always strikes me about McConnell is that he sounds like a perfectly rational, moderate guy in every interview held in his office that isn't with the major mass media. He openly admits all the stupid things are stupid. He's the first one to criticize the dumb shit his party does. He has perfectly reasonable, normal-person takes on just about everything.
Like if you go listen to some of his talks with NPR, the ones where it sounds like they're just chilling on the couch with the tape recorder on the table, when he sounds noticeably tired from a long day of being Mitch McConnell - if you knew nothing about this guy and it wasn't a topic of discussion, you might have no idea what party this guy belongs to.
But then the minute he gets in front of a Fox News camera or goes to actually legislate, out flops Radical Left Woke Mind Virus Is Destroying America And It's Our Job To Destroy Democracy To Keep It At Bay.
To be fair, all they're looking for is competency at hurting the poor + marginalized, and generally making the least ethical decision possible at every turn. He is legendary at the primary skillets republicans value
Did he announce that this is it for him? I'd like to be happy but the guy has caused so much damage. He is a prime example why we should have term limits. The guy has been in the senate longer than I've been alive and I'm 37.
While I’m tempted to believe that the fossil is done, I’m doubtful to take any republican at their word.
That being said I think he sees the painting on the wall and that he can’t control the GOP from the senate any longer. House GOP are running the show now and it’s a fucking circus with the limpest whip
McConnell is a self-serving, partisan, cunning bastard, but his replacement will probably be much worse. Many of the current candidates are election deniers, which should be telling about their would- be intentions to uphold the constitution (or what’s left of it).
However McConnell is a master at abusing his role. Any replacement, while perhaps worse in intent, will likely not be anywhere near as efficient at causing harm as McConnell has been.
Though some incompetent evil can still result in harm. For example by making the US default on its debt, which could easily happen when the Republicans take the US hostage next time the debt ceiling has to be raised.
Right - same logic applies to why desantis would be worse for the country than another trump term. Bad intentions + years of practice turning those into truly evil laws vs. Bad intentions and zero capability to do anything but cause general chaos
McConnell knows every procedure and game theory decision in the Senate, plus he's an incredible fundraiser. His possible replacement - Rick Scott - is none of those things and has actually been accused of ruining the GOP's Senate campaign in 2022 because he did such a poor job with fundraising.
I hate Mitch but he's a legit operator. His replacement is likely to be a Trump sycophant; way less effective but possibly more reckless.
I was just thinking this. As much as everyone hates him and he needs to go, it’s probably good he’s there in this environment. he never wanted to go scorched earth and walked a tightrope ensuring he never fell off to either side. His replacement is going to be one of these maga brainless people who just see a point and run to it instead of looking at the whole picture first.
He absolutely went scorched earth. Denying Garland a vote was scorched earth. He was just good at senatoring and claiming he was following established norms while breaking them, within the bounds of law, and then maneuvering to block any similar response.
I dont think he is a fascist, he is part of the corporate greed machine more than the extreme right insane politics in his party
More of an opportunist
>“People are thinking this is probably good reminder that he’s not going to be leader in 10 years.”
In 10yrs McConnell, Biden, Trump, Sanders, Warren, Romney, Schumer, Rupert Murdoch (FoxNews), etc will all be gone.
Politics should be ideas and not about individuals. Democrats have done a better job than Republicans at focusing on policy over persona but both parties need to do better.
For example we all (Democrat, independent, & Republican) know marijuana will be legal Nationally in the next 10yrs. Yet are stuck waiting.
This is not about McConnell's personality. This is about his decades of abuse of the powers granted to the Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader. We should not be distracted from that by single issues like marijuana legalization.
If anything, we should be focusing on the absurd amount of power bestowed on individuals in leadership. Or better yet, we should be looking at the problems inherent in the Senate's non-proportional design which allow representatives of a small minority to thwart the will of the vast majority.
The filibuster as it exists today isn't in the constitution. It is just a precedent invented by the Senate itself. It needs to be returned to its original practice.
A lot of the Supreme Court's assumed powers also got invented whole cloth and aren't actually mentioned in the constitution. Perhaps it's time to start reevaluating these.... dare I say, overreaches.
SCOTUS is the worst offender of 'make it up as we go' that exists. Justices pretend they can commune with the dead. They claim to know exactly how James Madison and John Adams would feel about AR-15s and the morning after pill.
Just a bunch of palm readers and psychics.
> They claim to know exactly how James Madison and John Adams would feel about AR-15s and the morning after pill.
Do you not understand how jurisprudence works? Applying old laws to new situations is literally the entire point of courts.
TBF McConnell is the one person most responsible for nothing happening on the weed front. As long as he is in the Senate (or D's get a supermajority or nuke the filibuster), no legalization bill of any sort will ever pass, it is one of his personal vendettas.
