{"id":89270,"date":"2021-01-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mitch-mcconnells-betrayal-hurts-the-nation-goodwin\/"},"modified":"2021-01-21T09:45:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T14:45:45","slug":"mitch-mcconnells-betrayal-hurts-the-nation-goodwin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mitch-mcconnells-betrayal-hurts-the-nation-goodwin\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitch McConnell\u2019s betrayal hurts the nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmitch-mcconnells-betrayal-hurts-the-nation-goodwin%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=89270&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"in-line-column wp-caption alignleft box module inline columnist desktop\">\n<div class=\"columnist-info\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"module-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rule\">\n<div class=\"rule\">\n<div class=\"rule\">\n<div class=\"rule\">\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Et tu, Mitch McConnell?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Just when Washington has a chance to turn the page, fresh signs emerged Tuesday that the past is not yet past. It is almost certain now that the Senate will hold an <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/17\/sen-graham-urges-schumer-not-to-hold-trump-impeachment-trial\">impeachment trial<\/a> of President Trump next week.<\/p>\n<p>Even worse, it looks probable he will be convicted of a single charge stemming from the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/17\/capitol-riot-seen-in-new-shocking-footage-like-never-before\">Capitol invasion.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The history-making event got the green light from McConnell (R-Ky.) on his last day as Senate majority leader.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, McConnell said of the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/19\/mcconnell-capitol-rioters-were-provoked-by-the-president\">Jan. 6 incident<\/a>: \u201cThe mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The comments build on earlier reports that McConnell was glad House Democrats were impeaching the president and that he might vote for conviction. The speech signals he is <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/13\/mcconnell-hasnt-decided-how-he-will-vote-on-trump-impeachment\">likely a yes vote<\/a>, which would open the GOP floodgates and yield at least the 67 Senate votes needed for conviction.<\/p>\n<p>He spoke as reports circulated that <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/19\/clinton-pelosi-call-for-9-11-style-commission-into-capitol-riot-putin-involvement\">Speaker Nancy Pelosi<\/a> (D-Calif.) would transmit the House charge to the Senate later this week, with a trial to follow.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/trump-mcconnell.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-17099919 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/trump-mcconnell.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000\" alt=\"Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump at a 2017 event.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" \/><\/a>Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump at a 2017 event.Reuters<\/p>\n<p>Although it\u2019s not clear the two developments are connected, they share the odor of a bipartisan \u00ad<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/15\/pelosis-waiting-games-prove-boot-trump-movement-political-ploy\">establishment striking back<\/a> at Trump even after he leaves the White House. Senate conviction would trigger a second vote to bar him from ever again <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/09\/heres-what-could-happen-if-donald-trump-is-impeached-again\">holding public office<\/a>. Only a simple majority is needed, so passage would be a foregone conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>That would prevent Trump from seeking the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/11\/24\/trump-likely-to-win-gop-nomination-in-2024-poll-shows\">presidency in 2024<\/a> and arguably rob him of the ability to keep his voters intact. That seems to be the point, with McConnell reportedly saying that barring Trump from running again would rid the party of him and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/12\/dems-want-to-bring-down-anyone-who-ever-backed-trump-goodwin\">his movement<\/a>. Deplorables, indeed.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made it clear that permanently canceling <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/12\/schumer-cites-law-in-claim-senate-can-convene-for-impeachment-before-jan-20\">Trump is his aim<\/a>, saying Tuesday the president would continue to use \u201cthe prospect of a future presidential run to poison the public arena.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump should not be eligible to run for office ever again,\u201d Schumer added. \u201cAll of us want to put this awful chapter in our nation\u2019s history behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of us\u201d now appears to include McConnell and a decisive <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/13\/all-the-republicans-who-voted-to-impeach-trump-a-second-time\">number of Republicans<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-17099751 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/Liz-Cheney-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000\" alt=\"Wyoming rep. Liz Cheney is already facing retaliation from her Republican colleagues for voting to impeach Donald Trump.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" \/>Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney is already facing retaliation from her Republican colleagues for voting to impeach Donald Trump.REUTERS<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no question a ban would hobble Trump\u2019s appeal. But it would also deepen the nation\u2019s overheated polarization, with the vast majority of the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/11\/04\/election-night-showed-why-trump-voters-dont-trust-the-media-goodwin\">74.2 million Trump voters<\/a> still in his corner, according to recent surveys.