McConnell’s Choice Is Emblematic of the GOP’s Rot.

When the impeachment trial brought him to a fork in the road, he took it.

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The Republican Party is broken.

If Mitch McConnell were just another Republican senator, I’d say he was the eighth bravest. The seven bravest are the ones who voted to convict Donald Trump.

For weeks I’ve been saying that if you honestly believe the Constitution forbids the Senate from convicting a former president (who was impeached while in office), you’re free to do so. I think it’s a profoundly wrong and dangerous view, creating precisely the “January exception” that impeachment managers warned about. But if that’s your sincere opinion, you should be the one denouncing Trump’s actions more than anyone else. You should be full of anger, sorrow and frustration that this lamentable oversight by the founders—which doesn’t actually exist—prevents you from doing what the facts and morality warrant: convicting Trump for his hideous behavior leading up to, and during, the events of Jan. 6.

That is precisely what McConnell did Saturday, delivering a blistering and accurate denunciation of Trump’s moral, political, and, possibly criminal culpability. And while McConnell was wrong in his vote, he at least voiced the truth, something beyond the likes of those governed solely by political appetites—Sens. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio et al.

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  1. Rod Bell

    I agree with most of what Jonah said. However, if a new, improved, reformed conservative party emerges from all of this, I want McConnell in it. Burn it all down is the path to exile for far too long. I want to live to see what's next.

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    Joel B

    Lindsey Graham's shriveling from pragmatic conservative to spineless shill over the course of the Trump presidency has been truly revolting to behold. And I just don't understand what's driving it. Yes, the constituency is very red and pro-Trump here in SC, but he's gone far beyond what's necessary to keep those folks on his side.

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  3. Paul Brady

    As a side note, it's interesting that Trump's several-page tirade against McConnel last week fell so flat among Republicans in Congress. Has Trump lost that much power? I think if he were tweeting or making a speech at a rally, it might have had more impact, but wow! I see that Graham is going down to Mar-a-Largo this weekend to fluff up his BFF.

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  4. Mary Stine

    I'm late to this, because I missed it due to erratic electricity. But I want to say this to Jonah and other Republicans: I feel for you, watching the behavior of many now calling themselves Republicans. The Republican party was my party too, for all of my childhood and most of my younger adulthood. The conservative ideals I learned growing up are for the most part, still with me, especially my devotion to liberty and our Constitution, responsibility and hard work, respect for faith and family, national security and fiscal responsibility. I have stared death in the face more than once, and I cannot bring myself to deny basic human rights to anyone, even if they are LGBTQ, have sought an abortion or are unlawfully in my country. I will do everything in my power to see that no woman is forced into an abortion, or feels she has no other option. But as a matter of individual liberty, I do not feel I have the right to ask a woman to die so her infant can be born. If the woman chooses to give up her life for her child's , I will support her fully.
    These are rare possibilities, but they do occur. If we were the civilized people we claim to be, we would be doing a far better job of supporting young women and their overall health, mental and physical. We would cherish not only motherhood, but parenthood more fully and raise our young boys to know that being a great dad is also an extremely worthy goal.
    The Republican party I grew up in also cherished conservation. Many in its ranks still do, but there are too many who think that only means preserving wildlife for hunting and fishing purposes. If true conservation, which involves preserving soil, natural ecosystems, rivers, lakes and the ocean, and natural forests, had been expanded, not contracted, we might not be in the climate mess we are in.
    Can the Republican party be remolded to again focus on Federalism, our Constitution, conservation?? I don't know.
    It seems to me, at this juncture that there are three possibilities:
    1.) Ask the youngest conservatives to come to the table about this and take their concerns, goals and advice seriously. If those are not taken up by the Republican party in a serious manner with real action, leave.
    2.) (please sit down) Join the Democratic Party and push it as close to center as possible.
    Demand that Constitutional values be given center stage again. Demand that women who do not want an abortion be given more support. Demand that conservation be part of any climate plan.
    3.) Join the Libertarian Party and push for Constitutional values to be given center stage.

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  5. hTom

    Is it possible that Graham & Co didn't believe that the House charge was correct and could not convict based on that? Andy McCarthy explains that the House mis-charged.

