Mitch McConnell’s first words to his caucus after Barack Obama beat John McCain were, paraphrased: “Our single biggest priority is to make Barack Obama a one-term president. There will be no comprise on a single bill. Not one. No matter what.” Thus it was, that when Barack Obama believed that the healthcare plan needed critical GOP votes to make it bipartisan, Obama went and adopted an earlier plan supported by the Republicans… who immediately dropped their support. It created Obamacare with a mandate instead of having a Medicare for all option.

That’s what one gets with today’s GOP because McConnell appears to be on track for the “no compromise” plan again. We saw it on the January 6th commission. The GOP listed six demands in exchange for their support. The Dems gave them all six. (Which is not bipartisanship). Then McConnell refused to support it by saying it would be “political” and dodging out of the room.

This is the GOP under McConnell and he’s been doing it since the days Trump was a punchline to Lindsey Graham. Now, though, Lindsey Graham, who used to be one of the guys that Democrats sought out for common-sense compromise, is leading the fight for both Trump and McConnell. Lindsey went on Fox today to complain about the Democrats lack of bipartisanship and Chris Wallace immediately exposed the entire party by noting that Joe Manchin stripped the Voting Rights Act of everything the GOP didn’t like and they rejected it:

If Republicans vote, as it appears you’re going to, to kill the Manchin version of voting rights — you’ve already, Republicans voted to kill the bipartisan January 6th commission looking into the insurrection at the Capitol — do you run the risk that Manchin and a couple of other moderate senators will eventually say, “Look, bipartisanship isn’t working, and you know what? We’re not going to kill the filibuster, but we’re going to reduce the number of votes you need to stop a debate from 60 to 55.” Do you run that risk?

Graham went on to say that he hopes not because Trump and McConnell pressured him to eliminate the filibuster, making an even bigger ass out of himself. He knows that McConnell is going to destroy the filibuster the moment he’s in power again. McConnell does this every single time.

But reducing the number of votes to 55 is almost literally the “least” they could do. The Democrats need to protect the right to vote or they really needn’t bother doing much of anything. The red states are locking down on the redness forever right now with new Jim Crow laws. The Senate is already tilted toward the Republicans, given the Democrats represent 42 million more Americans.

And newsflash to everyone. Despite any Republican ideas for bipartisanship, McConnell will eventually pull his support no matter what. If they cannot compromise on investigating January 6th and ensuring the right to vote, what will they compromise on? Nothing.

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Happy Fathers Day
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak