At the swearing in ceremony of Neil Gorsuch, President Trump specifically thanked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for all he did to make the “achievement” possible. What McConnell did was steal a Supreme Court seat.
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Trump said, “Although he could not be here today, I especially want to express our gratitude to Senator Mitch McConnell for all that he did to make this achievement possible.”
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What McConnell did was to ignore the Constitution by refusing to fulfill the Senate’s role of advise and consent on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee in an effort to leave the Supreme Court seat open so that it could be filled by Trump, and then, McConnell changed the Senate rules so that the stolen seat could be filled by Trump’s nominee with a simple majority vote.
It will be interesting to see if Republicans remain grateful to McConnell when a Democratic president and Senate use the same tactics to fill the Supreme Court with liberal justices.
The bar for achievement during the Trump presidency is set astonishingly low. A Republican president with a Republican-controlled Senate should be able to get his Supreme Court nominee confirmed without having to change the Senate rules, but it goes to show how desperate Republicans are for a “win” that they are praising the theft of a Supreme Court seat that will come back to haunt them in the future as a victory.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
