Mitch McConnell Of Kentucky

Passing Of Russian Critic Alexei Navalny Should Lead To Widespread Condemnation Of Trump And Maga Republican Support Of Putin, And Expanded Aid To Ukraine!

The tragic death of Russian critic Alexei Navalny in a Russian penal colony, another indication of the brutality of the Russian government under Vladimir Putin, is a clarion call for Putin supporters in the Republican Party (Donald Trump and most Republicans in Congress, and hangers on who are MAGA supporters) to be held accountable in speeches and debates over the next nine months!

The idea that Donald Trump and his crazy minions, who bow to him, can back and support such a monster as Putin, needs to be a top issue constantly over the coming months!

ANY decent person should be outraged, and ready to hold Trump and his seditionists and traitors accountable in every way and means possible!

Notice that neither Donald Trump nor any of his seditionist, treasonous Republicans have condemned the death of Navalny, and in particular, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama is a disgrace to his state! This moron football coach defeated the best Alabama Senator in Doug Jones in 2020, a crime against common decency!

But where is Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, and all of those who in the past believed in a hard line against Putin and Russia, including the now two year old war against Ukraine?

Now than ever before, more military aid to Ukraine is urgent, as they are the first line of defense for NATO!

Battle Among House And Senate Republicans Over Support For Ukraine

The Republican Party in Congress is badly split over aid to Ukraine.

The majority of Senate Republicans, with top leadership including Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, want to give more aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

But a small band of House Republicans, the most extreme right wing elements led by Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and others of that group, are resisting aid, and they have found an ally in new House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who while not well known before now, is clearly a MAGA Republican as these extremists are, totally willing to bend to the will of Donald Trump.

So a major crisis looms for President Joe Biden and members of both political parties who do not wish to see Russia threatening the rest of Europe, if they succeed in defeating Ukraine!

Ron DeSantis Comes Out As Neville Chamberlain, Divides Republicans On Foreign Policy Toward Vladimir Putin

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who clearly will be announcing for President in the near future, has come out clearly against aid to Ukraine, seeing the Russia-Ukraine War as not an issue of national security for the United States.

In that regard, he is acting like Donald Trump!

In so doing, DeSantis and Trump are coming out as Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who made a deal with Adolf Hitler to give up half of Czechoslovakia in 1938 (the Munich Conference), thinking it would satisfy Hitler’s territorial demands, which was instead appeasement of a dictator.

The issue of Ukraine has divided the Republican members of the US Senate, including:

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
Mitt Romney of Utah
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
John Cornyn of Texas
John Thune of South Dakota
Marco Rubio of Florida
Mike Rounds of South Dakota
Kevin Cramer of North Dakota
Roger Wicker of Mississippi
John Kennedy of Louisiana

And there are others in the Senate who have not spoken publicly who would take the same stand, being critical of both DeSantis and Trump on Ukraine.

There are also a few House Republicans, the so called “moderates”, who would join the Senate Republicans who are in opposition.

So a major battle for the soul of the party is in process!

The Three “Johns” Competing To Succeed Mitch McConnell As Senate Republican Leader In The Future

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will soon set the record as the longest serving Senate Republican leader, as Minority Leader and Majority Leader.

He is in his 16th year of party leadership, since the beginning of 2007, and if he remains the leader into 2023, he will surpass Democrat Mike Mansfield, who served from 1961-1977 as party leader.

Even if McConnell continues as party leader into next year, there is speculation about who would be his successor, with three “Johns” seen as in competition.

They are Senator John Thune of South Dakota, who serves as Minority Whip, and was elected in 2004, and is facing reelection this fall, at age 61. He also served in the House of Representatives from 1997-2003.

The second contender is Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who served as Minority Whip in past Congresses, and was first elected in 2002, and is age 70. He was on the Texas Supreme Court and Attorney General of Texas before coming to the Senate.

The third contender is Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is a orthopedic physician, and has served in the Senate since 2007, and is also age 70. He also has served as Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the third ranking position in leadership.

Electoral Count Act Of 1887 Needs To Be Modernized To Avoid Another January 6!

The Electoral Count Act of 1887 needs to be updated and modernized, to avoid another January 6 situation.

Fortunately, a bipartisan group of Senators is at work on this project.

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, with the backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is leading a group of Senators, including Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Chris Coons of Delaware to prevent a repeat of the nightmare created in 2021.

It would clarify the Vice President’s role so that there would never be doubt again about the counting of Electoral Votes.

The law of 1887 came ten years after the contested Presidential Election of 1876, where Republican Rutherford B. Hayes became President by a margin of one vote–185-184–over Democrat Samuel Tilden, who had won the popular vote by about 250,000!

Joe Biden Must NOT Appoint Mitch McConnell Lackey To Federal District Court Lifetime Appointment!

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is the single most significant figure to have brought about the horrendous extreme right wing Supreme Court, which has reversed abortion rights, extended gun rights, and undermined the Environmental Protection Agency in recent Court decisions.

Now, there is evidence that President Biden was ready to appoint a Mitch McConnell lackey, Chad Meredith, to a Federal District Court Judgeship for the Eastern District of Kentucky, but the Court’s decision in Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization caused a delay in that announced appointment.

The Democratic Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, has publicly complained at the idea of picking Chad Meredith, who is described as a version of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the abortion issue and so many others, and many other Democrats are protesting the idea of his appointment, supposedly to insure that McConnell does not block other Biden nominations in the last two years of his term in office.