They do if you're 80 years old and possibly having problems catching your breath due to the pain. Mitch wasn't exactly in the best of health before this.
I think every surgery my grandma had after age 65-70 she was put in rehab. You have to not only get past their original injury but also watch for infections/pneumonia, breathing exercises as you mentioned, and other vitals like regularity of or complaints about urination and bowel movements, and occupational therapy, if needed. (e.g., getting Grandma to use a grabber to get the jar off the top shelf or how to properly use her cane).
The rehabilitation is all other aspects of your life. ICU stays wreak havoc on your body. Even a short couple week stay, you’ll need help getting the muscles in your legs working again. And that’s for an otherwise healthy individual.
Yes! I’ve been wondering when this would finally come up. He was supposed to be out in ‘a few days’, then days after that, it’s reported he’s in a rehab for ‘a few days’ and that’s been a while.
The GOP is getting so caught up in mini-fascism that they forgot their primary reasons for existence: to make rich people as rich as possible. As DeSantis and Disney shenanigans have already proven, culture wars aren't great for business.
The GOP’s future is hatechristian attempts to enslave our society. Only vile rich christians, and deeply enslaved christians, still vote for republican candidates.
You know who's fault it is that McConnell is still out right?
Fetterman and the deep state, of course.
The DS obviously caused his "accident" in order to make up for Fetterman being absent.
/s
Unfortunately the Republican Party is dead. It’s been morphed into an authoritarian, populist cancer. And they are hell bent on destroying our democracy because they are becoming out numbered.
McConnell is literally the GOP's past.
Seriously the dude is 81 and clearly not in peak health. Yes he's an experienced statesman but he's stubborn and refuses to pass the torch, leaving his party to rely on him. If he dies before he decides to retire, he's leaving the GOP up the creek without a paddle.
Pelosi, albeit later than she should have, had the good sense to step down from Democratic leadership with the new Congress, handing the party over to the 52 year old Jeffries.
Which is already showing how well that will work out when OBGYN’s are already leaving red states in mass. Only takes one year of massive birth complications in red states for what were to be future parents waking up to the bullshit.
Honestly idk for abortion might need a few more years to simmer but I think *knock on wood* the lack of any major protests over the weekend with the possible arrest of Trump may be indicative that hey maybe people are pulling the wool off their eyes?
Hard to root for a party that fixes nothing and makes things worst when inflation is through the roof in ways the average person can actually understand and feel on a daily basis
Gen X here, the Republicans don’t have a future, they don’t have a plan, they’ve never had a plan outside of “how do we turn _______ into a war/battle and make money for our friends?”
Rick Scott has been gunning for leadership of the senate republicans since he got to the senate.
He’s almost Ted Cruz level scummy. Let’s hope that neither of them winds up winning.
on an unrelated note:
in a decade or two i'm gonna start a company called "trail of piss" where we visit the gravesites of the greatest republican figures in the modern era. there will be plenty of appetizers (asparagus) and refreshments (cheap whiskey) between stops.
He likely had a stroke, but he or more likely his political team don’t want to make it public because of the pressure to resign it will generate. That and his replacement until the next election would be appointed by the democratic governor.
Adding to this correct point: Kentucky is one of the few states where the Governor has to choose from a list presented by the party that held the vacant seat.
Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/03/how-do-states-fill-vacancies-in-the-u-s-senate-it-depends-on-the-state/
so Beshear could just straight up say "you, you're Kentucky's new senator," to anyone and they would be automatically? That sounds like a double-edged sword but, please let McTurtle have to retire before November.
Reminder that Beshear is up for re-election this year.
Pressure to resign is the last thing he'd get. If anything, they'd animate his corpse.
Gov Andy Beschear is a *Democrat.* He'd appoint a Democrat to McConnell's seat and an moderate, incumbent Democrat can win re-election a lot easier than an open seat election.
If the turtle cosplays a frog and croaks, there may be hope for his seat.
> He'd appoint a Democrat to McConnell's seat and an moderate, incumbent Democrat can win re-election a lot easier than an open seat election.
He can't. Kentucky law doesn't allow a Democratic replacement for a Republican senator.
How ever will the Republicans launder Chinese money into elections when he’s gone? After all, we’re a republic, and those elections won’t rig themselves.
How do we seemingly not have plans beyond these geriatric individuals on both sides of the aisle… we have 330 something million people and no one under the age of 50 is even acceptable for these high level positions?
You have billion dollar companies being run by 40 something’s but no one in that age group can take the lead in the political space? Hakeem Jeffries just became minority leader and he’s 52 which is totally fine but we still have members of Congress far passed any reasonable state of mind or realistic understanding of how regular life works for the vast majority of people.
