Mitch McConnell is bluffing
Senate Majority Leader McConnell has announced today that he has the votes to hold whatever kind of sham impeachment trial he wants. Despite McConnell’s status as a guy who almost literally never tells the truth, a number of observers are still somehow taking this guy at his word. But back in the real world, McConnell is simply doing what he does best: bluffing, posturing, and trying to control the narrative.
When John Bolton announced yesterday that he’s willing to testify under subpoena in the Senate impeachment trial, it threw everything for a loop. Mitt Romney, ever the opportunist, quickly announced that he wants Bolton to testify. We all know Romney is still looking to acquit Trump. But Romney is trying to make himself look good by forcing the trial to be a bit more legitimate before voting to acquit Trump.
Accordingly, this week’s media narrative was going to be that Mitch McConnell has a real problem. If Romney is publicly pushing him to have Bolton testify, after Lisa Murkowski already publicly pushed back against McConnell for vowing not to hold a fair trial, how much more heat would McConnell end up facing going forward?
That’s why Mitch McConnell announced today that he has the votes to magically do whatever he wants with the trial. He’s counting on the media and the pundits to parrot this, as if it were fact. He’s looking to change the narrative. Does he have the votes? It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t even have the articles of impeachment. And even if he did, he can’t do whatever he wants with the trial, without consequence. McConnell is clearly concerned about how the trial will impact his odds of retaining control of the Senate in 2020. With a guy like McConnell, you always have to read between the lines of the BS that comes out of his mouth.
