by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch
There is a plague on our country, on the Republican Party and conservatism, in particular.
A plague is a disastrous evil or affliction, often termed a calamity. As a noxious infestation, it can be a disease causing high mortality (yersinia pestis) and occur in several forms. They can also be persons that cause irritation and are as such a great nuisance, or worse.
There is no vaccine or drug cocktail to combat or cure it. It has to be surgically removed.
It is called (Mitch) McConnellism.
Senator Addison Mitchell McConnell (R-Ky.), the origin of McConnellism has inflated views of himself, insecurity about his own leadership skills, and is guilty of a failure to listen to others and the populace. He is the senior party leader but he is willing to lose elections just so he can stay in power and milk the uniparty system—largely to enrich himself and continually grow his outsized, yet narrow ego.
The incumbent seven term Republican senator, is unfortunately ensconced as the Senate Minority Leader. He would, if the party succeeds in the November midterm elections, become the Senate Majority Leader, with all the power that entails. Having thwarted the Trump Administration over and over again, he is now seemingly working to defund and defeat quality conservative Republican candidates of the America First variety.
It is unthinkable that such a person should have any political future or power, whatsoever. Why should he? Certainly not as a Republican. He doesn’t even back the House Republican plan or Commitment to America.
Arguably, McConnell should be voted out of office but he likely won’t run again in four years’ time, anyway, given his advanced age and reading the room. His popularity in his own conservative state stands at less than 45 percent. He has the lowest home state approval rating of any sitting senator. In fact, his own constituents give him a high 49 percent disapproval rating.
It took Trump’s endorsement the last time he ran just to carry him over the finish line. In retrospect, that was a horrible decision, the president should have cut him loose. Today, McConnell’s rating among all national Republican voters stands at an abysmal 30 percent. Almost no one likes or trusts him. Least of all perhaps is Donald Trump, who lately is more virulent about the old SOB than even his most liberal opponents.
It goes both ways. McConnell has called Trump ignorant, corrupt, incompetent, and unstable. Why? Because Trump would not bend and accommodate McConnell’s selfish plans. He thought himself more powerful and long-lasting than any mere president. In turn, Trump labeled McConnell a broken down political hack, dour, sullen, and unsmiling. He also said he lacked political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality. Then he went on to attack and call his wife names.
Here are five ways McConnell has hurt Republicans and the country as a whole.
- He has opposed Trump and especially in the assessment of the 2020 election.
- He openly blamed Trump for the January 6 attacks and favored his impeachment.
- He is always willing to negotiate and give away the house, his record doing so with both Obama and Biden, speaks for itself.
- He held up many Trump appointments and much legislation.
- He is married to Elaine Chao, Trump’s ill-begotten secretary of transportation, a China supporter, whose family has long benefited from trade with the CCP, as documented at length in Peter Schweizer’s investigatory book, Red Handed.
The proof of McConnell’s China capitulation and paybacks is overwhelming. McConnell’s wife’s family owns 33 huge container ships, the Foremost Group, tied to the Chinese CCP. Even the New York Times reported that Chao used her cabinet post to benefit the company and increase its influence. As they say, “follow the money” and see how the McConnells have massively enriched themselves.
“Moscow” Mitch, “Cocaine” Mitch, the “Grim Reaper,” “Turtle” and “Old Crow,” are all accurate nicknames given to McConnell for a reason. He was even sarcastically portrayed in an episode of the comedy “South Park.” His actions are often unprincipled, silly, and tactically stupid. He is a grandstander who relishes doing deals rooted in moderate compromise positions. They benefit no one but himself and certainly do not make America foremost.
McConnell may be on Time magazine’s list of 100 most powerful people in the world (for negative power, in his case) but he is thoroughly despised both in the culture and increasingly, by conservative Republicans. If he has a deserved title at all, it might be, Lead RINO.
In all my years in and around political leaders, in the United States and elsewhere, and teaching the virtues of leadership to M.B.A. and Ph.D. students, at Yale and Oxford, as well as Aspen and Davos, I have found that the qualities that make for a profoundly good and successful leader include: statesmanship embedded in visionary attitude and effort; an ability to communicate that vision; integrity and honesty that demonstrate a record of ethics; a skill at decision making—the right decisions at the right time; an ability to inspire others, so as to get other people to follow; delegation to effectively bring a strategy to fruition; and having clear purpose by putting the nation above self.
Mitch McConnell tellingly lacks in all these aspects of leadership and should immediately step down, retire, or be replaced by someone who does.
His mendacity is without limit. Few politicians care less about the will of the people than the present Senate Minority Leader. Simply put, he must go or “we the people” will push him out.
How does the present Republican Party rid itself of the RINOs?
The case against McConnell is clear but what about all the others who compromise on principle, moderate the message, always give in to the Left and make a killing off the uniparty and their establishment entanglements?
If, let’s argue, 20 percent of Republicans are RINO-like, why do they exercise inordinate power, control so many positions, and stand in the way of America first?
The only long term solution is not big tentism or a sharing of the spoils. It has to be to vote them out—to strip them of their accumulated power. The way to begin is with their leader—McConnell himself. If he won’t step down from leadership, retire, or move out of the picture then three things need to happen on the day after the midterm election.
President Trump must loudly claim the victory with all those conservative candidates he helped sweep into power, the new senators, especially. Then with them on stage, Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) must declare his candidacy, with the endorsement of all those in Camp Trump, to challenge McConnell and become the Senate Majority Leader. And finally, voters must sign a petition renouncing McConnell and backing Scott. We can rid ourselves of the plague.
According to always-relevant commentator, Machiavelli: the prince, i.e., McConnell, in this case, is a would-be tyrant who employs all the proper techniques for carving out a state that he can govern solely, as a prince. It involves a combination of seduction, diplomacy and repression.
Such a leader must be opposed. The time for party change has come for real Republicans.
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Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, scholar-diplomat-strategist, is CEO of the thought leadership firm The Roosevelt Group. He is the author of 18 books, including The Plot to Destroy Trump and, with Felipe J. Cuello, Trump’s World: GEO DEUS. He appears regularly in the media, as a keynote speaker, and on television around the world.
Photo “Mitch McConnell” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