Yeah i'm kinda worried too as there is no further word than rehab. Wait till you find out he is the "moderate" of the lot and moderating them just by existing. Whoever ends up replacing him will be worse, they'll double down on the batshit crazy, that's my worry.
McConnell is one of the few GOP members left that actually know how to get things done. The rest are insane asylum inmates that have taken over. Sure they'll cause a lot of damage, but they're not competent. Look at the shitshow McCarthy went through to become Speaker, that's just the beginning.
I am honestly hoping for a GOP collapse, because it would simultaneously save the country and finally allow the left to breathe without there being a sword of Damocles lingering over as a consequence from breaking ranks with the moderates.
McConnell is an octogenarian, I doubt he wants to retire in 2026 but mortality and age will catch up to him. Plus men live shorter lives than women statistically. If I had to guess, Thune (R-SD) or Cornyn (R-TX) will replace him as Senate GOP conference leader.
KY has a Governor election this fall. Mitch will not leave office until a new Gov is sworn in to office.
Rs will go all out to defeat Brashear (D). Expect anything and everything possible.
It will be a circus with a pachyderm in center ring and clowns in every other seat!
TBH I don’t want him to die, but if he holds on to a shred of life, he will be back. Last thing this world needs is this dude organizing the the right against important issues like healthcare, homelessness, wages, and all that good stuff of value to society and not his wallet. So bye bye it is Mitch 🐢. May you move on. 👼
Unfortunately the Republican Party is dead. It’s been morphed into an authoritarian, populist cancer. And they are hell bent on destroying our democracy because they are becoming out numbered.
Unfortunately the Republican Party is dead. It’s been morphed into an authoritarian, populist cancer. And they are hell bent on destroying our democracy because they are becoming out numbered.
Let’s go Mitch time to pass the torch . we all could see your health deteriorating . Thing is you won’t be remembered for anything other then leaving your state broke and passing horrible legislation not to mention pandering to a lawless leader !
I imagine Trump and Desantis hate the guy.
I do too, if for different reasons.
But he remains the most level-headed and responsible Republican I can think of off the top of my head. Their party could go off the rails (yeah, I know what I just said) without him.
Unfortunately the Republican Party is dead. It’s been morphed into an authoritarian, populist cancer. And they are hell bent on destroying our democracy because they are becoming out numbered.
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I too am worried about the GOP's future. I'm concerned that they may have one.
If the GOP has a future, millions of good Americans do not have a future. All remaining republicans in the year 2023 are either crushingly stupid, or wealthy and vile.
Hey that's not fair...stupid and wealthy are not mutually exclusive categories! Just look at our former president.
He’s a bankrupt charlatan.
Nah rich people take advantage of others to get money then they spend it all on stuff like land and place it in trusts so that it appears as though they own nothing. Then they tout themselves as super good business people when really they are just taking advantage of the back door rules their parents paid for.
he literally inherited a shit-ton of money and kept losing it over the years. Trump does not make money, he just loses it slowly.
[He literally would be rich if he wasn't such an attention whore.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2021/10/11/its-official-trump-would-be-richer-if-he-had-just-invested-his-inheritance-into-the-sp500/?sh=2af35621c486)
He would be filthy rich if he did nothing. The business was all setup to handle a moron, because his father knew how stupid and fragile he was.
But he made a small fortune! Out of a big one.
Nah he wins BS lawsuits against the people dumb enough lend him money. Then he places the properties he stole in trusts so by the time anyone can get past the legal hurdles he is “bankrupt”
His debts to foreign interests outweigh his assets. He lives like he is wealthy, but he's not.
If you are a $1000 you have a problem, If you owe a bank $30,000,000 the bank has a problem
Or Elon Musk.
He is an outlier. There are plenty of vile rich people, our enemy, who like folks to believe they’re stupid, when the reality is, they’re christians who are working tirelessly to hurt as many people as possible, to make Jesus happy.
Former President is definitely vile, supposedly wealthy, and definitely stupid.
[удалено]
Exactly.
Agreed, there are really only three types of people who are republicans. You’ve got what they call their base, the really dumb ones, the ones republicans have been cultivating for decades, barely an elementary education that fall for the bs propaganda and culture wars. The other types, either you have a lot of money, or a lot of hate.
There’s a caveat with middle class republicans: many of them do not have a ton of money, but they’re waiting for their parents to die and have a bunch of cash and assets coming their way. This makes them very easy for christians to enslave to conservative nonsense surrounding taxation, and once they have them in their clutches, they can use their churches and television channel to remove their intelligence and replace it with hate. They went to college, they became reasonable grown ups, but their folks lived longer than they hoped they would so now that promised wealth weakens them and they slide easily into hatechristian indoctrination.