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    Mkapnick

    Thank you. Every word was just exactly perfect.

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    Cody Pogalz

    My short, working definition of American conservatism is that conservatives seek to “conserve” a form of limited government that protects rights and does not infringe upon the virtuous exercise of freedom in a society.

    I’d argue that conservatism, and even the very concept of freedom in the American republic, depends upon a virtuous citizenry and political class. With a little bit of virtuous behavior on their part, we would not have had people creating the subprime mortgage crisis, or the Enron scandal, or the Clinton’s trading access to power for foundation donations, or Hunter Biden selling his name and access, or Trump screwing casino shareholders to save himself from a mess he made by overbuilding ultra-expensive projects in Atlantic City. In many of these examples, these actions were lawful, but not virtuous. These people had no sense of responsibility or shame. And when people operate in society without a sense of responsibility or shame, it causes other people to say “hey, there ought to be a law for that, they ought to be punished.” But the whole problem was perfectly avoidable, and it should be obvious to everyone that we should not elect unvirtuous, unprincipled citizens into positions of political power.

    After voting “not guilty,” McConnell spoke out to say, basically, that Trump’s lack of shame, responsibility and virtue were part of what caused people to feel aggrieved and vengeful as he called them to assemble in Washington. I think that’s basically right.

    A form of the question of Trump’s responsibility for the sacking of the Capitol was put before the Senate. This was intentional on the Founder’s part: they did not leave impeachment trials to the judiciary, where it would simply be a question of legality. They did not leave it to the House, where it would be a question of heated small-d democratic passions. They left it to the Senate, a body that is effectively supposed to help judge the prudence and virtue of major political decisions (tax and spending bills from the House, treaties from foreign nations, federal appointments made by the President, etc.). The Senate is supposed to be the body that cools heated majoritarian passions and thinks long-term. By allowing Trump to go unpunished, I think the Senate did not adequately weigh the long-term risks that poses to the role of the Presidency or the Constitutional order. As another GOP Senator said, what happened on 1/6 was basically an attack on the Article I branch that was abetted by the actions of the Article II branch.

    Additionally, as a Senator, McConnell should be chiefly concerned with protecting the powers and prerogatives of the Senate as an institution. For decades, the Congress has ceded power to the administrative state and traded allegiance to their institution for allegiance to their party, effectively only operating as subordinates or opponents to whichever party holds the White House and/or other chamber.

    In his impeachment vote, McConnell 1) allowed the President’s unvirtuous behavior to go unpunished, further corroding the role virtue should play in our politics and culture; 2) failed to defend the Senate against a literal attack; 3) placed partisan political concerns ahead of his alleged conservative principles, and 4) failed, in the most basic test, to be a leader. A "leader" is someone who can prudently exeevise his or her own judgement, even if it sometimes leads them to vote differently than I prefer. The moment “leadership” looks like merely harnessing and feeding into the passions of a mob, its not leadership. It’s demagoguery.

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  8. The BFJ

    If someone is guilty of manslaughter and should spend time in prison, the best way to sew discontent is to charge him with first degree murder. This puts the jurors in a bad situation. Should they convict on first degree murder because justice demands jail time? Should the charge not matter when chasing justice? This leads to a bad precedent either way when overcharging: either the guilty man goes free or the guilty man goes to jail, but the integrity of the system is forever tainted if the charges are immaterial to the punishment.

    The Democrats knew what they were doing and put the Republicans in a no win situation. Further discontent was their goal. Not justice.

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  9. David A L

    "When the impeachment trial brought him to a fork in the road, he took it." Very apropos - he stuck that fork in the GOP and declared it done.

    I give him credit for identifying what's wrong with Trump, but by extension it's also what's wrong with the whole dang party. Now they are shooting the censure cannon at those Senators and Representatives who voted to impeach and/or convict - they should have congratulated them for doing the hard but right thing.

    When the dust settles a lot of moderates will leave the party or simply stop voting. It's hard to see how they will ever win another national election when the candidate will be chosen by the most radical hardcore Trumpers (i.e. QAnon) left in the party. "Chumps for Trumps" is the new slogan.


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    Theirn Scott

    McConnell took the road most traveled and it will make no difference whatsoever.

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