Earlier we mentioned that Mitch McConnell didn't want a plan, nor an agenda. He simply wants the money of the lobbyists to distribute as he sees fit *cough* among GOPe schlubs, grifters, and pretty faces.
Ace posts a somewhat more thoughtful item on same, directing attention to a Federalist essay.
...Mitch wants to win with nothing promised so that he can claim any mantle he wants and take the caucus in any direction he desires while in the majority. This was always an understandable but poor play in the age of Trump. There's a fight going on for the future of the GOP, and we have two public power centers in Mitch, as the face of the old order, and Trump, as the face of the new. With Mitch refusing to put forward any kind of policy, he was just creating a vacuum.
That wasn't really a problem back in 2010 or 2012 for him. Who else in charge of the party was going to offer up an alternative? W? He was silent because Obama deserved respect from previous presidents to govern as he willed (a respect that, for some reason, was not extended to Trump). Paul Ryan? He was on board with the strategy. The best we could have hoped for was Rand Paul, but he doesn't have any kind of leadership position, happily taking up the position of gadfly that speaks truths but doesn't form coalitions.
2022 is not 2012. The intentional vacuum of policy that the GOPe has created and let fester for the past decade led to the rise of Trump, and the GOPe's effort to rid the party of Trump have failed. Trump still commands enough respect from the base and many members of the Republican caucuses in Congress that he can move things, and he's decided to move things. Rick Scott is his vessel for this particular move....
There is NO doubt in my mind that RoJo will be happy to shove McConnell into the Potomac, too. Of course, RoJo will never say that out loud. He's dropped hints over the last year, and if you recall his first year or so in the Senate, RoJo owes McConnell more than just a black eye.
Oremus!
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