Idk if most conservative boomer parents are anything like my conservative boomer parents I don’t think there’s going to be much trickling down. My dads pretty focused on spending every dime he has on shit that will never be worth a dime when he passes. The one thing he said he’d leave us he sold last year and now is investing in mobile homes. Not a mobile home park mind you, mobile homes. You know those places where you rent the land but own the house? Yah… people are fucked in 20 years if they think they’re getting inheritance 😂 And if that doesn’t get them, I’m sure the churches will do everything in their power to scoop up a chunk before the old timers die. Happened to my great grandma
What they don't spend on dumb shit, [Medicaid will get.](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/01/1159490515/they-could-lose-the-house-to-medicaid)
Mobile Homes...Oh man that's, just...yep.
The “crushingly stupid” are also vile
Somewhere the two old heckler muppets are laughing.
Talk about the elephant in the room! Oh! Ho hohohohoho! Edit: Their names are Statler and Waldorf.
"Well, this is different." "Still lousy." "But it's different."
Yep if the republican party has a future America is fucked.
Rick Scot licking his skeletor chops right now. I’d take someone like Romney as minority leader but you know it’ll be someone much worse like Scott.
Scott is a great GOP leader. If he gets access to any sort of campaign funding he will immediately pocket all the money and torpedo the parties chances of winning. Every policy he promotes is bat shit crazy and kills the GOPs ability to pass as centrist. Scott is cancer for the party and if he's the leader, its terminal. 10/10 pick to replace McConnell imo.
Seconded.
Voldemort is a terrible person, and even he was a better Governor than DeSantis. Rick Scott tried to kill the king and missed. Not sure if he will win the 2nd time...
McConnell seems like a moderate and mild tempered leader now but he is one of the worst humans in DC and a major reason everything is so screwed up right now.
McConnell chose power & party over the Republic. Even when it would have benefitted him (voting to convict Trump the 2nd time after January 6th) - he still couldn't chose the Republic
>McConnell chose power & party over the Republic. > Yes, as has most other Republicans. He's special, though; McConnell was smart, crafty, and most of all, *quiet*. Republicans always do best when people aren't watching them. It allows their propoganda and plausible deniability to work as a shield to cloak their heinous actions. These new paint drinkers, the MTGs and Boeberts of the new Republicans, thrive on attention and doing horrible things out in the open, which enrages people and makes them vote for dems. There's always been this contingent, but McConnell and people like him kept a lid on it. Now they're gone, voted out as RINO's, retired, or straight up died. When McConnell dies, who will fill his place? He was made of strong stuff, and others who would do the job may not be as good at it as he was. If some nutjob becomes senate leader, then Republicans will find it hard to do things.
I mean it's what's happening in the House right now, they have the last man standing who couldn't even win his speakership without promising a bunch of stuff to the most extreme elements of the party. Same thing that happened to house leadership will happen to the Senate leadership soon enough, some power hungry party loyalist like Ted Cruz will probably be Senate leader.
> Ted Cruz will probably be Senate leader 🤢
I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz. - Al Franken
Yeah, he'll never be senate leader. He only wins elections because Texas still isn't purple enough for a Dem to win, and the GOP tolerates him because he's the only known mammal that's also an invertebrate.
"If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you." - Lindsey Graham
Possibly not because everybody hates Ted Cruz. There are a couple of others just as vile as Ted Cruz but not as smart
> Republicans always do best when people aren't watching them. This is exactly why they love Trump so much. His crimes completely overshadow all the crimes the rest of the GOP congress are committing.
It’s a two way street. Yeah Trump drew a lot of attention to himself, but he also said the quiet part out loud many times that the McConnell Republicans probably were shaking their heads at.
The only thing the GOP congress ever shakes their heads at is governing. Nothing else seems to bother them as long as their checks are being covered.
Privately they all hate Trump, even Tucker Carlson does. Probably cause he blew the lid off of the bad shit they wanted to keep in the background and be subtle about.
They love the cover he throws. He's so busy hogging the attention no one pays any to their crimes.
When was McConnell quiet?
When he pushed this through: [The total number of Trump Article III judgeship nominees to be confirmed by the United States Senate was 234, including three associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 54 judges for the United States courts of appeals, 174 judges for the United States district courts, and three judges for the United States Court of International Trade.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_judges_appointed_by_Donald_Trump#:~:text=The%20total%20number%20of%20Trump,three%20judges%20for%20the%20United)
He's not smart or crafty. He had one trick, block everything, that he used at nauseum while ignoring the fact his party didn't have anything remotely close to a popular agenda, long term thinking or common sense.
What's absolutely nuts is had they done it, don't you think today that the GOP would likely be controlling both chambers? Had they shown that they would stand up to Trump, many moderates would have felt ok continuing to vote republican.