<\/p>\n<p>A better path would have been for Joe Biden, who talks about <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/11\/15\/when-talk-of-unity-just-means-surrender\">forging national unity<\/a>, to urge Pelosi not to send the impeachment charge to the Senate. With Trump out of office, the matter would have ended there and Biden would have had a cleaner slate to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/14\/trump-impeachment-could-dominate-bidens-early-tenure\">start his administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the nation is about to be pulled back again not only to the events of early January, but to all the passions of the Trump presidency. Worse, Pelosi is talking about a commission to investigate the already debunked <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/05\/07\/transcripts-reaffirm-no-collusion-between-trump-and-russia\">Trump-Russia collusion<\/a> claims. She can\u2019t quit the president she loved to hate.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-related alignright module--see-also box module inline related desktop\">\n<div class=\"module-title inline\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"excerpt\">.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>For Senate Republicans, voting to convict Trump and ban him from elective office is foolish and unnecessary. It\u2019s not obvious his voters would stick with a party that consigned him to political purgatory, or what would remain of the GOP base if the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/11\/07\/why-trump-grew-his-numbers-with-black-and-latino-voters\">America First movement<\/a> bolted.<\/p>\n<p>The case of <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/13\/freedom-caucus-chief-calls-on-liz-cheney-to-resign-over-impeachment-push\">Rep. Liz Cheney<\/a> (R-Wyo.) is a good example. The No. 3 leader in the House, she was one of only 10 House Republicans to vote for impeachment, and the immediate blowback in her home state of Wyoming <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/16\/liz-cheney-foes-plot-removal-from-gop-leadership-after-impeachment-vote\">has been fierce<\/a>. The state party has condemned the vote and one Republican there was quoted as saying, \u201cShe couldn\u2019t get elected as a dog catcher here now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McConnell was <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/11\/03\/mitch-mcconnell-holds-onto-senate-seat-from-kentucky\">just re-elected<\/a>, so his seat is safe, but the GOP will get slaughtered in the 2022 midterms if Trumpers stay home, giving Dems at least four years of complete control of Washington.<\/p>\n<p>The president and McConnell were always something of an odd couple, but their partnership succeeded even after the GOP lost the House in 2018. Most critically, Trump nominated and McConnell held his slim majority together to win Senate confirmation for nearly 250 federal judges, including three for the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/10\/26\/supreme-court-justice-amy-coney-barrett-sworn-in-at-white-house\">Supreme Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the wily Kentucky lawmaker, first elected to the Senate in 1984, was never pals with Trump and grew increasingly unhappy with the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/11\/06\/mcconnell-calls-for-every-vote-to-be-counted-defying-trump\">president\u2019s claims<\/a> of fraud in the presidential results. On Dec. 15, McConnell became the first top Republican to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/12\/15\/mitch-mcconnell-congratulates-biden-harris-on-election-win\">call Biden president-elect<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At that point, the GOP appeared to have held the Senate, having 50 seats and needing to win just one of the two Jan. 5 Georgia runoff \u00adraces to keep its majority. But Trump relentlessly attacked the Republican governor and secretary of state for calling Georgia in <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/03\/trump-tells-georgia-officials-to-find-votes-to-defeat-biden\">favor of Biden<\/a>, and GOP insiders are convinced the attacks suppressed the party\u2019s turnout and handed Dems both <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/06\/democrats-seize-control-of-senate-with-georgia-runoff-wins\">seats and Senate control<\/a>, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking ties.<\/p>\n<p>The Capitol invasion came the very next day, with McConnell, along with all members of both chambers, being rushed into <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/07\/capitol-staffers-shown-hiding-for-their-lives-during-siege\">protective hiding<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>That was the final straw in their relationship, with McConnell telling people he was \u201cdone\u201d with Trump. McConnell\u2019s wife, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/07\/elaine-chao-first-in-trump-cabinet-to-resign-after-siege\">quit to protest<\/a> the president\u2019s speech at the pre-invasion rally.<\/p>\n<p>In his near-20-minute <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/19\/president-trumps-farewell-read-his-full-speech\">farewell address Tuesday<\/a>, a composed Trump displayed none of the rancor that marred the end of his term as he recounted his considerable accomplishments. In an echo of Dwight Eisenhower\u2019s farewell warning against the rise of the military-industrial complex, Trump warned against a lack of confidence in America\u2019s history and against a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/14\/octopus-of-big-tech-is-strangling-america\">crackdown on free speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Near the finish, he said: \u201cAs I prepare to hand power over to a new administration at noon on Wednesday, I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning. There\u2019s never been anything like it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true there\u2019s never been <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/01\/06\/america-gop-reap-bitter-fruits-of-trumps-obscene-sore-loserism\">anything like it<\/a>. But it remains to be seen whether his movement is just beginning \u2014 or close to the end.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Et tu, Mitch McConnell?<br \/>\nJust when Washington has a chance to turn the page, fresh signs emerged Tuesday that the past is not yet past. It is almost certain now that the Senate will hold an impeachment trial of President Trump next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2180675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/trump-mcconnell.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=2000","fifu_image_alt":"Mitch McConnell\u2019s betrayal hurts the nation","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/trump-mcconnell.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=2000","fifu_image_alt":"Mitch McConnell\u2019s betrayal hurts the nation","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2180675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}