Senate majority leader relishes role as 'Grim Reaper'
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calls himself the Grim Reaper — the one who holds the scythe leading to the chamber where the desires of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House majority go to die.
The Republican leader halted Democrats’ effort to add more migrant protections to a border funding package and stopped senators from limiting President Donald Trump’s ability to respond militarily in Iran.
By week’s end, the typically understated Kentuckian was emoting over his unexpected star turn at the Democratic presidential debates as the candidates decried his prowess to mercilessly wield the power of ‘no.’
Friday he said to a crowd at a gathering of religious conservatives, “A little quiz: Who won the Democratic presidential debate? I did!” he exclaimed. “I dominated the Democratic debate last night.”
McConnell has made a career out of stopping things — first Barack Obama’s agenda (underscored by his unsuccessful vow to make him a “one-term” president), now Pelosi’s — taking pride in what has come to be known as the Senate graveyard.
He has also made a virtue of saying yes in one fundamentally important respect where the Senate has sole authority: the confirmation of judges. Both he and Trump constantly remind conservative audiences that the president has remade the federal judiciary with dozens of judges, and none so important as Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
That strategy will be put to a fresh test in 2020, when McConnell will seek a seventh term, on the same ballot with Trump. McConnell is not nearly as popular as the president is at home in Kentucky. But part of his pitch will be what he can do to help Trump by stopping Democratic bills from reaching the White House.
He has infuriated Democrats and will be an animating force on both sides during the campaign. Democrats will try to raise money based on opposition to him and are hopeful that he will have a strong challenger, possibly Amy McGrath, who narrowly lost a House race in Kentucky in 2018.
“I was thrilled to dominate the discussion,” McConnell told reporters the next day.
“I understand my sin is that I’ve been stopping left wing agenda items coming out of the House,” McConnell said.
“I think that was a legitimate discussion to have,” he said. “And I couldn’t have been happier about it.”
