Written by Michael Huling
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) visited San Diego for a campaign fundraiser. McConnell was welcomed by a crowd of about 100 attendees, all excited to see the man who has been so instrumental in both forwarding conservative policies and stifling the Democrats’ far-left agenda.
There’s a reason why Democrats are so angered by Sen. McConnell: his unprecedented effectiveness. With just a slim Republican majority in the Senate during President Trump’s tenure, McConnell has successfully passed major tax reform and criminal justice reform, cracked down on sex and drug trafficking, strengthened the American military, confirmed two justices to the Supreme Court and 148 total judges to lower appeals and district courts. The combination of the Federalist Society, President Trump, and Sen. McConnell has fundamentally reshaped the judiciary in the United States for a generation to come.
Moreover, Sen. McConnell has successfully prevented over 500 Democratic bills that passed the House from getting anywhere in the Senate. For Democrats, it makes sense to despise the man who is almost single-handedly destroying their agenda before it can even get off the ground.
Perhaps the most impressive part of McConnell’s tenure as Senate Majority Leader has been his prophetic ability to use the tactics of Democrats against them. For example, he warned former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) about his decision to alter the filibuster rule in 2013.
“You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think."- Mitch McConnell to Dems in 2013 after filibuster rule change pic.twitter.com/KPYtN52Tm9
— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) October 5, 2018
Fast-forward to 2017, and McConnell’s prediction came true in a remarkable way. Republicans successfully utilized Reid’s rule change to pass tax cuts and confirm Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Had Democrats not changed the Senate’s procedural rules for politically expedient reasons under President Obama, they could’ve blocked each of these Republican initiatives—and many more.
Instead, Democrats have been forced to lie in the bed they made, watching Republicans shape the policy agenda for the last few years. As former President Barack Obama eloquently said, “elections have consequences.”
Democrats will certainly do everything they can to defeat Sen. McConnell’s re-election campaign in 2020, but if the last few years are any indication, all of their efforts will ultimately fail. As long as “Cocaine Mitch” is running the Senate, Democrats’ legislative wishes will be just that—wishes. No Medicare-for-All, no Green New Deal, no assault rifle ban, no abolition of the Electoral College, no wealth tax. None of it. They can flail and shout all they want, but McConnell will continue to be the most skilled legislator in the country.
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