Mitch McConnell
January 22, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The impeachment of President Trump has never been about actually removing him from office. The Democrats have always known they would fall 15 to 20 Senate votes short of accomplishing that. The impeachment is, and always has been, about the 2020 election. Thus, there is now precedent for impeaching a president to gain advantage in an upcoming election. This won’t be the last time it happens. The Democrats hoped through
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January 7, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is ready to proceed with an impeachment proceeding as soon as Nancy Pelosi decides to refer the impeachment articles to the Senate. McConnell’s plan is to proceed in stages. First, the prosecution and the defense will make their presentations. Then, they will answer written questions from Senators. After that, if a party wants to call witnesses, the Senate will vote on whether to allow it.
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December 25, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
2019 was a banner year for confirming federal judges — an accomplishment that will reverberate long after many of the leading stories of the year, including impeachment, have been largely forgotten. Let’s start with federal district court judges. These positions didn’t used to be considered politically charged. Confirmation of district court nominees once was routine. That’s no longer true. District judges are actively participating in the anti-Trump resistance. They are
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August 8, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Twitter temporarily suspended the campaign account of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for posting a video of the invitations to violence against him by Louisville Black Lives Matter leader Chanelle Helm. To be specific, the video captured Helm’s comments at what is euphemistically termed a “protest” outside Senator McConnell’s Louisville home on Monday night. Helm asserted that instead of falling and injuring his shoulder over the weekend, McConnell “should have
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July 30, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the floor of the Senate to respond to Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank’s libel that he declared him a “Russian asset.” Milbank is a clown, but a clown of the influential variety whose clowning is aped by his media colleagues as the height of sophistication and wisdom. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has also gotten in on the act and apparently contributed “Moscow Mitch” to
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May 10, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I’m not saying our politics are weird, but that’s a conclusion one might easily draw from, among other things, this report that Sen. Mitch McConnell’s re-election campaign is selling “Cocaine Mitch” T-shirts. The T-shirts feature a faceless illustration of the Senate Majority Leader on the front alongside the image of a fine white powdery substance. The back of the shirt reads: “Team Mitch Cartel Member.” The reference is to the
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March 13, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
For many months, we (along with many other conservatives) have been urging Senate Republicans to reduce the number of hours permitted to debate nominees. This step is necessary because Senate Democrats have used the 30 hours now permitted to stall nominees. The result is an unacceptable backlog of qualified, confirmable nominees. Consequently, judgeships and key administration jobs remain vacant. Now it finally looks like Majority McConnell will pull the trigger.
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December 11, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said today that he will bring First Step — i.e., leniency legislation for federal felons — to the Senate floor. It has more than enough votes to pass. McConnell’s move follows some concessions to the bill’s critics. Although the concessions don’t come close to curing the legislation, they were enough, combined with pressure from the White House and from wealthy Republican donors, to move some GOP
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December 3, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Last month, President Trump announced his support for FIRST STEP. This legislation provides leniency for federal drug felons by shortening some sentences at the front end, and leniency for federal felons of many stripes at the back end by enabling early release from prison. It wasn’t clear why Trump made this decision, which is inconsistent with his promise to get tougher with fentanyl dealers. Perhaps it was constant pestering from
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October 13, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
With Election Day fast approaching and vulnerable Senate Democrats eager to leave town, Majority Leader McConnell had the Democrats right where he wanted them — pining so badly to get out of Washington that they would finally agree to confirm a host of Trump administration nominees they have long been obstructing. On Thursday, the deal was reached. Democrats agreed to unanimous consent on 15 judicial and 21 executive branch nominees.
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September 21, 2018 — Scott Johnson
We owe Justice Gorsuch to the skill and audacity of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. It is good to hear from him today as Senate Democrats and their media adjunct have gone into the current frenzy over the impending confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Senator McConnell somehow sensed that we needed to hear a certain soothing message today. He has never sounded better to me. Speaking words
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August 5, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
David Lat of “Above the Law” decries the failure of the GOP-controlled Senate to confirm nominees for two key positions at the Department of Justice — Eric Dreiband as head of the Civil Rights Division and Jeff Clark as head of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Both were nominated in June 2017. Clark’s nomination was first sent to the Senate floor on August 3 — more than a year
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July 26, 2018 — Steven Hayward
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is no one’s idea of an electric speaker, but it is worth taking in his brief remarks this morning calling out Democrats for their hysteria over Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. I imagine most readers have heard New Jersey Senator Cory Booker calling Kavanaugh “evil” and other embarrassing things, but McConnell gets at the other crazy things Democrats on the Judiciary Committee
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July 7, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
The word today, for what it’s worth, is that President Trump is still undecided about whom to nominate to the Supreme Court, and that four judges are in the running. The candidates are said to be Raymond Kethledge, Brett Kavanaugh, Thomas Hardiman, and Amy Coney Barrett. Hardiman, by the way, was said to be Trump’s second choice when he nominated Neal Gorsuch. He served with the president’s sister on the
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June 7, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier this week, Majority Leader McConnell cancelled most of the Senate’s August recess. He did so in response to the unprecedented obstruction of Senate Democrats in blocking floor votes on President Trump’s nominees. The cancellation hurts Democrats, and not just because it’s a blow against their obstruction. There are more vulnerable Democrats than vulnerable Republicans up for reelection this year. The lack of a month-long recess will keep them off
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June 5, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Canceling recess was a common punishment for bad behavior when I was in elementary school. I’m happy to report that Majority Leader McConnell says he’ll punish the bad behavior of Democrats by canceling most of the Senate’s August recess. Here is McConnell’s statement: Due to the historic obstruction by Senate Democrats of the president’s nominees, and the goal of passing appropriations bills prior to the end of the fiscal year,
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June 2, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
A few days ago, I discussed the sickening delay in getting a floor vote for key Department of Justice nominees. I blamed Sen. Cory “Weed” Gardner, obstructionist Senate Democrats, and, to a lesser degree, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for the delay. In McConnell’s case, the problem, I argued, is that he’s not making the Senate work enough. To be fair, though, some GOP Senators apparently don’t want to work hard
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