So, the former leader of Senate Republicans continues his brazen shamelessness, this time in a piece written for Foreign Affairs, The Price of American Retreat: Why Washington Must Reject Isolationism and Embrace Primacy. In many ways, it is what would have once passed as standard Republican boilerplate on defense and foreign policy, as it downplays and criticizes Democratic administrations while making it sound like we need to spend more money on defense. The phrase “hard power” (as if the US has gone soft) is deployed throughout. We need more weapons, dontcha know.
On that point, I will note this:
And each year, a larger portion of the defense budget pays for things other than weapons; nearly 45 percent of it now goes toward pay and benefits.
This is where it seems important to note that “pay and benefits” means “people.” You can use the weapons without, you know, people. The armed forces are made of people.
I will add that I find the notion put forward in the piece that the last four years have been a period of “weakness” and that we need “strength” to be partisan pablum.
But, of course, that’s not the shameless part.
The shameless part is that McConnell helped keep Trump in politics and supported his bid for election. Now is a little late to worry about what a second Trump presidency means. Moreover, it comes across as a sad joke that McConnell now thinks that giving interviews and allowing his name to be placed on Foreign Affairs articles means a tinker’s damn at this point. One of the ironies here, and maybe some amount of justice, is that McConnell was clearly motivated by his desire to maintain power and influence, and so was unwilling to spend the needed capital to stop Trump right after January 6th. And yet, here he stands, impotent and unimportant, trying to show that he is a Serious Person and a Leader in the GOP.
Too late, Mitch.
Far too late.
If you wanted history to remember you fondly, you should have done everything in your power to see that Trump was convicted in his second impeachment trial and barred from further political office. And yes, I think that if McConnell had come out against Trump, it would have given permission, and courage, in that moment for enough of his co-partisans to follow suit. I absolutely see McConnell as a key architect of our present moment.
I will not go through the entire piece. As noted, it is not especially remarkable. But let me note a few items
First, this was an absolutely infuriating line: “And these three U.S. adversaries [China, Russia, and Iran], along with North Korea, are now working together more closely than ever to undermine the U.S.-led order that has underpinned Western peace and prosperity for nearly a century.”
It is infuriating because the president-elect is clearly hellbent on “undermine[ing] the U.S.-led order that has underpinned Western peace and prosperity for nearly a century.”
Trump does not respect NATO, is actively insulting allies like Canada, and is threatening trade wars that will undermine the very basis of the global economy. Forget what damage Russia, China, and Iran want to foment, the danger is soon to be coming from inside the White House.
Not to mention the glaring sidenote that Trump admires Xi and has a crush on Putin. In regards to Russia, specifically, I expect that he will end up being instrumental, in some way, to affirming, if not outright blessing, Russia’s aggressive seizure of land from Ukraine. That alone would undermine the peace and prosperity McConnell is allegedly worried about.
Second, this passage was nice and galling:
But Trump sometimes undermined these tough policies through his words and deeds. He courted Putin, he treated allies and alliance commitments erratically and sometimes with hostility, and in 2019 he withheld $400 million in security assistance to Ukraine. These public episodes raised doubts about whether the United States was committed to standing up to Russian aggression, even when it actually did so.
So, let’s not forget that Trump held up that assistance in an attempt to force Ukraine into digging up dirt on Hunter Biden, and that attempt to use public funds for personal political gain led to his first impeachment. This was not simply him being erratic, or even hostile.
It was him being corrupt.
McConnell owns the Trump administration and all of its neo-isolationism. If McConnell wants to prevent what is coming, he needs to go back in time and tell himself to grow a spine and use all that power and influence he clearly values for something useful. If McConnell had voted to convict, it would have only required nine more Republicans to have barred Trump from future office.
But, sure, writing Foreign Affairs articles after he has been reelected should do the trick! No doubt Trump has read it (*snicker*) and finds himself duly convinced!
