Day: July 27, 2020

Time For Mitch McConnell To Be Retired: A Detrimental Effect On The US Senate And The Nation

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has been a disgraceful, reprehensible leader in the US Senate, and is coming up for reelection to what would be a seventh six year term in office, if he wins in November.

He will be 79 in February, meaning he would be in the Senate until age 85, a good argument for retiring him, but far from the best.

He is the longest serving Senate Republican leader in American history, and longest serving US Senator in Kentucky history. He has been Senate Republican leader for 14 years, the first eight as Minority Leader, and the last six as Majority Leader.

Starting off in the Senate as a pragmatist and comparative moderate, he has become a Far Right leader, undermining President Barack Obama at every imaginable turn, including denying him the Supreme Court appointment of Merrick Garland in 2016, on no legal or constitutional grounds.

He led the fight to undermine campaign finance reform, and his wife, Elaine Chao, has been involved in a conflict of interest in being Secretary of Transportation under President Donald Trump, linking McConnell to Trump’s policies and approach to power, with only an occasional effort to separate himself from Trump.

McConnell worked to undermine health care reform and banking reform under President Obama, and his goal, which failed, was to make Obama a one term President. McConnell has a tone of scandal and corruption constantly surrounding him, and has become very wealthy while in office through his connections with powerful financial interests.

Obstruction and constant use of the filibuster, as well as willingness to shut the government down numerous times and promote the US defaulting on its debt has been utilized regularly, creating a total confrontational attitude.

His major goal has been to fill the federal court system with extremist right wing conservatives, many who do not have adequate qualifications to have lifetime positions, and setting up future constitutional crises in the coming decades. He also has refused to promote election security for the upcoming Presidential election of 2020.

McConnell is an evil force, a nasty, hard line ideologue, and now faces a real challenge from the Democratic Senate nominee, as he has an extremely low public opinion rating in his home state of Kentucky. Amy McGrath has had a career as a Marine Fighter Pilot, and polls indicate a very close race, so let us hope McConnell is retired.

At the least, it seems likely if McConnell is reelected to a seventh term, that he might end up as Minority Leader, as expectations presently indicate the likelihood of a Democratic Senate after six years of Republican control.

Nancy Pelosi’s Likely Last Term As Speaker Of The House In 2021-2022

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is highly controversial, criticized by left wing progressives in her party, but even more vilified by the Republican opposition in the House and Republican Senators, and totally attacked by the right wing propaganda machine and President Donald Trump.

But it seems to this blogger and author that Nancy Pelosi will stand out in history as one of the most outstanding Speakers in American history.

She has guts, courage, stamina, and is not intimidated by powerful men, and that fact drives Donald Trump and his minions to the point of insanity!

Trump is clearly intimidated by Pelosi’s tough exterior and great bargaining powers.

Pelosi has been the leader of the Democratic Party in Congress for nearly a generation, being Minority Leader from 2003-2007, and again from 2011-2019, along with being Speaker of the House twice, from 2007-2011, and again from 2019 to the present. She has been a member of Congress from San Francisco since 1987.

Pelosi is now 80, and has agreed to leave the Speakership by the end of 2022, when she will be past 82 and a half in age.

There is a feeling of a need for new younger leadership, as the top three positions are held by three octogenarians–Pelosi; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who is presently 81, and has been in Congress since 1981, nearing 40 years; and James Clyburn of South Carolina, House Majority Whip , who is presently 80, and has been in Congress since 1993, nearly 28 years.

This team of Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn have been very successful, but it now seems likely that all three will run for their last term this fall, and leave by the end of 2022, hopefully while Joe Biden is President.

Who might replace them is not totally clear, but if one looks at lower ranking leadership right now in the House majority, it would seem as if such members of the House as the following might rise to the top leadership:

Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Democratic Caucus Chair

Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Democratic Caucus Vice Chair

David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Policy and Communications Committee Chair

Cheri Bustos of Illinois, Democratic Congressional Committee Chair

Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, Assistant Majority Whip

These five are much younger than the three top leaders, and all of them have come to Congress since 2011 or 2013.

This group includes two African American males, a gay male, and two women, and come from the Atlantic Coast area, the Midwest and the South. The two African Americans (Jeffries and Richmond) are in their late 40s, while the other three are in their late 50s.

There could be others rising that could challenge these five, but they would seem to have an upper hand right now, to succeed to higher positions in the House leadership!