Mitch McConnell spent 41 years building the most powerful Republican machine in the Senate..he blocked nominees.. killed legislation.. outlasted six presidents.. and bent the entire GOP caucus to his will for four decades.. (Andy Barr won)

X.com ^ | 5/19/2026 | 🇺🇸 Thomas A. Whitaker @WhitakerTA

[ransomnote]

🇺🇸 Thomas A. Whitaker
@WhitakerTA_
·
15h
🚨 Do you understand what quietly happened in Kentucky tonight..

Mitch McConnell spent 41 years building the most powerful Republican machine in the Senate..

he blocked nominees.. killed legislation.. outlasted six presidents.. and bent the entire GOP caucus to his will for four decades..

and the moment he stepped back..

Trump walked in on May 1st.. endorsed Andy Barr.. offered the only real rival an ambassadorship.. and the rival dropped out the same week..

> Cameron — the man who was supposed to carry McConnell's network forward — entered with a polling lead.. raised money.. had the name recognition.. had the Christian conservative base..

> Barr had none of that early.. until Trump made one phone call and one diplomatic offer..

> Cameron finished at 30%.. Barr won with 60%..

> the seat McConnell held since 1984 flipped to a Trump loyalist in a single primary night..

> the first open Kentucky Senate seat in 42 years.. decided by an endorsement and an ambassadorship..

every single establishment figure watching this tonight told their donors "the McConnell network is durable".. every single one assumed the old machine had enough infrastructure to survive his retirement..

it didn't survive a single election cycle..

not a scandal.. not a Democrat.. not a generational shift..

one endorsement.. one ambassadorship offer.. and 41 years of political infrastructure collapsed in an evening..

the quiet part nobody is saying out loud.. Trump didn't just win a primary tonight.. he erased the last internal friction point inside the Senate Republican caucus without a single floor vote..

it's only getting quieter from here..

I'll keep you updated. Turn on notifications. 🚨

[arthurus]

AND the 16th AND the 19th !

[Albion Wilde]

You have followed these behavioral abberations of the GOP for a long time. Your post contains multiple deft insights about the Republicans’ shamefully exasperating and ultimately sinful-by-omission lack of strategy. I think you should research carefully, go with a good agent and editor, and turn your thoughts on this into a book.

[Reily]

Give the states their proper role & you might get the 16th repealed!

Forget the 19th! Not going to happen even under the best of circumstances.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

#44: "Genius move by Trump"

Now President Trump needs to get rid of Thune. I suspect if he gets Patel on the case, he'll
uncover some CCTV from the Minneapolis airport of Thune's white wingtips tapping away
to beat the meat band.

[gopno1]

I actually laughed out loud at the phrase “senile Thad Cochran” for a solid three minutes.

[arthurus]

19th.. Understood, but that one is the one that assures the progress to socialism. My wife argued with me about that 25 years ago and finally convinced me that women want different things from men. They want protection for themselves and their children. As marriage becomes something for the history books women are mofe avid for protection for themselves and for the government to make everyone “be nice.” I had always thought of the 17th as being the fatal error of our history but the 19th is ultimately worse. All three together and we can only hope to put off the total managerial state for a while.

[Reily]

Thatcher her existence shows that’s not a absolute!

[arthurus]

Of course it is not absolute. But it is the general trend. It is obvious in the news daily. So called Gen Z women have in the main abjured having live children and vote Left for new privileges , calling them “rights.” They use the state and the courts to cow men and judges and legislators bow to their demand for “services” to replace the husbands they are unable or unwilling to attract.

[Biblebelter]

China Mitch was a TRUE BLUE REPUBLICAN.

His legacy?

All those TRUE BLUE REPUBLICAN snakes still holding fort in that SNAKE PIT of the United Elites Senate.

Mitch has GROOMED well.

I read Tiny Tim Scott called The Don begging him not to endorse Paxton.

China Mitch may be on his way out the door, but his “legacy” lives on.

[Reily]

Agree!
But I’m not going to tilt at windmills - repeal the 19th and ignore other doable reforms!

Another point I will bring up. We live in a very “feminized” society now. I think its a natural outgrowth of living in “relatively good times”. You can just slide through life, someone else - the government will take care of you. Just look for one entertainment experience after another - pass the chips and beer. I know a lot of men who substitute feeling for thinking. They emote they don’t reason. They don’t know the difference and they don’t know they do it. Thomas Sowell points this out all the time. He blames our intellectually bereft and corrupt K12 system. I agree! You see that here on FR.