I expect to post additional editorial cartoons in the comments section. Thanks very much for supporting this diary series.
Here are the links to my recent diaries, in case you missed them.
Mitch McConnell’s Abysmal Record
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo had a few thoughts on Mitch McConnell’s contributions to the United States Senate.
Mitch McConnell is one of those perhaps historic figures for whom the greatness of his skill and impact are matched only in inverse by the malignity of his impact on our politics.
To put it more brashly, McConnell was great at doing political evil. There is now a kind of rearguard effort to remake McConnell as an institutionalist, a last vestige of the pre-Trumpian GOP. And on that last point, being a vestige, there’s some truth. On being an institutionalist, not at all.
Mitch McConnell’s great legacy is the thorough institutionalization of minority rule in U.S. politics, especially at the federal level.
A Captive of the 1%
“The Malignity of His Impact on Our Politics”
The Roar of the Lion
Gutless, Too!
Thanks for Nothing, Mitch
Just Stay Away, Mitch
Attribution for the above cartoon: Monte Wolverton @montewolverton
Oh, The Humanity!
A panel put together by Politico magazine consisting of congressional insiders, historians, and political insiders offered their opinions on Mitch McConnell’s most consequential achievement.
Here is one of those opinions — Mitch McConnell: Hero or Villain?
‘Brutally exposed the fragility of political norms’ by Joanne Freeman
Joanne Freeman is the Class of 1954 professor of American history and of American studies at Yale University.
What is the most consequential way that Mitch McConnell has shaped American politics? Here’s a contender: warping the appointment of Supreme Court justices to the point that the Court can delay justice in service of Donald Trump taking power, thereby jeopardizing the future of American democracy.
We live in an era that has brutally exposed the fragility of political (and even personal) norms that fundamentally shape our coming together as a people and a nation joined by a constitutional pact, and installed in their stead an utter lack of good-faith politicking. McConnell taught that lesson repeatedly, persistently, even joyfully, stabbing at democracy and enabling authoritarianism in the process. That has been his impact.
That will be his legacy.
His Awful Legacy
Life’s a Mitch
The Turtle Moves Out
Old Turtles Never Die - They Just Fade Away
His Worst Contribution
“The Winter of Our Discontent”
Tom Nichols outlines the challenges facing the democratic world in the Atlantic magazine.
With right-wing nationalism and incendiary political rhetoric on the rise, a wave of authoritarianism threatens all of us.
While a Russian dictator’s war goes on, venal would-be autocrats game the U.S. political and legal system.
Freedom and democracy have endured a long winter of setbacks. Spring will bring its own challenges both overseas and in the United States.
I spent this first day of March watching people line up in the Russian snow for the funeral of a brave man who died in a Siberian penal colony.
The death of Alexei Navalny is one of many blows to the cause of freedom that has made it a hard winter for democracy on almost every front in the world. I wish I could be a bit more cheerful—it is, after all, Friday—but the past few weeks have been very much a part of the winter darkness.
Two for the Price of One
Collusion
Boo!
Thou Shall Not Kill
It’s Called Lying
Politics of Victimization
Convenient Memory Lapse
Feeding Time
Note: You can see an additional 25 editorial cartoons by the Cartoon Movement — Death of Navalny.
No Mea Culpa?
The Alabama Special
Good Call
Good Question
A Convincing Argument
Jumping the Gun
Diary Poll
The “Bosses of the Senate” is a famous political cartoon by Joseph Keppler. It was first published on January 23, 1889, in Puck magazine.
Source: Wikipedia.
Remember to take the diary poll.
Source: United States Senate.
