The Republican party is becoming increasingly older, more male-dominated, and smaller. After all, there is the equivalent of an expiration date on each one of the gray-haired crew. Plus, there is a whole rash of problems that accompany such a sad set of demographics.
Take Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 77, for example. While Democrats all across the field were calling for him to call the Senate back to Washington, D.C. to vote on a gun control bill, he was lounging in a Louisville, Kentucky hospital.
He fractured his shoulder from a fall on the patio outside of his home in Louisville, Kentucky, according to The Washington Post. Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spokesman David Popp released a statement about the incident:
‘This morning, Leader McConnell tripped at home on his outside patio and suffered a fractured shoulder. He has been treated, released, and is working from home in Louisville.’
The Kentucky senator contacted both Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rob Portman (R-OH):
‘To express his deepest sympathies for the people of El Paso and Dayton and discuss the senseless tragedies of this weekend.’
McConnell had just left Washington, D.C. Friday for a five-week or more recess. Saturday, he attended the annual political rally in Fancy Farm, which is a small town located in southwest Kentucky. The woman who is running against him was not there.
McConnell has been campaigning for his seventh Senate term. The Democrat running against him is a 44-year-old retired Marine lieutenant colonel and combat pilot Amy McGrath. She had this to say about her opponent, according to The New York Times:
‘Everything that’s wrong in Washington had to start someplace. It started with this man who was elected a lifetime ago, and who has, bit by bit, year by year, turned Washington into something we all despise.’
McConnell is the longest-serving Kentucky senator. Jon Soltz, an Iraq War veteran and co-founder of VoteVets.org said:
‘(McConnell is) one of the most powerful political machines that’s ever existed.’
The Kentucky senator only has “a 36% approval and 50% disapproval rating in Kentucky, according to a Morning Consult poll from the first quarter,” CNBC reported. If Donald Trump does as well as he did last term, his 30 percentage point advantage could carry McConnell along.
McGrath said:
‘You’re right to say (McConnell) is formidable. He’s been around 34 years…Trump promised to bring back jobs. He promised to lower drug prices for so many Kentuckians. That’s so important. Who stops him along the way? Mitch McConnell.’
McGrath said her strategy will be to show the people of Kentucky that their current senator is part of what has stopped Congress’ ability “drain the swamp.” That was the primary reason why this red state voted for Trump.
After working with the liberal political action committee that supports veterans running for office, Soltz said:
‘It takes someone with a compelling, nonpolitical profile to break through that. When you talk about Amy McGrath, you’re talking about someone who has the credibility, with her profile, to reach people outside the Democratic base, independents, even Republicans. That’s what will break the McConnell machine.’
If McConnell did not want to bring back the Senate to deal with the issue of gun control after the two mass shootings with military-grade weapons, he could have found a far easier way out of it.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
