The Head of a Mouse

Today, the House voted for fourth time on who their next Speaker will be, and for the fourth time, 19 to 20 GOP holdouts blocked front-runner Kevin McCarthy from being elected. Some people view this as evidence that the Republican party is in shambles, while others see this as true democracy at work. As House Republicans battle over who will be the next Speaker, Senator Mitch McConnell made history as the longest serving Republican Senator and was unanimously elected to lead the Senate Republicans for the 8th time. He is also making public appearances with Joe Biden touting their two multi-trillion-dollar spending bills. With the battle so fierce in the House, it is fair to wonder how does Mitch McConnell always get elected as the Republican leader in the Senate without much opposition? Why is he so untouchable? He does not represent the rank-and-file Republican voter. He is not a stalwart of conservative principles, and he rarely gives much resistance to the Democrats agenda. He helped the Democrats pass their $1.4 trillion Infrastructure bill last year, and he recently worked with the Democrats to pass a $1.7 trillion omnibus bill which adds $1 trillion to the national debt, when he could have held out to pass a continuing resolution, which would have given the new Republican Speaker, the power to help set the legislative and budgetary agenda for the next fiscal year. But instead, McConnell cut the legs out from under the new Speaker even before he was elected.

How does McConnell continually maintain his position as the Republican leader in the most powerful legislative body in our government when he clearly does not represent Republican issues or principles? In the 2022 elections, McConnell actively worked against a Republican takeover of the Senate. He pulled campaign funding from Republican candidates in two tightly contested Senate races in Arizona and New Hampshire, while funneling that money to support Lisa Murkowski to defeat a fellow Republican, Kelly Tshibaka for senator in Alaska. All three Republican candidates that McConnell helped to defeat, Tshibaka, Blake Masters and Don Bolduc, would not have supported McConnell for Republican leader in the Senate, and that’s why he worked to defeat them. McConnell would rather have the Republicans lose and he maintain his leadership role in the minority, than have the Republicans win the majority, but he lose his leadership role. He would rather be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion. McConnell continually puts himself ahead of the party and the country. His ties to China are bordering on an illegal conflict of interest. His wife, Elaine Chau has done extensive business inside of China, and as the former Secretary of Transportation, she has been accused of using her office to give favorable treatment to the Foremost Group, a New York-based shipping business owned by her father, James, and sister, Angela. The Foremost Group and the Chao family received loans between $350,000 and $1 million from the U.S. government and Chinese banks which are hostile to the United States.