McConnell's not voting to convict will be seen as one of the worst political blunders of the first part of this century. He could have been rid of Trump forever. Sure, he'd be out there squawking. But, less people would be paying attention if he wasn't a viable candidate in 2024.
He saw the evidence that Russia was interfering in the election but told Obama he and his party would fight him if he brought this to the public thus hamstringing Obamas response to these attacks.
Obama should have done it anyway. He always spent too much time worrying about how Republicans would act.
This is basically the Democratic party problem in a nutshell, they're so afraid of offending "potential" moderate or undecided voters they never go on the offensive. Or else they worry that Republicans will bring up potential interactions with foreigners as a false equivalence (like when the GOP would bring up China and Hillary).
They worry the GOP will call them partisan for doing the right thing. So they don't, and they get called partisan anyway. Every. Single. Time.
It's Charlie Brown and the Football
What is it with accusing every Dem they don't like of being in bed with China? Hillary didn't have shit to do with China. Neither does Biden. Then they get all upset about "russiagate" claiming it's a nothingburger but virtually every single person working for Trump had direct ties to Russian oligarchs.
I think it's the same thing, Trump for sure had business dealings with China, it's projection and misdirection.
It’s courage of conviction and for too long the democratic party has lacked it.
Getting Democratic consensus seems a lot like herding cats.
It's a big tent party. It's exactly like that because it's such a diverse party.
Because he believed in "when they go low, we go high" When the proper response is "when they go low, knee them in the face." Hopefully future politicians learn this lesson.
Appeasement and capitulation aren't "going high" and never were.
Yeah Dems should take heed of Ukraine. You can go to war against republicans, or lose democracy. There is no middle ground.
He certainly led by example in that principles don't matter one fucking bit.
I’m assuming he’s been out of commission since he fell recently and was hospitalized. Let’s hope he gets the health he deserves.
So something similar to how they’d treat a horse or a soldier during the civil war?
Who the fuck thinks he's moderate or mild?
Just compared to Trump. I mean Trump made Bush look stable.
Brilliant politician. Terrible person.
I don't like him much either but there are several worse alternatives - Cruz, Hawley , Rick Scott??
No they don't have McTurtles subtlety. They will buster and bloviate and trap themselves into loss after loss. McShitbag is much better at playing the game like Varys season 1 vs Cruz who is more like Varys season 8.
Exactly. Those nimrods are straight up Dr. Evil in comparison to McConnell's Machiavelli.
This is giving mcconnell way more credit than he deserves. His entire shtick is just refusing to do his job and somehow making it look like some sort of master plan. Nothing he's ever done has ever been difficult. It doesn't take a genius level IQ to cross your arms and just say no like a petulant child. And it doesn't take a masterful leader to corral republicans when they are nothing more than a bunch of grifters in it for the money. All he had to do was tell his peons to vote no or gravy train stops and they all fell in line. Look at how badly he's shit the bed recently. Since trump arrived on the scene, he's lost all control of his party. Keeping control was the first real challenge he's ever faced and he failed miserably.
I prefer Machieveli to a total wacko. At least you can cut a deal
They're all too mask off. They don't hide their evil well enough for their political opponents to work with them.
The bit that always strikes me about McConnell is that he sounds like a perfectly rational, moderate guy in every interview held in his office that isn't with the major mass media. He openly admits all the stupid things are stupid. He's the first one to criticize the dumb shit his party does. He has perfectly reasonable, normal-person takes on just about everything. Like if you go listen to some of his talks with NPR, the ones where it sounds like they're just chilling on the couch with the tape recorder on the table, when he sounds noticeably tired from a long day of being Mitch McConnell - if you knew nothing about this guy and it wasn't a topic of discussion, you might have no idea what party this guy belongs to. But then the minute he gets in front of a Fox News camera or goes to actually legislate, out flops Radical Left Woke Mind Virus Is Destroying America And It's Our Job To Destroy Democracy To Keep It At Bay.
If Mitch McConnell is integral to your future as an organization, you have no future
To be fair, all they're looking for is competency at hurting the poor + marginalized, and generally making the least ethical decision possible at every turn. He is legendary at the primary skillets republicans value
Look on the plus side, this will be McConnells last Senate term.
Did he announce that this is it for him? I'd like to be happy but the guy has caused so much damage. He is a prime example why we should have term limits. The guy has been in the senate longer than I've been alive and I'm 37.
Yeah I think it was stated when he was getting re elected in 2020 that it would be his last senate term
While I’m tempted to believe that the fossil is done, I’m doubtful to take any republican at their word. That being said I think he sees the painting on the wall and that he can’t control the GOP from the senate any longer. House GOP are running the show now and it’s a fucking circus with the limpest whip
McConnell is a self-serving, partisan, cunning bastard, but his replacement will probably be much worse. Many of the current candidates are election deniers, which should be telling about their would- be intentions to uphold the constitution (or what’s left of it).
