Mitch McConnell's Comeback

Mitch McConnell Will Make a Huge Comeback

     Despite what seems like loss after loss for the Senate Majority Leader and increasing pressure 

from an impatient President, Mitch McConnell is not-at-all down for the count. 

     

     He hit the ground running when Trump became President. He held off Obama's supreme court 

pick Merrick Garland for an entire year without the public batting an eye, and after Trump became 

President, he had Gorsuch confirmed promptly. This big win gave Trump the momentum that he 

needed.

                                         Mitch McConnell gave Trump momentum.

     President Trump clearly laid out his agenda. He wanted to get health reform accomplished before

the August recess. The Senate Majority Leader fought tooth and nail to get some sort of bill passed

through, but to no avail. 

   
     The first repeal bill McConnell introduced was right in the centre of the political spectrum, so it

took heat from both sides. That is what Mitch wanted. He wanted input from all sides about how

he could make the bill better and make it appeal to all sides. 

   
     After amending the bill slightly, he introduced the revised version. Within hours of the bill being

released to the public, four conservative senators refused to support it. Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, Mike

Lee and Rand Paul would not put their support behind the bill.

                                         Ted Cruz refused to support the bill. 

     Ted Cruz proposed his own amendment, which would allow insurers to offer at least one

ObamaCare-complicit plan, and then offer as many of their own plans as they want. This received

applause from the right side of the aisle. When McConnell agreed to take on that amendment to the

bill, three other senators from the center took their support away: Shelley Capito, Susan Collins, and

Lisa Murkowski.

   
     McConnell realized than an attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare was hopeless, so he went

straight to the Senate with a repeal-only vote, which failed 49-51. Collins, Murkowski, and McCain

were the three Republican defectors. 

   
     Trump was furious at this failure. Repealing ObamaCare was going to be the centerpiece of his

first year as President. He immediately punished McConnell with his favorite weapon: Twitter. 

   

   

     The President let the public know clearly

what he thought of McConnell's leadership. He

took to Twitter to bash the Senate Majority

Leader's ability. Many polls reveal that the

majority of Republicans support Trump's bashing

of the Majority leader. McConnell later vented

about how tired he was of Trump bashing him. Many Senate Republicans came to McConnell's aide,

claiming that he was the best leader they have ever worked under.

   
      Despite all the fire and fury, McConnell has a plan. He always has a plan. He is lying low now.

He and his super PACs are quickly raising money for the upcoming midterm senate elections.

Already he is showing his influence in the Alabama special election. Because Jeff Sessions was

chosen as Attorney General, someone needs to take his place in the Senate. McConnell saw a clear

opportunity here. He wants to reign in his caucus, to make it more controllable. He needs

establishment senators who will follow through with his agenda.

   
      He endorsed Luther Strange, the man who Jeff Sessions chose to temporarily replace him in the

Senate. McConnell and his super PAC showed just how powerful they were when they ran attack ads

and invested millions of dollars into Strange's campaign. After the first primary, they managed to

push Strange into the runoff, which will be much closer. You can count on it that McConnell will not

sit idly by and let the election happen. He will be

investing even more in attack ads and

fundraising for Strange. He needs every victory

he can get.



   
     If he can push Strange through to a victory,

this will give him momentum going into the

2018 midterm elections. He will have demonstrated that his political machine is not-at-all rusty.

This is all a part of his comeback that he will make. He is, after all, Mitch McConnell. And his game,

is the long game.