#MoscowMitch
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | AUGUST 1, 2019
“McConnell has refused to protect our democracy from being undermined by Russia or other foreign adversaries.”
Someone finally got to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Joe Scarborough, host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, last week repeatedly called McConnell “Moscow Mitch” for blocking all bills to strengthen election security against future foreign interference in our elections.
The hashtag #MoscowMitch immediately began trending on Twitter.
This was followed by Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank labeling McConnell a “Russian asset.”
McConnell, who likes to appear impervious to all challenges, lost it. He went to the Senate floor to angrily defend his indefensible position.
All the nation’s intelligence agencies have warned the country that Russia is going to interfere in our elections again in 2020, as they did in 2016.
A bipartisan report by the Senate Intelligence Committee found that Russia is currently working to undermine the 2020 elections. The same warning was issued by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his House testimony last week, when he said about the threat of Russian interference, “They’re doing it as we sit here.”
McConnell lives to obstruct.
McConnell has refused to allow Congress to repair our democracy by preventing Senate consideration of H.R. 1, the historic democracy reform legislation that passed the House in March. Nevertheless, the battle to enact this legislation is moving forward with a plan to inject the democracy reform agenda into the 2020 elections and to enact the bill in the next Congress.
McConnell has refused to protect our democracy from being undermined by Russia or other foreign adversaries.
“Moscow Mitch” and “Russian asset” accurately capture how McConnell is endangering the country and our democracy.
This is one obstructionist gambit that McConnell must lose quickly if we are to protect our elections from a repeat performance by Russia in 2020.
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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections. See previous Notes from Fred here.