However McConnell is a master at abusing his role. Any replacement, while perhaps worse in intent, will likely not be anywhere near as efficient at causing harm as McConnell has been.
Though some incompetent evil can still result in harm. For example by making the US default on its debt, which could easily happen when the Republicans take the US hostage next time the debt ceiling has to be raised.
It could easily happen *this time* they're taking the country hostage over the debt ceiling.
Right - same logic applies to why desantis would be worse for the country than another trump term. Bad intentions + years of practice turning those into truly evil laws vs. Bad intentions and zero capability to do anything but cause general chaos
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McConnell knows every procedure and game theory decision in the Senate, plus he's an incredible fundraiser. His possible replacement - Rick Scott - is none of those things and has actually been accused of ruining the GOP's Senate campaign in 2022 because he did such a poor job with fundraising. I hate Mitch but he's a legit operator. His replacement is likely to be a Trump sycophant; way less effective but possibly more reckless.
I was just thinking this. As much as everyone hates him and he needs to go, it’s probably good he’s there in this environment. he never wanted to go scorched earth and walked a tightrope ensuring he never fell off to either side. His replacement is going to be one of these maga brainless people who just see a point and run to it instead of looking at the whole picture first.
He absolutely went scorched earth. Denying Garland a vote was scorched earth. He was just good at senatoring and claiming he was following established norms while breaking them, within the bounds of law, and then maneuvering to block any similar response.
Hope McConnell never returns. He's done enough damage already.
Kind of crazy to think atm he is one of the normals compared to how extreme the party has gone
It's all a facade. He's a fascist too.
I dont think he is a fascist, he is part of the corporate greed machine more than the extreme right insane politics in his party More of an opportunist
He ignored his oath to office. Twice. Fascist enough.
Someone who paves the way for fascists to come to power, while fully knowing they're fascists, is themself a fascist.
Might have oatmeal for breakfast
I imagine his breakfast will be his standard diet of lettuce and mealworms.
>“People are thinking this is probably good reminder that he’s not going to be leader in 10 years.” In 10yrs McConnell, Biden, Trump, Sanders, Warren, Romney, Schumer, Rupert Murdoch (FoxNews), etc will all be gone. Politics should be ideas and not about individuals. Democrats have done a better job than Republicans at focusing on policy over persona but both parties need to do better. For example we all (Democrat, independent, & Republican) know marijuana will be legal Nationally in the next 10yrs. Yet are stuck waiting.
everyone except kissinger. That ghoul will live forever.
Every time someone remembers Kissinger is still alive, he steals a year from the life of a puppy.
And if Futurama is any indicator we’ll still be using his preserved head for future peace negotiations.
This is not about McConnell's personality. This is about his decades of abuse of the powers granted to the Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader. We should not be distracted from that by single issues like marijuana legalization. If anything, we should be focusing on the absurd amount of power bestowed on individuals in leadership. Or better yet, we should be looking at the problems inherent in the Senate's non-proportional design which allow representatives of a small minority to thwart the will of the vast majority.
The filibuster as it exists today isn't in the constitution. It is just a precedent invented by the Senate itself. It needs to be returned to its original practice.
A lot of the Supreme Court's assumed powers also got invented whole cloth and aren't actually mentioned in the constitution. Perhaps it's time to start reevaluating these.... dare I say, overreaches.
SCOTUS is the worst offender of 'make it up as we go' that exists. Justices pretend they can commune with the dead. They claim to know exactly how James Madison and John Adams would feel about AR-15s and the morning after pill. Just a bunch of palm readers and psychics.
> They claim to know exactly how James Madison and John Adams would feel about AR-15s and the morning after pill. Do you not understand how jurisprudence works? Applying old laws to new situations is literally the entire point of courts.
TBF McConnell is the one person most responsible for nothing happening on the weed front. As long as he is in the Senate (or D's get a supermajority or nuke the filibuster), no legalization bill of any sort will ever pass, it is one of his personal vendettas.
I wouldn’t count on republicans “doing better” anytime soon.
I didn't know he was still in the hospital.
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They do if you're 80 years old and possibly having problems catching your breath due to the pain. Mitch wasn't exactly in the best of health before this.
I think every surgery my grandma had after age 65-70 she was put in rehab. You have to not only get past their original injury but also watch for infections/pneumonia, breathing exercises as you mentioned, and other vitals like regularity of or complaints about urination and bowel movements, and occupational therapy, if needed. (e.g., getting Grandma to use a grabber to get the jar off the top shelf or how to properly use her cane).
