Mitch McConnell appeared to just give away that he’ll retire early if he doesn’t regain Majority Leader title
There are few more powerless high profile positions in government than Senate Minority Leader. You’d think that title came with some power and relevance, but it really just means you’re tasked with publicly whining about how the other party keeps getting its way. It’s why so many people have spent the past several years mistakenly thinking Chuck Schumer was weak. And it’s why Mitch McConnell has now been reduced to nothing more than a powerless whiner.
We’ve been wondering if Mitch was even going to stick around in his newly pointless role as Senate Minority Leader. Now it appears we’re getting our answer. As reported by Newsweek, McConnell just threw his support behind legislation that would force Kentucky’s Democratic Governor to pick a Republican replacement if McConnell retires from the Senate early. There’s only one reason for this: McConnell seriously sees a scenario in which he could retire before the end of his current term.
Keep in mind that Mitch McConnell just got reelected to a six year Senate term, and now he’s immediately backing legislation with regard to his potential retirement. This doesn’t have the feel of “Well maybe I’ll hypothetically retire four or five years into my term” or “I’m getting older, so maybe my health will give out at some point.”
Instead this feels like McConnell setting the groundwork so that if the Republicans don’t regain the Senate majority in 2022, and if he doesn’t get his Majority Leader title back accordingly, he’ll walk away after the midterms. This should give you even more motivation to work hard to win the midterm elections, as it would mean the end of McConnell in politics for good.
