Nice try, Mitch McConnell
Senator Mitch McConnell is a corrupt politician who makes up rules and revokes them as he sees fit, in whatever way he needs to pivot to protect his party and his leadership role. For a very long time, Mitch “the Con” McConnell has refused to consider or put on the floor any legislation designed to protect the elections from foreign interference. Today, in what appears to be an about face, McConnell has done a 180 degree turn on his views. However, we should be very cautious when it comes to the Con, because as noted, he often changes his mind and makes up rules.
In the present situation, we have a Senate Majority Leader who is reading tea leaves and seeing that the President of the United States has engaged in outreach and the “Call a Comrade” program he is fond of, with a whistleblower complaint pending about “Promises made, promises kept” to the foreign leaders.
In what appears to be a sign of Mitch the Con coming around, he is now a co-sponsor of a bill that would provide for $250 million for state election officials going into the 2020 election. As Senator Chuck Schumer and others have noted, the supported bill does nothing to indicate how the money is to be spent.
In addition, if the Con is up to his normal gamesmanship, this will be part of a must-pass spending bill, but when the Trump administration does not spend the money and does nothing of real substance to address the real potential for interference again, Mitch the Con will have won and perhaps saved himself and the Senate majority. However, beware the Con – and he will remain #MoscowMitch. While his newest twist is better than previous positions on the topic, we should not rejoice until we see actual effective measures implemented.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.