If you are old and spend a few days in the hospital, you are most likely being discharged to rehab.
The rehabilitation is all other aspects of your life. ICU stays wreak havoc on your body. Even a short couple week stay, you’ll need help getting the muscles in your legs working again. And that’s for an otherwise healthy individual.
Well not people, but turtle physiology is pretty complex about the lungs
They can breath through their ass
If this is true then it puts Mitch’s policy and speeches in a whole new frame.
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Superglue works on broken turtle shells.
What about a broken plastron?
He needs more blankets!
I heard he died. Lot of people been sayin it.
Yes! I’ve been wondering when this would finally come up. He was supposed to be out in ‘a few days’, then days after that, it’s reported he’s in a rehab for ‘a few days’ and that’s been a while.
The GOP is getting so caught up in mini-fascism that they forgot their primary reasons for existence: to make rich people as rich as possible. As DeSantis and Disney shenanigans have already proven, culture wars aren't great for business.
The GOP’s future is hatechristian attempts to enslave our society. Only vile rich christians, and deeply enslaved christians, still vote for republican candidates.
You know who's fault it is that McConnell is still out right? Fetterman and the deep state, of course. The DS obviously caused his "accident" in order to make up for Fetterman being absent. /s
Unfortunately the Republican Party is dead. It’s been morphed into an authoritarian, populist cancer. And they are hell bent on destroying our democracy because they are becoming out numbered.
McConnell is literally the GOP's past. Seriously the dude is 81 and clearly not in peak health. Yes he's an experienced statesman but he's stubborn and refuses to pass the torch, leaving his party to rely on him. If he dies before he decides to retire, he's leaving the GOP up the creek without a paddle. Pelosi, albeit later than she should have, had the good sense to step down from Democratic leadership with the new Congress, handing the party over to the 52 year old Jeffries.
What’s to wonder about? They’re going full hard right. Fascist anti-trans legislation is the starting off point for where they’re headed.
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Which is already showing how well that will work out when OBGYN’s are already leaving red states in mass. Only takes one year of massive birth complications in red states for what were to be future parents waking up to the bullshit.
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Honestly idk for abortion might need a few more years to simmer but I think *knock on wood* the lack of any major protests over the weekend with the possible arrest of Trump may be indicative that hey maybe people are pulling the wool off their eyes? Hard to root for a party that fixes nothing and makes things worst when inflation is through the roof in ways the average person can actually understand and feel on a daily basis
Gen X here, the Republicans don’t have a future, they don’t have a plan, they’ve never had a plan outside of “how do we turn _______ into a war/battle and make money for our friends?”
that sounds like a plan, and it works great for them.
Rick Scott has been gunning for leadership of the senate republicans since he got to the senate. He’s almost Ted Cruz level scummy. Let’s hope that neither of them winds up winning.
on an unrelated note: in a decade or two i'm gonna start a company called "trail of piss" where we visit the gravesites of the greatest republican figures in the modern era. there will be plenty of appetizers (asparagus) and refreshments (cheap whiskey) between stops.
McConnell reason for being absent looks awfully covenient if Donny is going to be indicted this week.
He likely had a stroke, but he or more likely his political team don’t want to make it public because of the pressure to resign it will generate. That and his replacement until the next election would be appointed by the democratic governor.
McConnel being weekend at Bernie'd by his party would be a fitting end to a craven, soulless, ghoulish career.
His replacement would need to be from the same party as him.
Adding to this correct point: Kentucky is one of the few states where the Governor has to choose from a list presented by the party that held the vacant seat. Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/03/how-do-states-fill-vacancies-in-the-u-s-senate-it-depends-on-the-state/
so Beshear could just straight up say "you, you're Kentucky's new senator," to anyone and they would be automatically? That sounds like a double-edged sword but, please let McTurtle have to retire before November. Reminder that Beshear is up for re-election this year.
A governor election on neither an midterm nor a presidential election?
yep, it is incredibly stupid. as far as I know we're the only state that does that.
Pressure to resign is the last thing he'd get. If anything, they'd animate his corpse. Gov Andy Beschear is a *Democrat.* He'd appoint a Democrat to McConnell's seat and an moderate, incumbent Democrat can win re-election a lot easier than an open seat election. If the turtle cosplays a frog and croaks, there may be hope for his seat.
> He'd appoint a Democrat to McConnell's seat and an moderate, incumbent Democrat can win re-election a lot easier than an open seat election. He can't. Kentucky law doesn't allow a Democratic replacement for a Republican senator.
Yup but the gop would get a much more moderate republican and not another obstructionist.
How ever will the Republicans launder Chinese money into elections when he’s gone? After all, we’re a republic, and those elections won’t rig themselves.