Biden should rescind any such deal, as Mitch McConnell is unreliable, manipulative, deceitful, and making any so called deal with him is like dealing with the devil!

If Biden allows this nomination, he will lose the support of many Democrats and undermine his own Presidency, and this author and blogger will be furious with him, and wonder if it is time to move on and look elsewhere for the Democratic Presidential nomination contest in 2024!

The Worst Of The Worst: the Dozen Most Disgraceful, Reprehensible Republican Senators In 2021

The Republicans in the US Senate are overall the worst scoundrels in Republican Party history, with this present group mostly lacking in courage and principles, and have shown willingness to follow Donald Trump and his promotion of Fascist authoritarianism!

Following is a list of the double worst Republican Senators out of the 50 presently serving in that body, in state alphabetical order:

Tom Cotton of Arkansas

Rick Scott of Florida

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky

Rand Paul of Kentucky

John Kennedy of Louisiana

Josh Hawley of Missouri

James Inhofe of Oklahoma

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina

Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee

Ted Cruz of Texas

Mike Lee of Utah

Ron Johnson of Wisconsin

Republicans In Senate Try To Stop Second Trump Impeachment Trial: Total Disgrace!

The Republican Party used to be an honorable party, with some really good Senators and Congressmen, as well as Governors.

But now, the Republican Party is more than ever a Fascist oriented party, still backing Donald Trump despite his inciting the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021.

So today, the Republican Party in the Senate disgraced itself, with 90 percent of the 50 Senators, 45 out of 50, voting to try to stop the Second Trump Impeachment Trial, scheduled to start in two weeks.

Only Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Ben Sasse, and Pat Toomey voted in favor of a trial, and even Mitch McConnell, who had condemned Trump for the Insurrection voted against having a trial.

The trial will go forward, but it seems clear that Donald Trump will escape conviction, and that will mean Donald Trump will NOT lose the right to seek public office again, creating a literal nightmare scenario that he could attempt to return to a political campaign again in 2024!

There should be a rule that those senators who voted against an impeachment trial should not be permitted to vote on Trump since they did not want a trial!

If only that was allowed, there would only be 55 votes and only 37 would be needed for conviction!

The Ten Most Disgraceful United States Senators In The 116th Congress

The United States Senate is a great institution, which has had 1,984 members in its 232 year history since 1789.

It has had its heroes and champions, but also some of the worst demagogues and villains imaginable.

As we come up to the 2020 elections, this is a time to look at who this author and blogger considers to be the ten most disgraceful US Senators in the 116th Congress.

There will be disagreement on any such list, of course, but this author and blogger sees the top ten most disgraceful US Senators to be all Republicans, unconcerned about the COVID 19 Pandemic, the economic collapse in what is fast becoming the Second Great Depression, and the racial injustice that prevails in our society.

So here goes the list, with ranking of the level of evil being attempted below:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky—who has shown complete hypocrisy on the Supreme Court regarding Merrick Garland in 2016 and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020, and is someone who should be defeated for reelection in November, but in Kentucky it is hard to get people to understand the depth of his venality on so many matters and issues. Were he to lose next month, it would be a massive victory of major proportions!

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina—who has a much tougher challenge to reelection, and has gained the enmity of many people who see him as having totally abandoned any sense of ethics or morality regarding President Donald Trump, including allowing his former friendship with the late Senator John McCain to be thrown aside with abandon, since McCain’s passing in 2018.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas—who this author and blogger thought in 2016 was more dangerous and terrifying than Donald Trump, and who remains a truly evil, dangerous, egocentric threat, and with plans to run for President in 2024.

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas—also seen as certain to run for President in 2024, and perceived as particularly dangerous in his views and outlook on just about any major issue that arises.

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin—who has been an outrage and totally corrupt and manipulative, and makes one wonder why his state chose him twice for the Senate in 2010 and 2016 over their exceptional Senator Russ Feingold.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri—who is the youngest Senator at present, having defeated Claire McCaskill in 2018, and with grand ambitions to run for President in 2024, with a very hard Right set of values that makes him totally terrifying to any sane person!

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky— who is a fake libertarian and total phony, but seems likely to run for President again in 2024, and one wonders why anyone would go to this privately licensed eye doctor, who is not accredited by national organizations which he has repudiated, and who expresses the weirdest ideas imaginable, not impressing anyone who has intelligence!

Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma—who is running for reelection at age 86, and rejects science and climate change, and if he survives, would be one of just a few who would be in office in their 90s, a horrific thought! Oklahoma can do better than this, but unlikely Inhofe will lose next month, sadly!

Senator Rick Scott of Florida—-a felon who got away with Medicare and Medicaid fraud, and was elected twice as Governor and now to the Senate by less than one percent of the vote each time, and who did great harm in the Sunshine State when Governor, and is often called “Lord Voldemort” of the Harry Potter series, as Scott resembles him in appearance, but without the smashed nose, lol!

Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee—the only woman in the group, but with a long held reputation as an extremely nasty, mean spirited Congresswoman, who sadly was elected to succeed Bob Corker, who was a reasonable conservative Republican and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, who turned against Donald Trump, and retired in 2018.

I welcome commentary and viewpoints on this list!