Tuesday was Donald Trump's last full day as President of the United States. On that day, his average approval rating stood at 38.5%. Among past presidents going back to Harry Truman, only Jimmy Carter left office in less regard. According to Gallup, a majority of Americans think he will be remembered as a "poor" or "below average" president. While it's far too early to make that kind of assessment, what floored me is the stinging rebuke Trump received yesterday (you can see it above) from one of his top lieutenants, delivered from the floor of the U.S. Senate.
GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has always been blunt, laid Trump out about the violence at the Capital last week. "The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the President and other powerful people. They tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like. But we pressed on. We stood together and said an angry mob would not get veto power over the rule of law in our nation, not even for one night."
Democrats will say this reprimand is too little, too late. Trump's supporters are already accusing McConnell of treason.
Personally, I am grateful for his remarks. As he himself observes, "Our marching orders for the American people are clear. We're to have a robust discussion and seek common ground. We are to pursue bipartisan agreement everywhere we can, and check and balance one another respectfully where we must. And through all of this, we must always keep in mind that we're all Americans, we all love this country and we're all in this together."
McConnell's conciliatory remarks starkly differ from those he made when Barack Obama was in office. My hope is that he means it.
President Joe Biden takes office today facing numerous crises. Now is a good time to come together and ignore the extremists, whether they are Lauren Bobert on the right or AOC on the left.
Bernie, Bernie, Bernie. You are actually believing what McConnell says? Come on. He is the most craven politic... oops that might be Lindsey Graham... Honestly, McConnell stood there and claimed this is a time for bipartisanship, and that there was no mandate. There was no mandate in 2016 to explain McConnell's continuing stranglehold on the senate that resulted in all kinds of legislation being deep sixed, and a SCOTUS nominee of the party opposite that of the expected winner of the election rushed through in barely more time than God did his wonders. Did you hear the part where he questioned whether Biden "meant it"? The very same but 10 times over is true of McConnell. Like Trump cares only about his wallet and his personal image and success, McConnell cares only about the GOP agenda of huge tax breaks for the wealthy, appointing conservative justices, and that is about it. Remember how he deep sixed stimulus relief for months? Yeah, same guy.
ReplyDeleteThe middle class in this country have been wiped out over the last forty years. Reagan (our worse president before Trump) was the killer of the American dream.
ReplyDeleteTherefore in order to make life better we need to follow the ideas of AOL and the progressive Democrats.
The ultra conservatives rule this country and hopefully our new president uses his executive power to undue some of the damage Trump did to our country and our world view.
God willing the 1%ers and small business owners will start paying their fair share of taxes and fair wages / benefits that are needed to move our country forward. GBA
I just going to monitor this thread today in delight, reading all posts from Republican turning on their Golden Boy.
ReplyDelete: McConnell stood there and claimed this is a time for bipartisanship, and that there was no mandate"
ReplyDeleteAnd he is absolutely right. Biden and the Dems have no mandate. They lost ground in the House and are 50-50 in the senate. Trump drew 75 million votes. If Biden wants to get anything done, it is through McConnell's door. Drop the partisanship.
McConnell's turn is/was completely predictable. He used Trump for his own ends and gains and once Trump had expended all plausible routes back to the White House and clearly out of power he tossed him out like yesterdays trash. Its not like McConnell was saying any of this the week after the election - he kept his options open.
ReplyDeleteLove how the election losers are always the ones calling for unity and bipartisanship and completely ignore what they did and how they acted while holding the wheel. I've bought into this bullshit rhetoric following Reagan/Bush, then Clinton, then W, then Obama and stupidly, yet again with Trump.
@BO 7:48 - There was no "mandate" in 2000 or 2016 either and yet Republicans didn't seem to care.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing that can happen right now is for Trump to fully set up and fund "The Patriot Party". A political party for his true believers - they can wear their hats and fly their flags, probably have their own cable network too. President Trump, his kids, Mr My Pillow, Mayor Gulianni, Sens Cruz & Hawley, can then go on continuous Rally Tours to sell more hats n flags.
ReplyDelete"@BO 7:48 - There was no "mandate" in 2000 or 2016 either and yet Republicans didn't seem to care." And they paid the price. You intend to make the same stupid mistake. Again, drop the partisanship. If we want to get anything done, we need consensus.
ReplyDeleteNow, starting tomorrow we will all witness realpolitic, It is likely to be a big let down for the partisan democrats. If there is no consensus there will be no action. If they think they are going to do a lot of strong arming and grandstanding it could be a very boring and uneventful 2 years.
ReplyDelete7:10 -
ReplyDeleteGood luck following AOL.
Are you still using dial-up?
I agree that McConnell and the Republicans should give President Biden the same level of respect and cooperation that the democrats gave President Trump over the last four years.
ReplyDeleteI don't want unity. That's un-American, unless the military industrial complex whips us together for the next war they're planning. I want to #resist. Is there some problem with that? Pretending your guy enjoys popular support when half the country hates his guts is a common disconnect. The same percentage of people who despised Trump as president, will also despise Biden as president. That's life. If it upsets you, you're getting upset over things that don't matter and will never change.
ReplyDeleteBernie. We do need consensus. Is reversing everything consensus? Or is silencing everyone consensus?
ReplyDeleteJust heard Biden cite the Bible and was glad he didn't take credit for the passage. I think we're going to be OK. #hopeful
ReplyDeleteBill Clinton doomed this country when he drove the Democrats to become Republican with NAFTA, repealing Glass-Steagal, begging for corporate funds. It is all about what the guys with big bucks want now. Glad we have Biden. But come on we are almost 30 trillion dollars in debt and have obligations to pay baby boomers soc sec, Medicare. We are doomed. McConnel and his cronies brought us here. Government has played kick the can down the road for 40 yea5s now. Figure I have another 20 years left on this earth. Will not be surprised if I see a total collapse of financial and government institutions.
ReplyDeleteHoping Biden pardons those cruelly incarcerated by prosecutor Harris on trumped up charges like smoking a little weed like she says she did, too. Joe can right her wrongs this afternoon and send a message about the kind of racial targeting VP Harris perfected in California. I'd hate to think that in Trump's wake, we're going back to never pardoning blacks again.
ReplyDeleteLooking more and more like Trump is toast on impeachment. Yay!
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