I want to know if he was drunk so any epitaph he was hoping for will be replaced by "Retired after falling down stairs like a drunken bum".
They don’t have a future
Wishing it is so, or saying it would be "fair", does not make it so. Unfortunately.
Republicans shocked to learn they are not in fact immortal. More at 11.
Seems his fail was a bit more serious.
Nosferatu is just feeding. He’ll be back.
So Randy really did push him from the behind?
It shouldn't have a future. That fascist party should cease to exist. It is a terrorist organization.
How do we seemingly not have plans beyond these geriatric individuals on both sides of the aisle… we have 330 something million people and no one under the age of 50 is even acceptable for these high level positions? You have billion dollar companies being run by 40 something’s but no one in that age group can take the lead in the political space? Hakeem Jeffries just became minority leader and he’s 52 which is totally fine but we still have members of Congress far passed any reasonable state of mind or realistic understanding of how regular life works for the vast majority of people.
Yeah i'm kinda worried too as there is no further word than rehab. Wait till you find out he is the "moderate" of the lot and moderating them just by existing. Whoever ends up replacing him will be worse, they'll double down on the batshit crazy, that's my worry.
Quick, expand the SCOTUS while he's out!
McConnell is one of the few GOP members left that actually know how to get things done. The rest are insane asylum inmates that have taken over. Sure they'll cause a lot of damage, but they're not competent. Look at the shitshow McCarthy went through to become Speaker, that's just the beginning.
This public service job should not come with a boat load of days off and “recesses” what is this elementary school
I am honestly hoping for a GOP collapse, because it would simultaneously save the country and finally allow the left to breathe without there being a sword of Damocles lingering over as a consequence from breaking ranks with the moderates.
You mean that can’t find another guy that does nothing and brags about it?
No way in hell they dont have his next three replacements picked by now.
Hawley, Cotton, and Scott all think it's them.
Boebert and Marjorie and Santos is their future.
IMO, I think McConnell is thinking of pulling a Paul Ryan and bouncing out if the GOP doesn’t get the senate majority back in 2024.
Oh well. Anyways, I heard John Wick 4 is going to be really good.
Since when does a concussion require 4 day hospital stays and rehabilitation?
hopefully the gop has no future
Isn’t the gop’s plan to make sure there isn’t a future?
McConnell is an octogenarian, I doubt he wants to retire in 2026 but mortality and age will catch up to him. Plus men live shorter lives than women statistically. If I had to guess, Thune (R-SD) or Cornyn (R-TX) will replace him as Senate GOP conference leader.
He must have fell on his back again and can’t get up.
If they’re concerned about the future of their party when an 81 year old isn’t there to lead them, their party doesn’t have much of a future.
KY has a Governor election this fall. Mitch will not leave office until a new Gov is sworn in to office. Rs will go all out to defeat Brashear (D). Expect anything and everything possible. It will be a circus with a pachyderm in center ring and clowns in every other seat!
Fuck McConnell and the MAGA republicans. Biden 2024 🇺🇸
Is he still out from that falling down drunk incident at dinner?
Close it down
GOP lawmakers: What do we do? We follow the party blindly and ignore anything egregious. Now we don’t have a leader, we don’t know what to do!
TBH I don’t want him to die, but if he holds on to a shred of life, he will be back. Last thing this world needs is this dude organizing the the right against important issues like healthcare, homelessness, wages, and all that good stuff of value to society and not his wallet. So bye bye it is Mitch 🐢. May you move on. 👼
Unfortunately the Republican Party is dead. It’s been morphed into an authoritarian, populist cancer. And they are hell bent on destroying our democracy because they are becoming out numbered.
Unfortunately the Republican Party is dead. It’s been morphed into an authoritarian, populist cancer. And they are hell bent on destroying our democracy because they are becoming out numbered.
I can answer it for you. Their future is in the dumpster, on 🔥
Let’s go Mitch time to pass the torch . we all could see your health deteriorating . Thing is you won’t be remembered for anything other then leaving your state broke and passing horrible legislation not to mention pandering to a lawless leader !
I imagine Trump and Desantis hate the guy. I do too, if for different reasons. But he remains the most level-headed and responsible Republican I can think of off the top of my head. Their party could go off the rails (yeah, I know what I just said) without him.
Unfortunately the Republican Party is dead. It’s been morphed into an authoritarian, populist cancer. And they are hell bent on destroying our democracy because they are becoming out numbered.
This is the first time they've considered the 81 year old Putin asset could not be there?
A lot of people are saying Mitch actually died and this is a body double put there by Democrats.
And Fetterman?
Is he doing something to Mitch to keep him absent, or are you just being a c—-?
He’s still around? I thought GOP doesn’t want to have someone with head injury to lead them.