Were my eyes deceiving me? I had to read this piece twice, just to make sure the words were still there:
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, has told associates that he believes President Trump committed impeachable offenses and that he is pleased that Democrats are moving to impeach him, believing that it will make it easier to purge him from the party…
I did the same with this piece, posted a few hours later:
There’s a better than 50-50 chance that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would vote to convict President Trump in an impeachment trial…An anti-Trump infection is spreading among Hill Republicans.
Even Fox News confirmed on the air last night that McConnell is “done with Trump” and stand in the way of impeachment. Or a Senate trial.
There were other stunning events yesterday – Liz Cheney, the #3 House Republican, announced that she’ll vote to impeach (giving cover to other House GOPers who might be so inclined), and said of the violent insurrection, “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath” – but Mitch snitching on Trump truly takes the cake. On Capitol Hill, that alone shifts the center of gravity.
Not that we should suddenly applaud McConnell for statesmanship. Somebody wrote nearly three years ago: “As Trump creeps ever close toward emulating the autocrats in Russia, Turkey, and Hungary, the Republicans who run a so-called co-equal branch of government continue to disgrace themselves and imperil us. (McConnell) can’t conceive of putting the country first.”
Oh wait, I wrote that.
Basically, Trump had to rape democracy and unleash his rabble before McConnell finally saw fit to act like an American. Until McConnell witnessed his cherished Senate under attack, until he himself had to be hustled to safety, he was the inverse of a profile in courage. And frankly, until he lost his job as Majority Leader thanks to Trump’s failed meddling in the Georgia Senate elections, he was complicit.
But hey, we can’t afford to be choosy right now. The fight to salvage democracy needs all the help it can get.
Rick Tyler, a longtime conservative and former Ted Cruz aide, said it best yesterday: “Republicans are now peeling off from Trump,, and while at this point it takes little if any courage to do so, they should be commended, not condemned for it. We’re going to need them to get the son of a bitch impeached, convicted and thrown out of office.”
McConnell’s sins can never be washed away. One year ago, if he hadn’t barred witnesses at the impeachment trial, if he hadn’t indulged the criminal president by ensuring his exoneration, the current crisis of democracy would not be happening. Two months ago, if McConnell had publicly acknowledged reality, declared that Joe Biden’s election was legit and that Trump’s incessant lies were beyond the pale, he would’ve helped hose down the MAGA zealots. Instead, he flunked this wretched era’s ultimate moral test.
As veteran conservative Bill Kristol remarked last spring, “Demagogues like Trump, if they can get elected, can’t really govern unless they have people like McConnell…He could have fundamentally disrupted Trump’s control, but instead McConnell has kept the trains running.”
Nevertheless, it’s important to remind ourselves that most politicians are stewards of their own self-interest. McConnell prides himself on being an “institutionalist,” a caretaker of the chamber he has long inhabited. Being forced to flee the hallowed premises one step ahead of Trump’s unhinged nutjobs was personally humiliating. He also wants to salvage whatever power he still has to help chart a future path for his party, he wants to keep the corporate donor spigot open, and now that he has squeezed Trump for all he can get (a conservative judiciary, etc.), he’s positioning himself to play the principled statesman.
But if he wants to switch trains now, great. If he wants to signal his fellow Republican senators that it’s OK to vote for Trump’s ouster, great. Anything that hikes the odds of conviction – and a subsequent vote to bar the insurrectionist from running again – should be welcomed. There’s truth in the axiom that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Or, as Victor Lazlo said to Rick in Casablanca, “Welcome to the fight. This time I know our side will win.”