Mitch McConnell Deserves No Praise for his Hegseth "No" Vote
Mitch did what was safe and easy for Mitch
On Friday evening, Pete Hegseth was voted in as Secretary of Defense by the narrowest of margins; a tie-breaking vote was needed by VP J.D. Vance to push the confirmation through.
Since Republicans have a 3-seat majority in the Senate, this meant that three Republicans voted against Hegseth, which essentially means they voted against Trump.
Two of the three were fairly predictable. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have a bit of an independent streak to them—Collins, due to her state’s politics, and Murkowski due to her personal popularity in her state. They can incur the wrath of Trump and his MAGA supporters without much fear of an effective reprisal.
But the third was a bit surprising: Mitch McConnell, the staunch Republican from Kentucky. While he has voiced some concerns about Trump and the rise of MAGA, his actions in the end have not shown any real resistance to them. He generally falls in line himself, and as leader of the Senate Republicans for years, has encouraged others to fall in line as well.
So is this a turnaround from Mitch? Is he now going to be a principled warrior against Trumpism and MAGA?
No.
The early response from the media has been to suggest that McConnell has some grand plan, or “message” to be sent.
This headline from Politico suggests as much:
Some notable quotes from the article help to aggrandize this action by Mitch:
Mitch McConnell might not run the Senate anymore. But he made clear on Friday night that he still knows how to wield power.
McConnell has now made clear he intends to use his vote to make his points.
Other articles, such as this one from Newsweek, noted responses from influential political thinkers that suggest that Mitch has suddenly “done the right thing” or found a “conscience”, albeit too little too late, they acknowledge.
In reality, Mitch did what was safe and easy for Mitch. He faces almost no political pressure at all, being from deep red Kentucky and having decades of power, influence, and federal pork barrel spending in his state behind him. It’s highly likely that he won’t be running for reelection again, so there’s not primary threats to be concerned about.
And McConnell, a master at political strategic maneuverings, knows how to play the game.
He knows that he can “take a stand” and “have a conscience” and “do the right thing” only under certain conditions. And, most importantly, as the long-time leader of the Senate Republicans, he knows how to vote count.
So he counted the vote and considered the conditions. They showed that his vote wouldn’t matter. A tie vote was secure, and Hegseth was assured confirmation.
So that’s when he did it.
While some may want to praise and/or thank Mitch for this action, I cannot bring myself to do so. Had there been some signs of a conscience earlier in his career, perhaps I could get on board. But Mitch has shown himself to be a modern Machiavelli, doing whatever it takes to gain and maintain power.
He helped bring about MAGA by being the most obstructionist Senate opposition leader in modern history. He helped convince half the country that Barack Obama was the most divisive president in history. He used radical methods to enable the right-wing takeover of the Supreme Court.
So mustering up the “courage” on a “No” vote for Hegseth doesn’t impress me much (apologies to Shania Twain).
This may augur his votes on the other highly controversial Trump Cabinet appointees. Perhaps he’ll be a “No” on RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard as well. I guarantee that will only happen if he is safely hidden away as a non-deciding vote again. If he knows for sure either of them are going to fail or get confirmed, he’ll vote “No”. If their confirmation depends on his vote, there is no doubt he’ll vote “Yes”.
In this way, he can attempt to nurture a legacy of even-tempered pragmatism in the face of rabid populism. But it will be tough to ignore the fact that during his early tenure as Senate Republican leader he helped feed the populists the red meat infected with rabies.
His goal now is to distract from that fact. To distract people from the understanding that the MAGA monster is partly his own creation.
Because of that, I will likely never struggle to deny Mitch McConnell thanks or praise.
Mr. Mitch is a scoundrel who is one of the most founding fathers of MAGAnism and their avatar - Mr. Trump. He didn’t have a change of heart and is not now against Mr. T or the radical base. Mr. M has only ever cared about his personal power- he will throw anyone or anything that actually benefits the American people under the bus. He is responsible for the radical right Supreme Court that has done severe damage to our lives and there is no end in sight of their disregard and seemingly hatred of anyone who should dare to oppose their extreme views. This Supreme Court is not independent nor does it protect our citizens. The Maga Right justices longer care to even pretend that their job is to interpret the Constitution. It is not to invent fanatasy style “law” on presidential immunity WHICH DOES NOT EXIST. There is no solution at this time to bring the Court back to a stable center where its JOB is to protect our citizens from all sorts of danger INCLUDING bad laws. I doubt that Mr. Mitch has ever regretted any of his actions and I doubt that he cares a whit about what anyone thinks of him. As an American citizen, I am throughly embarrassed by him as an American politician. He only represents himself and his depthless integrity. I wonder how many people in Kentucky actually respect him?
Mitch McConnell is note my hero because of one vote. He could have voted to impeach Trump along time ago.