Respect the will of Republican voters: Opposing view
Directing anger at McConnell for holding onto a conservative Senate majority is misguided.
Asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to challenge his party’s nominee is a request for him to disregard the will of the Republican voters who nominated Donald Trump in the first place.
Who is McConnell — or House Speaker Paul Ryan, for that matter — to impose his will on a party whose voters spoke clearly while nominating Trump fair and square?
The concept of Trump being silently enabled by any individual Republican is pure poppycock. You can be upset about Trump’s nomination, but directing anger at McConnell for smartly spending the bulk of his time on holding a conservative Republican Senate majority is misguided.
Beyond that, McConnell, like 90% of GOP voters, has perhaps set aside worries about a Trump presidency because the alternative is worse. When will Democratic leaders openly challenge a dangerous Hillary Clinton, whose penchant for secrecy, incompetence in protecting national security information and affiliation with shady characters like Anthony Weiner have led more than half of likely voters to conclude that she broke the law?
As for McConnell’s supposed policy of obstructionism, any fair review shows a fully functioning Senate, an institution with restored purpose after being mothballed by outgoing Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.
McConnell, majority leader of the silence of the GOP: Our view
On McConnell’s watch, senators have passed important bills dealing with transportation, opioid addiction and human trafficking, to name a few. The Senate is having its best year since 1990, with President Obama signing more than 30 of its bills into law.
Assertions that McConnell is silently enabling Trump or engaging in obstructionism just aren’t true. McConnell runs the Senate better than Reid, and he’s in line with 90% of Republicans on Trump. Neither deserves harsh judgment. No matter who wins the White House, McConnell would deliver far more legislative independence than New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who looks to be Clinton’s lapdog in chief.
Scott Jennings was a special assistant to President George W. Bush and a former campaign adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He is a partner with RunSwitch Public Relations in Louisville.