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“Top U.S. Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said [last] Wednesday he will step down this year from his leadership role… McConnell, who has represented Kentucky in the Senate since 1985 and has been his party's leader since 2007, gleefully embraced the nickname ‘Grim Reaper’ for his willingness to use the levers of power to stonewall Democratic goals, whether as majority leader or, as is currently the case, minority leader… His tenure of nearly 17 years as a Senate party leader is the longest on record.” Reuters
The right generally praises McConnell, arguing that he effectively advanced conservative priorities.
“When Trump took office and nominated Neil M. Gorsuch — a judge of unquestioned qualifications and temperament — Democrats decided to filibuster his nomination. It was a grave miscalculation, and McConnell capitalized, convincing his Republican colleagues that they had no choice but to extend the Democrats’ precedent and eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations…
“If Democrats had not overplayed their hand [in 2014], and had McConnell not skillfully exploited their error, Gorsuch would never have been confirmed — and neither would Brett M. Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett. Conservatives owe the Supreme Court’s 6-3 majority, and all the consequential decisions it has produced, to McConnell…
“McConnell’s Republican majority confirmed more than 200 judges to the lower courts during Trump’s term — including 54 circuit-court judges, the most confirmed in a president’s first term in four decades. As President Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain complained, those judges ‘will be deciding the scope of our civil liberties and the shape of civil rights laws in the year 2050 — and beyond.’ Amen to that.”
Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post
Some argue, “Whether the issue was Ukraine, immigration, or budgetary discipline, McConnell continually aided and abetted the Democrats at the expense of his own voters… In 17 years as GOP leader, the debt rose from some $9 trillion to $34 trillion. He failed to shepherd a single GOP alternative to Obamacare, the greatest expansion of the welfare state in decades, despite having years to do so…
“He was a leading supporter of America’s disastrous intervention in Iraq and an enabler of its unfocused, endless military adventurism in Afghanistan.”
Jeremy Carl, The Federalist
Others counter, “It is true that McConnell could be too cautious at times, present his caucus with unpalatable last-minute deals, and sometimes back the wrong horse in Senate primaries. But, overall, his judgment was sound, and anyone who thinks Republicans could have accomplished more with a more aggressive leader congenial to the bomb throwers now has the cautionary example of the post–Kevin McCarthy House GOP to consider…
“He won the trust of most of his caucus and was always cognizant of their political needs. Even with narrow majorities, he was able to muster an extraordinary degree of party unity and had a knack for knowing when to cut a deal and when to draw a line. At the top of his game, his Democratic counterparts, Harry Reid and then Chuck Schumer, couldn’t come close to matching him as a political chess player or legislative tactician; sometimes it didn’t even seem fair.”
The Editors, National Review
The left criticizes McConnell, arguing that he relentlessly pursued partisan goals to the detriment of the country.
The left criticizes McConnell, arguing that he relentlessly pursued partisan goals to the detriment of the country.
“McConnell once notoriously declared that his highest political priority was unseating Democratic President Barack Obama, and he constantly manifested that same level of remorseless partisanship…
“Even when Obama was advancing legislation that would help Kentucky, in the form of the Affordable Care Act, McConnell moved to block it, leading [former Republican Senator Marlow Cook] to denounce his former aide and say, ‘If he had any knowledge of the lack of health and medical facilities in the hills of Kentucky, he’d know it’s a problem we need to solve. For Mitch McConnell to decide the new health program is not good for Kentucky—it tells me he’s not looking out for his own constituency.’”
John Nichols, The Nation
“This is the guy who violated every known norm to hold open Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat, ostensibly because it came open in an election year, only to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat when people were already voting in the 2020 election. I think he made a lot of Americans wake up and realize that this was all Calvinball, that he had no principles to begin with…
“But even more than that, Mitch McConnell was the guy who realized you don’t need to win elections to enact Republican policy. You don’t need to change hearts and minds. You don’t need to push ballot initiatives or win over the views of the people. All you have to do is stack the courts. You only need 51 votes in the Senate to stack the courts with far-right partisan activists like Aileen Cannon and Matthew Kacsmaryk. And they will enact Republican policies under the guise of judicial review.”
Mark Joseph Stern, Slate
“In the days after January 6, 2021, Trump had discredited himself with his party and stood on the brink of reputational ruin. The House had impeached him for his coup attempt, with ten Republicans joining in. With a small push, McConnell likely could have mustered enough votes to convict him and disqualify the former president from holding public office again. Instead… He convinced himself Trump would simply fade away on his own. And now, three years later, Trump stands as the prohibitive favorite to regain power.”
Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine
Some argue, “As much as Democrats like to demonize McConnell, he has been a responsible cog for must-pass legislation to keep the government open and the national credit card working… McConnell also helped Biden pass part of his infrastructure investment agenda and, during the Trump years, provided a reliable guard against some of Trump’s most bananas ideas and watered down some of the others… At best, there will be a learning curve for McConnell’s successor. At worst, the Senate may lose its traditional check.”
Philip Elliott, Time
