The NYT has a new article about McConnell. Practically a biopic, at least it acknowledges the controversies that McConnell sits at the epicenter of. The interesting part is not that, though.
Late in the article is a bit about McConnell’s friendship with Individual 1. I think it holds the key to understanding the shutdown.
...George Will, the Washington Post columnist, who has known McConnell for decades, told me: “He has never said anything in my hearing about Mr. Trump. It is, however, a safe inference that he knows he is dealing with a child.”
McConnell seemed to realize something, too: That his spare communication style was not the best way of dealing with this particular president. He now speaks to Trump several times a week.
When I spoke with Ryan, I asked if he and McConnell had planned for a scenario in which Trump decided to fire Robert Mueller.
“Yes,” Ryan replied unhesitatingly.
“What was the plan?” I asked.
“I’ll just leave it at that,” he said. “Did we discuss it? Yes, we discussed it. Yes, we were prepared if that actually would have happened.” A minute later, he added: “I can answer that with a question: Has the guy been fired? No, he’s continuing on.” These were the proverbial adults in the room; they had this.
But the problem was that the adults kept leaving the room. On Dec. 20, James Mattis, the defense secretary, quit after Trump abruptly announced that he was pulling out the 2,000 United States troops deployed in Syria...
So these traitors see themselves as the last “Adults In The Room.” McConnell is the only one left. He’s been carefully cultivating a friendship with Individual 1, and is using to control the toddler. Thinking about the implications, I think it reveals why he refuses to bring a vote on the shutdown. Individual 1 would see it as a betrayal, and the friendship would be over, control would be lost and chaos would be released. He’s not the hero we deserve…. etc. Or at least, that’s how McConnell sees it. He’ll let the entire country rot to uphold his fantasy of being the last guardian in the breach.
Why not just impeach the toddler? McConnell states outright what we already knew in our hearts… because he is getting everything he wanted. I’ve overused quotes already — go read the article if you want to McTurtle wax poetic over himself.
www.nytimes.com/...
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There is a bit of good news hidden in the article. Read between the lines in this final quote:
I noticed that Ryan was speaking in the past tense now, as if this were already an era of American politics safely mothballed away in the closet of history. “There’s a lot of chatter, there’s a lot of tweeting, there’s a lot of all that,” he went on. “But institutionally, everything’s fine. You know, we didn’t impeach Rod Rosenstein, you know? We didn’t do things like that. A lot of chatter about it, but the institutions are there, they’re standing.”
“Does Trump share your view, and McConnell’s view, of institutions?” I asked.
“No,” Ryan said.
Even though they are playing recklessly close to disaster for their own benefit, like children teetering on a chair trying to reach the candy before it falls over, they still recognize the threat. When push comes to shove, Republicans will impeach.