Some reflections on Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky
Vividly, I recall the elections of 1984. Reagan was reelected president, of course. But also, something interesting happened in Kentucky: Someone named “Mitch McConnell” beat Dee Huddleston, the two-term Democratic senator. Beat him narrowly — but beat him nonetheless. Who was this hotshot, McConnell?
He has now announced that he will step down from the position of Republican leader in the Senate in November (though he will stay in the Senate until the end of his current term, which expires in January 2027). It has been a neat 40 years since those elections in ’84.
I met him when he came to the offices of The Weekly Standard in the mid ’90s. We staffers talked with him about campaign finance mainly, as I recall. One on one, I asked him about Kentucky basketball. I said, “How much is the endorsement of the UK coach worth?” I can’t remember his answer, precisely — but it was nuanced (and no doubt dead-on).
Some years later, I did a podcast with him. He said (I’m going from memory), “I had the foresight to attend both the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky” — the latter for law school. This was useful, in a political career. I asked him, “Which team do you root for, primarily?” He said, “Well, your undergrad teams are the ones you’re really attached to.”
I appreciated the honesty of that answer. He did not try to split the baby.
In 2013, I wrote a piece for National Review called “The E-Word: Thoughts on the use and abuse of ‘establishment.’” I said,
The current poster boy for establishment Republicanism is Mitch McConnell — one of the smartest, ablest, most valuable conservatives in America. He has performed any number of services (such as standing athwart unconstitutional, or unwise, limits on campaign finance). We’re lucky to have him in politics. But now he wears a scarlet E.
Yeah.
He wrote me a note — which I quote with permission (as I have before): “As someone who has spent most of his career being decried as a right-wing lunatic, it’s been something of an out-of-body experience to be condemned in some quarters as an establishment moderate.”
The Republican Party, and the Right at large, changed on him (and all of us). Conservatism as we knew it was replaced by a right-wing populism, a different animal.
In a recent essay on the trajectory of the Republican Party, David Brooks described McConnell as “a child of the Eisenhower-Reagan party.” And here is McConnell himself, speaking on the Senate floor last week:
My career in the United States Senate began amidst the Reagan revolution. . . .
My wife Elaine and I got married on President Reagan’s birthday, February 6th. It’s probably not the most romantic thing to admit, but Reagan meant a great deal to both of us.
I understand — he meant a lot to a lot of us.
As you may have gathered, I am an admirer of Mitch McConnell. I have my criticisms of him (as he would have of me). I would have voted to convict Donald Trump in both of his impeachment trials — certainly in the second. McConnell declined. But, again, I’m an appreciator, an admirer.
In part because he’s straight — he tells the truth, especially about critical things at critical times.
After the 2020 presidential election, Trump commanded the Republican Party to lie — to go along with the lie that the election had been stolen from him, and that he really won “in a landslide.” This was almost a sine qua non of the GOP: You had to cooperate in the lie to get anywhere or be anyone. McConnell refused.
In the summer of 2022, talking to a Chamber of Commerce luncheon about the upcoming elections, McConnell said, “Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.” (The GOP was fielding some far-out types that year.) Many Republicans were furious at McConnell for his remark. But he had been straight.
I can tell you that some Republicans in the media were furious! I marveled: “People who work in the media are more partisan than the Republican leader in the Senate.” That was something.
On January 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob assaulted the U.S. Congress for the purpose of stopping a constitutional process (which they succeeded in doing for several hours). In subsequent weeks, months, and years, Republicans portrayed this event as fairly benign: Some rowdy people may have gotten a little out of hand, but it was no big deal. The “J6-ers” are even portrayed as heroes and martyrs.
McConnell is straight: “We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent a peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.”
He stood apart during the pandemic, too — in this sense: He did not discourage vaccination; in fact, he encouraged it. Many noted a personal experience in McConnell’s life: As a child, he was stricken with polio.
In October 2020, he made an interesting remark: “I haven’t actually been to the White House since August the 6th, because my impression was, their approach to how to handle this is different from mine and what I insisted that we do in the Senate, which is to wear a mask and practice social distancing.”
That is not the kind of talk that will win friends on cable TV, the podcasts, etc.
Obviously, McConnell has earned the enmity of Donald Trump, the leader of the Republican Party. Here is a sample statement from the ex-president (and possible future president) — a statement he made on his social-media platform, “Truth Social”:
If Republicans are going to fight, we ought to be fighting Mitch McConnell and his domineering, China loving BOSS, I mean wife, Coco Chow.
(McConnell’s wife is Elaine Chao, a longtime public servant, who was a member of Trump’s cabinet. Trump calls her “Coco Chow.”)
Another sample statement, another jotting of Trump’s on Truth Social:
There is so much unnecessary turmoil in the Republican Party, in large part do to people like the Old Broken Crow, Mitch McConnell, his “wife”, Coco Chow, who is a sellout to China, and their RINO allies . . .
