Kurt Schlichter: The Republicans’ Mitch McConnell Problem

One of the annoying tendencies of our conservative-populist movement is to conflate objective evaluations of individuals in the arena with the approval of those individuals. My experience with Senator McConnell, the Senate minority leader, has been frustrating. He is a tyrannical charter member of the GOP establishment. At the same time, he is the most effective parliamentary leader that we have ever had. His contributions to the movement have been significant. It causes me a lot of grief. “You must love Mitch!” but that’s fine. We need to be objective instead of emotional – we’re not Democrats. Once upon a while, he was objectively competent and efficient. Who else could keep a caucus consisting of Susan Collins (a maple syrup-moderate) and Josh Hawley (a Show-Me State-based conservative) together? Who else was able to resist the demands of the whole regime media to allow Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland to the SCOTUS

Nobody. That’s just a fact. As much as his contempt for the base grates – and he has always had nothing but contempt for mere plebes – once upon a time, Senator McConnell got it done. Although Cocaine Mitch might have given us fits, he was a great help to the Dems.

Then, the second and third years.

It’s time to face facts. The Mitch McConnell today is not as shrewd and vicious as the Mitch McConnell from yesteryear. Today’s Mitch McConnell, who is hated and hapless, weak, and tone deaf is barely in competition with Chuck Schumer, a second-rate hack. He is among the least popular major politicians in America. This includes Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden and many others. It’s sad, but at 80 years old, Mitch McConnell is fading, and he is not going quietly. Instead, he is angry at the GOP base because he dares to.