GOP push to 'throw Mitch McConnell to the wolves' is motivated by their hatred for Biden: journalist

GOP push to 'throw Mitch McConnell to the wolves' is motivated by their hatred for Biden: journalist
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When former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley made a Thursday, August 31 appearance on Fox News, the GOP presidential called for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to consider resigning as Republican leader in the U.S. Senate.

Haley told Fox News, "What I will say is, right now, the Senate is the most privileged nursing home in the country. I mean, Mitch McConnell has done some great things, and he deserves credit. But you have to know when to leave."

Haley's comments came a day after the 81-year-old McConnell, during a press conference in Kentucky, suddenly quit speaking and remained silent for about 30 seconds. That was the second time that type of thing happened to the Senate minority leader when he was speaking publicly, and Haley isn't the only Republican who is calling for McConnell's resignation.

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Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly are also hoping he will step down.

But journalist Michael Tomasky, in an article published by The New Republic on September 1, argues that Republican calls to oust McConnell from his leadership role aren't really about concerns over his health. The real motivation, according to Tomasky, is their disdain for President Joe Biden.

"McConnell is 81," Tomasky writes. "Biden is 80. Trump and the GOP — and Fox News and One America and Sinclair and so on — are going to be making Biden's age a major issue in the presidential campaign.… This seems to set up a situation where his fellow Republicans are going to throw McConnell to the wolves."

Tomasky continues, "Think about it. If they keep McConnell and defend him and say everything's fine, they're saying that an octogenarian who is clearly losing his connection to terra firma is just fine, everything's hunky dory, and he's totally up to the job. That is implicitly saying that Biden, too, is up to the job of president. And that is something they cannot do."

READ MORE:Nikki Haley on McConnell: 'We’ve got to have a new generation'

Republicans, Tomasky observes, are also worried that if they defend McConnell, it will "offend Dear Leader" — that is, offend former President Donald Trump. As Trump and other MAGA Republicans see it, McConnell has become too friendly with Biden — an irony considering that it was McConnell who blocked President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, now U.S. attorney general under Biden.

"Trump hates McConnell, as we know," Tomasky explains. "The aspersions are numerous…. Trump will make his party choose: It’s Mitch or me. And they'll throw McConnell to the wolves."

READ MORE:'Owes the public an explanation': Critics call on Mitch McConnell to retire

Read The New Republic's full article at this link.


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