Dear America,
I've admitted this before, but I think I have to reiterate today as recent Republican activity has precipitated todays letter: I don't trust Republicans, and conservative Republicans in particular. I make this re-admission in light of, for example, the pronouncements of Mitch McConnell.
McConnell recently expressed his intention to leave The Senate when his term expires in 2026. I hope he will keep true to his stated course on this issue especially in light of what he has done over the past eight years, starting with the last year of Barrack Obama's second term. You will recall that in March 2016, after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died, Obama nominated Merrick Garland to take his seat on the bench. McConnell insisted, along with other party hacks like Ted Cruz, that no nomination should be considered in the last year of a presidency, and so he refused to put Merrick Garland before The Senate for a vote. Garland's nomination ended with Obama's second term without ever having been considered. That's why we have the conservatively biased court we have today; Trump got to nominate three justices, the first in the first year of his presidency. But then Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in 2020, the last year of Trump's presidency, and the sheer casuistry, if not overtly perverse deceit of McConnell's argument became obvious. But McConnell's apostasy on that issue, despite the profound effect it will have on our nation, is the least of it.
After January 6, 2021, a "date that will live in infamy" to use the old FDR characterize the villainy of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, McConnell conceded that the insurrection that day was infamous and he condemned then-president Trump for his precipitation of the riot by traitors who attempted to reverse our vote for Joe Biden through violence. He also impugned Trump for his failure to put a stop to the attempted revolution. But shortly after McConnell announced his intention to retire from The Senate he was asked if he would vote for Trump if he ran for reelection, to which he replied that he would do so if Trump were the Republican candidate. When the member of the press asking the question then reminded McConnell of his condemnation of Trump's actions on January 6th, McConnell said that he had also said subsequently that he would support the party's candidate by way of evading the question of Trump getting his support if he ran again, and that he did. But the fact that Trump's albeit-unsuccessful impeachment for the insurrection and his subsequently being charged criminally in that regard haven't deterred McConnell from endorsing Trump for reelection makes it plain that McConnell, despite his sanctimonious fulminations about God and country puts party loyalty ahead of what he would no doubt call patriotic duty were Trump a Democrat. It is naked apostasy of a very primordial kind. It demonstrates that McConnell is a liar in principle, not just about facts, but about the most singularly important issue for an American politician: preservation of the union. McConnell is an unscrupulous scoundrel, and his party supports him fulsomely. That casts doubt on the members of that party of exactly the same consequence. If McConnell cannot be trusted to put American democracy ahead of party loyalty and the party condones his conduct, members of the party cannot be trusted either.
Of course, all this only explains why I would have to see a Republican candidate for anything to be a departure from the Republican ethos before I could vote for him or her. It apparently doesn't change anything for Republicans as they continue to support McConnell, but also the abjectly morally bankrupt patron for whom McConnell has whored himself, Donald Trump. I find all this daunting at best, and that is why I make sure that my passport is current. Trump is sufficiently unscrupulous to admonish anyone who will listen about what he apparently takes pride in: his prediction of bloodshed when he loses the 2024 election, making him 0 for 3 in that department.
The fact that his Republican supporters cheer when he says such odious things is, as I said, daunting. It makes conservatism dastardly in my opinion. But as I have said before, I think the electoral math renders Trump nothing but a bad dream for this country. I just hope this country wakes up soon>
Your friend,
Mike
I've admitted this before, but I think I have to reiterate today as recent Republican activity has precipitated todays letter: I don't trust Republicans, and conservative Republicans in particular. I make this re-admission in light of, for example, the pronouncements of Mitch McConnell.
McConnell recently expressed his intention to leave The Senate when his term expires in 2026. I hope he will keep true to his stated course on this issue especially in light of what he has done over the past eight years, starting with the last year of Barrack Obama's second term. You will recall that in March 2016, after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died, Obama nominated Merrick Garland to take his seat on the bench. McConnell insisted, along with other party hacks like Ted Cruz, that no nomination should be considered in the last year of a presidency, and so he refused to put Merrick Garland before The Senate for a vote. Garland's nomination ended with Obama's second term without ever having been considered. That's why we have the conservatively biased court we have today; Trump got to nominate three justices, the first in the first year of his presidency. But then Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in 2020, the last year of Trump's presidency, and the sheer casuistry, if not overtly perverse deceit of McConnell's argument became obvious. But McConnell's apostasy on that issue, despite the profound effect it will have on our nation, is the least of it.
After January 6, 2021, a "date that will live in infamy" to use the old FDR characterize the villainy of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, McConnell conceded that the insurrection that day was infamous and he condemned then-president Trump for his precipitation of the riot by traitors who attempted to reverse our vote for Joe Biden through violence. He also impugned Trump for his failure to put a stop to the attempted revolution. But shortly after McConnell announced his intention to retire from The Senate he was asked if he would vote for Trump if he ran for reelection, to which he replied that he would do so if Trump were the Republican candidate. When the member of the press asking the question then reminded McConnell of his condemnation of Trump's actions on January 6th, McConnell said that he had also said subsequently that he would support the party's candidate by way of evading the question of Trump getting his support if he ran again, and that he did. But the fact that Trump's albeit-unsuccessful impeachment for the insurrection and his subsequently being charged criminally in that regard haven't deterred McConnell from endorsing Trump for reelection makes it plain that McConnell, despite his sanctimonious fulminations about God and country puts party loyalty ahead of what he would no doubt call patriotic duty were Trump a Democrat. It is naked apostasy of a very primordial kind. It demonstrates that McConnell is a liar in principle, not just about facts, but about the most singularly important issue for an American politician: preservation of the union. McConnell is an unscrupulous scoundrel, and his party supports him fulsomely. That casts doubt on the members of that party of exactly the same consequence. If McConnell cannot be trusted to put American democracy ahead of party loyalty and the party condones his conduct, members of the party cannot be trusted either.
Of course, all this only explains why I would have to see a Republican candidate for anything to be a departure from the Republican ethos before I could vote for him or her. It apparently doesn't change anything for Republicans as they continue to support McConnell, but also the abjectly morally bankrupt patron for whom McConnell has whored himself, Donald Trump. I find all this daunting at best, and that is why I make sure that my passport is current. Trump is sufficiently unscrupulous to admonish anyone who will listen about what he apparently takes pride in: his prediction of bloodshed when he loses the 2024 election, making him 0 for 3 in that department.
The fact that his Republican supporters cheer when he says such odious things is, as I said, daunting. It makes conservatism dastardly in my opinion. But as I have said before, I think the electoral math renders Trump nothing but a bad dream for this country. I just hope this country wakes up soon>
Your friend,
Mike
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