Rachel Maddow tore into Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Monday night for trying to have it both ways on impeachment by initially arguing that it was too soon to start a trial but now saying it’s too late.
“McConnell refused to recall the Senate so they could start the Senate trial while Trump was still president,” the MSNBC host said. “Once Trump was gone, McConnell voted with all those other Republicans to say this trial really should have started while he was still president, and now it’s too late.”
Though McConnell initially wanted to give off the impression that he was happy with Trump’s impeachment and open to conviction, he is really no different from his Republican colleagues who want to throw out the trial altogether.
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Rachel Maddow calls out Mitch McConnell for trying to have it both ways on Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. #maddow pic.twitter.com/mPHZ5tSMwA
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 9, 2021
Maddow said:
McConnell refused to recall the Senate so they could start the Senate trial while Trump was still president. They didn’t start to trial until after Trump was gone. And once Trump was gone, McConnell voted with all those other Republican to say, this trial really should have started while he was still president and now it’s too late. It’s like if your gym teacher made you keep running laps even after the bell went off and then sent you to the principal’s office because you were late to the next class. ‘You were the one who was making me run laps!’ ‘Go to the principal’s office, what did I tell you?’ The Democrats would have happily acceded to Trump being put on trial while he was still president. It was Mitch McConnell who stopped them doing that, and now it is Mitch McConnell saying, ‘Well, it’s too late now.’ He can’t be tried while he’s president, nor can he be tried after he’s president. But Senator McConnell wants everybody to know just how much he wants Donald Trump to be held accountable for what he did.
McConnell is trying to have it both ways
For four years, Mitch McConnell humored Donald Trump and refused to hold him accountable as he abused his office and trampled all over the U.S. Constitution.
All McConnell cared about was ramming through judicial appointments and passing tax cuts for the wealthy.
During Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial, McConnell didn’t even allow witnesses. He and nearly every GOP senator voted to acquit the corrupt and dangerous president.
Had McConnell and his Republican colleagues done their job during Trump’s first impeachment trial, the country wouldn’t have had to live through the tragic events of Jan. 6.
Mitch McConnell is trying to have it both ways on impeachment, but he’ll never be able to escape his role in allowing Donald Trump to bring American democracy to its knees.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
