Is Mitch McConnell in trouble? (CNN worries)

Cnn.com ^ | 12/14/21 | Chris Cillizza

[cotton1706]

Alaska Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka made a provocative announcement.

"Mitch McConnell has repeatedly bailed out Joe Biden, giving him gifts of Senate votes, which are the only things keeping the Biden administration on life support," Tshibaka said about the Senate's highest-ranking Republican, adding: "When I defeat [Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa] Murkowski and become Alaska's next U.S. Senator, I will not support Mitch McConnell as leader. It's time for new, America First leadership in the Senate."

Which is, in and of itself, is not terribly surprising. After all, McConnell is supporting Murkowski in her reelection bid, which gives Tshibaka plenty of reason to position herself against the Senate minority leader. What's far more interesting is whether Tshibaka is -- whether intentionally or not -- starting a trend. Remember that:

a) Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Tshibaka.

b) Trump has been hugely critical of McConnell for the way he has dealt with President Joe Biden and the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. "He has all the cards to win, but not the 'guts' to play them," Trump said of McConnell earlier this month. "Instead, he gives our Country away, just like he did with the two Senate seats in Georgia, and the Presidency itself. The Old Crow is a disaster!"

c) Trump has actively sought to recruit a senator to take on McConnell for the party's top leadership job.

Combine those factors and you get at least the possibility that saying you won't vote for McConnell as leader if you win is a must-do for Senate GOP candidates trying to win Trump's endorsement.

Which is not an insignificant thing! Like, at all! Why? Because, in several Senate races on the ballot in 2022, GOP candidates have made clear that they will do anything and everything to win Trump's endorsement.

[Steve Van Doorn]

said, "Trump has actively sought to recruit a senator to take on McConnell for the party's top leadership job"

If this was done in 2016 the world would look a lot different today

[Lurkinanloomin]

We will not get new leadership by re-electing Assistant Democrats.

Complete list of the GOP Senators up in 2022:

Roy Blunt (Missouri) Has announced he will retire at end of term.
John Boozman (Arkansas)
Richard Burr (North Carolina) Has announced he will retire at end of term.
Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Chuck Grassley (Iowa)
John Hoeven (North Dakota)
Ron Johnson (Wisconsin)
John Kennedy (Louisiana)
James Lankford (Oklahoma)
Mike Lee (Utah)
Jerry Moran (Kansas)
Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
Rand Paul (Kentucky)
Rob Portman (Ohio) Has announced he will retire at end of term.
Marco Rubio (Florida)
Tim Scott (South Carolina)
Richard Shelby (Alabama) Has announced he will retire at end of term.
John Thune (South Dakota)
Patrick Toomey (Pennsylvania) Has announced he will retire at end of term.
Todd Young (Indiana)

Toomey, Burr, Blunt, Portman and Shelby are leaving, which helps, but there are a lot of them to primary.

Rubio and Hoeven are Amnesty Senators. They have voted for a permanent Democrat majority, can’t get any more Assistant Democrat than that.

The only ones worthy of re-election are Johnson, Paul and Kennedy.

The rest are Assistant Democrats.

[frank ballenger]

Tshibaka or Chewbacca? Can’t keep everybody straight.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Republican Wildcat]

Yes indeed. Merrick Garland would be on the Supreme Court and Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett would not be.

[sauropod]

I hope so.

[heshtesh]

I can’t stand McConnell but...Touche!

[Steve Van Doorn]

I would take literally anyone over McConnell. Just remove him from the seat for the next election. McConnell is worse the Pelosi

[joe fonebone]

A broken clock is right twice a day.
Democommies and republiCANT’S have to be replaced.
The republican party is broken.
We have to destroy it in order to save it.
Look at what the party did to President Trump during his 4 years.
bush league chamber of commerce worshipping republiCANT’S need to be politically slaughtered in 2022, at all costs..

[dmzTahoe]

Crapo needs to be primaried... a RINO in a deeply red state

[null and void]

One can only hope...

[Dave W]

That wasn't really possible in 2016. No one expected Trump to win and there wasn't time. Leadership votes in the Senate take place just a few weeks after the election, so Trump had to be focused on getting his presidency off the ground and if you recall, he was told that his Trump Tower offices were being bugged and he had to relocate to NJ.

Leadership votes are secret and senators/congressman generally don't like to be told how to vote by outsiders because the votes are very personal. Apparently, McConnell is where he is because the other senators view him as a parliamentarian expert who knows all the arcane rules of the senate and how to effectively use them, unfortunately, he uses them to help the democrats.

There are so many RINOs in the senate, does it matter? McConnell's successor is supposed to be Thune, who used to be a great conservative and has now been in office long enough that he is corrupted.

It will take a miracle to have a senate majority leader who is not a RINO.

[Lurkinanloomin]

Crapo, Grassley, Hoeven, Lankford, Lee, Moran, Murkowsky, Rubio, Scott, Thune and Young all need to be primaried, even if Trump endorses them.

We will never MAGA by re-electing Assistant Democrats.

[Dave W]

Agree with your list. It will take multiple election cycles to fix this. They will have to be defeated via primary one by one, which will take time.

[Dave W]

Actually, not much difference. We will continually be betrayed by Trump’s picks for many years.

[Secret Agent Man]

Ron Johnson is a good one to re-elect, but i don’t know if he’ll be running afain.

[Political Junkie Too]

As much as I'd like to see McConnell replaced, even I can see LAAP-dog media agitprop directed at me.

CNN is trying to drive a wedge down the middle of the GOP with this article. They hope that it will enflame McConnell and drive him to take revenge within his own party. The LAAP-dog media thinks this will divide the party and cause us to stumble short of the finish line in 2022 and 2024 by making rash retaliatory moves that they can exploit with more agitprop.

Despite all that, McConnell does need to go.

-PJ

[Eska]

I’ll vote Kelly Tshibaka nx election. Trouble is they started rank choice voting here in Alaska; who knows how that will go? Everybody here believes it passed due to voting corruption. Also all the Indians and many democrats vote Murkowski; she might harder to beat than people realize.

[matthew fuller]

I thought that James Lankford was one of the good guys- where did he go wrong? (He is Pro Gun, Anti abort, Supported DJT during Impeachments, and really did a lot of the right things, but I might have missed something.