Mitch McConnell's pyrrhic victories

By MARSHALL WARD

President, Calloway County Retired Teachers Association

A "Pyrrhic victory" inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is equal to a defeat.

It is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus in Greece whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Asculum. He was quoted as saying, “if we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined."

The philosopher Santayana has said, “those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

With the Republican party in the grip of Donald Trump’s personality cult, there has been a steady move by Mr. Trump to eliminate protocol and traditions. The president scoffs at the rule of law and generally acts like a dictator, much like his idols Vladimir Putin and Kim Jung Un.

As a result of 17 investigations, there is ample evidence of obstruction of justice and abuse of power to impeach Mr. Trump. But that would take care of the symptom, not the disease.

In plain sight, there have been multiple warning signs that Mitch McConnell has been busy rejecting his own Senate traditions. He changed the Senate’s rules to put party over country. He declared with an egotistical grin, "I get to decide what we vote on.” He has celebrated huge tax cuts for the rich, and the appointment of a Supreme Court justice with the temperament of a middle school boy. All are pyrrhic victories. 

Here are some more examples:

1)      McConnell refused to alert the public about Russian interference in the 2016 Election campaign. He said he “would consider any effort by the Obama administration to challenge the Russians publicly...an act of partisan politics." (We know that the Russians were waging an all-out social media campaign to help Trump and hurt Clinton.)

2)       McConnell refused to hold votes to protect Special Counsel Mueller after Trump fired FBI Director Comey (a possible obstruction of justice), after Trump bragged about firing Comey to Russians invited into the Oval office without U.S. officials present, after Trump met privately with Vladimir Putin without any written notes, and after giving the green light to Trump for declaring a fake national emergency.

3)      McConnell delayed a Senate vote to end the longest government shutdown in our history to protect Trump’s “fake” emergency; and

4)      McConnell won’t allow votes on an election reform bill with automatic voter registration, on expansion of early voting, on D.C. statehood, on support for independent commissions to oversee House redistricting, and on requiring dark money groups to disclose donors.

Further:

1)      By helping hide the dark arts of Putin, McConnell has tainted Trump’s presidency; some scholars have concluded that without Russia’s help, Trump would not be president.

2)      By blocking 82 Obama judicial nominations by filibuster (an action that obstructs a decision), McConnell has matched the number of blocked judges by all presidents prior to Obama; and

3)      For decades to come, American citizens hurt by Republican budget cuts to Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid can thank McConnell.

McConnell was received like a celebrity in Murray last Saturday night. But history will not be so kind to Mitch. He will be remembered as the main enabler of a president who is a pathological liar and autocrat. 

Lastly, Mitch McConnell has compared himself to Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser from Kentucky. Imagine what Abraham Lincoln might say, if he heard Mitch liken himself to Clay: “Senator, I knew Henry Clay. Sir, you are NO Henry Clay.”

Mitch, it’s not too late to shed your support for “fake” Republicanism and return your party to sanity.