It’s been said before, but I repeat. Fuck McConnell, fuck him in his turtle face.
Interesting though. Trump’s motivation is obvious, he is trying to stop his Russia ties from being exposed. Are we going to get a “Hannity moment” in a few months showing how McConnell is also part of Trump’s crime ring?
If by “part of Trump’s crime ring” you mean being a Republican lawmaker, then we’ve already had that moment.
True, that is pretty much the same thing.
Keep in mind, The GOP was hacked just like the Democratic Party and there are a fair number of Congressmen already in the Kremlins pocket, so who knows what kind of stuff Putin has on McConnell.
Also, there is still that base that hasn’t quit turned against Trump yet.
Of course we are. Whatever’s going on, McConnell has been acting guilty as hell for a while now. He of course was the one who blocked Obama from making a bipartisan statement to the public that Russia was trying to interfere in the 2016 election.
My own guess? We’ll eventually get the revelation that a major source of GOP funding in 2016 can be traced to the Russians, and that the GOP leadership was aware of this and did nothing about it.
This will go down as, at best, one of the great acts of political cowardice in American history, and, at worst, as damnable treason.
McConnell is a piece of shit. In some ways worse than Trump, because he should know better.
It wouldn’t surprise me.
It is my greatest life’s ambition to shit on his grave someday.
This is a really great point.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that McConnell has illegitimate children, including some that he actively prevented from reaching the ocean after their birth, despite his alleged “pro-life” stance.
Eh, there is no reason to invent conspiracy theories to explain this when the political calculus and moral cowardice is relatively clear.
There is ZERO upside, politically speaking, for McConnell to allow that vote. If he did and it passed with 100% of the Dems plus one or two of the lame-duck Republicans (Flake, McCaon, etc.) voting for it, all it would do is piss off Trump and make like more difficult for the other GOP Senators in swing districts. Far better for Mertle the Turtle to take the blame himself and spare his colleagues some political heat.
And maybe I’m missing something here, but if this bill passed the Senate, it would still have to pass the House, right? And then Trump himself would have to sign it, which he wouldn’t. And then when Trump refused to sign, they’d have to come up with enough votes to override the veto, correct?
Yep. Not that that stopped 60 some odd votes passing the House to repeal ACA. Still largely a political vote to get representatives ‘on the record.’
Which is why taking the House in November is vital; if Mueller is fired or hamstrung before than, Democrats can just appoint an independent investigator (which would be even worse for trump.)
There is a major downside in McConnell not allowing this vote … and that is if Mueller IS fired before the next Congress.
Then there could be a push for additional impeachment inquiry - against McConnell himself if the Democrats gain the house - though it wouldn’t surprise me if Democrats would consider impeaching McConnell for his refusal to proceed with the Garland nomination by itself.
Is there actually a process for impeaching a senator? I’ve never heard of that, and it seems absurdly unlikely.
You can remove one, can’t you? There was talk of some process that could have removed Roy Moore had he been elected.
The way McConnell is acting is not normal.
Traditionally Congressional leaders are extremely protective of their prerogatives over the Executive branch, even when they’re of the same party. Senators like to think of themselves as demigods. Then why is McConnell acting like a lickspittle?
McConnell is dealing with a President with lousy approval ratings, who lost the popular vote, and whose administration is riddled with scandals beyond counting.
Any previous Senate leader in a similar situation would be doing everything they can to distance himself from the obvious oncoming train wreck, while setting up an exploratory committee for his own Presidential campaign.
The way the GOP leadership is acting is not normal. We’ll never get anywhere in finding and fighting the cancer unless we admit it’s there.
They can be expelled.
Expulsion is the most serious form of disciplinary action that can be taken against a Member of Congress. Article I, Section 5 of the United States Constitution provides that “Each House [of Congress] may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.” The processes for expulsion differ somewhat between the House of Representatives and the Senate.[1]
But only the Senate can expel Senators, and only the House Congressman.
When the paranoia takes over I sometimes wonder if they (the GOP) know something we don’t (i.e. the Russian are gonna hack the election results.)
They can be expelled, as Strollen says. That’s happened 20 times in the past. (17 of the expulsions were for supporting the Confederacy.)
More commonly, a disgraced member resigns before a vote of expulsion, or after being censured. (e.g. New Gingrich fled Congress after being reprimanded for ethics violations.)
More to the point, members of Congress have no protection from ordinary criminal proceedings, and can be arrested, tried, convicted, and serve time while a member of Congress.
I very much doubt even a Democratic Congress would expell McConnell for either failing to act on the Supreme Court nomination or for failing to protect Mueller. I am however optimistic that he may end up behind the 8 ball for, say, campaign finance infractions.