“Coco Chow” is bad enough. Did you notice the quotation marks around “wife”? Trump, bear in mind, is the idol of Republicans from coast to coast.
McConnell is a very canny operator, who has engineered many Republican “wins” — not least in the area of judicial nominations. Yet he is still an American, appreciative of our democracy, and its ways and means. He is willing and able to make sausage. This doesn’t sit well with many.
Last week, a Fox host was talking with Senator Mike Braun (R., Ind.) and wondering why Mitch McConnell couldn’t be shoved from the leadership position before November. He was unreliable on “America First policies,” she said. She then said to Braun, “Your colleagues are criticizing Mitch McConnell for always working with the Democrats.”
Working with members of the other party. Can you imagine? In a legislature? What does McConnell think he is, a senator? Aren’t you just supposed to go on Fox News and wear a red hat?
When McConnell announced his retirement from the leadership position, the “House Freedom Caucus” — hideously misnamed — put out this message:
Our thoughts are with our Democrat colleagues in the Senate on the retirement of their Co-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (D-Ukraine). No need to wait till November… Senate Republicans should IMMEDIATELY elect a *Republican* Minority Leader.
Among other things, note “(D-Ukraine).” “D” is bad, of course. So is Ukraine. And it is true: McConnell cares about Ukraine, and freedom, and stopping aggression. He has a sense of history and a solid understanding of the world.
Last year, Jonathan Martin wrote a piece about McConnell, subtitled “The Kentucky Republican is doing all he can to bolster Ukraine, preserve NATO and help his party maintain its Reaganite roots.” From the evidence, that is unachievable.
McConnell knows exactly what Putin is. Here is a statement the senator issued in February 2021:
First Navalny was poisoned. Now he’s been jailed. Peaceful protesters across Russia are being suppressed. Just the latest in Putin’s long campaign to subvert democracy and the rule of law. The U.S. and our allies must continue strong measures to hold Putin and cronies to account.
Can you imagine something like that from Donald Trump’s mouth, or keyboard? Has he ever criticized Vladimir Putin, for anything? Would he? What could precipitate such a thing?
Not long after Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, McConnell traveled to Kyiv, to express his solidarity with that people under siege. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. This is not a contemporary-Republican thing to do. But it reflected McConnell’s background and outlook. He is indeed, as David Brooks wrote, “a child of the Eisenhower-Reagan party.”
A sample of McConnell on Ukraine:
Ukraine’s war will not be won with yard signs or hollow promises to hold Putin accountable. It will be won with weapons. Anyone who is truly concerned about civilian casualties in Ukraine should support giving our friends the capabilities they need to end Russia’s brutal war.
Here is another sample:
The idea that supporting the fight against Russian aggression detracts from other security priorities is false. Here’s the truth — Our investments are expanding defense production capacity here at home and equipping America and our allies to deter Iran-backed terror and compete with China.
And so on and so forth. McConnell is not a dope, and he is not a Putin sympathizer. He is a Republican and a democrat and an American and a man of the West — of the Free World (which is not confined to the West, geographically).
Yesterday, McConnell endorsed Trump for president — as he was expected to do. He is a party man, to a large degree (although we have seen that he is perfectly willing to swim against the currents of his party).
Trump’s personal insults of McConnell and McConnell’s wife aside — McConnell knows that Trump is sympathetic to Putin and hostile to Ukraine. He knows that Trump is soft on dictators generally. He knows that another Trump term is a threat to NATO and Western security. He knows that Trump has no respect for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law — he has seen it, up close. He knows that Trump lies incessantly. But he endorsed Trump anyway.
“Sometimes party loyalty asks too much,” said JFK. I agree. But McConnell’s choices are his. Mine are mine. Yours are yours. As I said earlier on, I have my criticisms of McConnell as he would of me.
But yes, I appreciate him, and admire him. And I know that the likes of him are going, one by one. The likes of Senators J.D. Vance and Josh Hawley are rising: the Buchananites, the Trumpites, the Orbánites, and so on. The illiberals are in the saddle. The McConnells are receding. But I can salute them as they go.
I am particularly grateful for McConnell’s stand on Ukraine — for Ukraine. And against Putin’s savagery. And for the U.S. interest and American values.
In his speech on the Senate floor last week, McConnell said,
I think back to my first days in the Senate with a deep appreciation for the time that helped shape my view of the world. I am unconflicted about the good within our country and the irreplaceable role we play as the leader of the Free World.
It is why I worked so hard to get the national-security package passed earlier this month. Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time. I have many faults — misunderstanding politics is not one of them.
That said, I believe more strongly than ever that America’s global leadership is essential to preserving the shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan discussed.
For as long as I am drawing breath on this earth, I will defend American exceptionalism.