Mitch McConnell's Last Pitch

It's a very old and evil Sunday show rundown!

Let’s have a look at all the evil Republicans who appeared on this week’s Sunday shows! As the headline implies, we’ll be working our way toward Mitch McConnell.

CNN’s ‘State Of The Union’

Host Dana Bash interviewed South Carolina Senator and political remora Lindsey Graham.

While Graham almost seemed like a normal Republican (grading on a curve, we know) when talking about the recently passed foreign aid packages Donald Trump’s claims of absolute immunity, Graham had to make clear he’s still a Trumpian toadie.

GRAHAM: Why don't you ask me, would any -- if he's [Trump] convicted in any of these trials, would it change my view? No. I think all these trials are political. I think it's selective prosecution. […] I think it's selective prosecution for political purposes.

When Bash pointed out testimony from David Pecker, former CEO of American Media (The National Enquirer's parent company), stating he paid to “catch and kill” stories about Trump specifically to help his presidential campaign, Graham made the worst analogy to defend Trump, and Bash was forced to point out the obvious difference.

GRAHAM: Apparently, a lot of people do this, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods. No, I think the whole thing is a crock. […]

BASH: All right, obviously, Tiger Woods is not running for president.

And neither Schwarzenegger nor Woods ever did this specifically to help political campaigns. Hell, when former California Governor Schwarzenegger broke state campaign finance laws, he was held accountable and took responsibility.

‘Fox News Sunday’

Speaking of bullshitting sycophants, Ohio Senator JD Vance was on Fox News.

Vance spent most of his time explaining why he wants to basically leave Ukraine at the mercy of Russia’s invasion. But toward the end, host Shannon Bream asked about a lengthy New York Times piece about him and read an excerpt about his two-faced devotion to Trump. In particular this part:

“David Frum, a Trump critic and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush who has known Mr. Vance for years, described the senator as an intelligent man with an extraordinary life story who has ‘sunk to the depths of political degradation.’”

Watch the interview to see what we mean, but when Vance tried bravely to explain his devolution in decency, his eyes revealed that it broke him worse than Ralph Wiggums finding out Lisa Simpson didn’t choo choo choose him as her valentine.

ABC’s ‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos’

We can’t be certain if it’s related to Nancy Mace calling for a GOP politician boycott after Stephanopoulos had the gall to call her out for being a hypocrite about protecting women, but no Republicans appeared on this episode of “This Week.”

So, we can only summarize it thusly.

NBC’s ‘Meet The Press’ and CBS’s ‘Face The Nation’

Now to the main topic: the double appearance of Mitch McConnell on the Sunday shows! While it may have been 2 Mitch 2 Evil, McConnell made it clear he’s doing his best to leave a legacy of misery to rival Ronald Reagan.

On NBC, McConnell tried to minimize the effects of the damage he’s done to democracy.

When host Kristin Welker asked about McConnell’s statement that a federal abortion ban is “possible,” McConnell tried to say he didn’t think an abortion ban had enough votes now, while not outright saying if he would vote for one in the future. Then when asked about his vote to acquit Trump from his impeachment for January 6, he stated he didn’t regret it.

MCCONNELL: I stand by everything I said when I addressed this issue on January 6 and February 13.

While McConnell pretends he has some type of political spine, the next exchange between Welker and McConnell made clear his only core value is power.

WELKER: And you have said that you endorse former President Trump. Are you going to vote for him?

MCCONNELL: I said three years ago, shortly after the assault on the Capitol, that I would support the nominee of the party, whoever that was. And I do.

WELKER: And that includes voting for him?

MCCONNELL: […] I'm not just making news today. I'm simply referring back to what I said shortly after the assault on the Capitol.

WELKER: And to those who hear that and wonder how you can support him despite being so critical of him after – after January 6.

MCCONNELL: Well, the answer is, the Republican voters of this country have spoken. They get to pick nominees for president. So how I'm spending my time is on something I can have an impact on, which is making sure my successor is the majority leader and not the minority leader.

McConnell still thinks that somehow being majority leader is going to matter with a fascist authoritarian who has now learned how far he can get away with crimes. Our institutions barely survived all the constitutional crises Trump put it through his first term.

But McConnell, like the out-of-touch withering husk he is, both recognizes the unprecedented times while somehow thinking civility will win out.

MCCONNELL: But I think, in fact, if you look at the condition of the world right now, it's actually more dangerous than before World War II. More. Because we have terrorism that they didn't have.

WELKER: And yet, the leader of the Republican Party espouses an ‘America First’ foreign policy, which is the very definition of isolationism. […]

MCCONNELL: Well, it's a family dispute. I won't go over the details, but you all have had that sort of thing recently as well. It's a family argument.

No, it isn’t. A family argument or dispute is what moderates and liberals subject themselves every Thanksgiving because they won’t stop inviting their racist conservative relatives. The “America First” wing of the GOP is just rebranded American fascism being allowed to fester and grow.

On CBS, McConnell tried to make the same points and blame the radicalization of his party on others.

Host Margaret Brennan wasn’t buying it.

BRENNAN: It began with Tucker Carlson?

MCCONNELL: It did. He has a huge – he had a huge audience among rank-and-file Republicans. And I think it was very destructive, very impactful […]

BRENNAN: Because he mimicked Republican propaganda and amplified it, and then that's been repeated on the House floor …

So that was this week’s Sunday shows.

We didn’t cover a lot of “Face The Nation” this week, but we have a feeling we will next week.

Have a week.

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