The Misadventures of Moscow Mitch: 'Misery, Meanness and Mayhem'

By MARSHALL WARD

“Sen. McConnell’s actions have created misery and mayhem, and they are just plain mean," said the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, in responding to the self-styled "Grim Reaper's” disinterest in securing urgent relief for millions of Americans last week.

Added Rev. Barber: "He has repeatedly given money to corporations while undermining real help for poor Americans and low-wage workers. He blocks living wages, health care and voting rights. Now he even wants to reduce unemployment assistance during a pandemic." 

Rev. Barber goes on to instruct us, “while he rushed to pass relief bills in the spring that gave 83% of a record investment in recovery to corporations, he is holding up an extended moratorium on evictions for millions who could become homeless to try to get legal immunity for companies that forced people back to work in dangerous conditions. This is ‘legislating evil.’ He must be held accountable because his actions are dooming the entire country and fundamental human rights for all people.”

Constituents are being asked to send Bibles and copies of the U.S. Constitution to McConnell’s office to remind Mitch and his staff that his cruelty toward millions of our fellow citizens facing hunger, eviction and unemployment is morally and constitutionally indefensible.

Rev. Barber added, “McConnell holds up the Constitution and the Bible while trampling on the rights of all Americans. A true relief bill guarantees healthcare and an adequate income, protects housing, water, and utilities, and prioritizes the needs of all people, not just the wealthy and corporations.”

If the polls are right, Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine lieutentant colonel and jet pilot, is giving McConnell a run for his money.

Now with Trump tanking in the polls, McConnell is handing GOP Senate candidates permission to distance themselves from the president, particularly on “his mass-murder approach to the coronavirus and Trump’s continued claims that it’s safe for children to return to school," says David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer prize investigative journalist.

McConnell may have issued the free pass to "prove independence” from the White House. But he and his caucus have been unswerving Trump sycophants since the president was inaugurated. Nearly every Republican legislator has backed Trump on  his destruction of vital alliances, his racism, sexism, xenophobia, his pandering to religious prejudice and his crazy, unsupported conspiracy theories.

In January, the Republicans underscored their support for Trump/McConnell by refused to remove the president from office despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt. His impeachable offenses have continued in multiples.

Having refused to call Trump out over any statement, no matter how ridiculous, racist, or fascistic, Trump/McConnell’s sycophants are wedded to those policies of misery, meanness and mayhem.

In the words of our lost brother, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA):

“The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.”