Huge news from the swamp last week. The head turtle is crawling out.
Kentucky's own Senator Yertle McConnell announced he would abandon his leadership role as the top Republican in the legislative branch in November. The grampuses are already digging in for position. There's going to be a lot of cracked turtle shells in the scramble.
Think what you want about Moscow Mitch, but he has been the most consequential U.S. Senator since the 19th century and the days of Calhoun, Webster and Clay. No person in my lifetime or yours has had more impact on our politics, our government and the laws we live by.
Simply put, McConnell has been both the smartest and most ruthless person in DC for 30 plus years. He never made a move to run for the Oval Office because he knew presidents only get 8 years at best. Senators get as many as they can get re-elected to. In his case, that would be 42 years.
He has so dominated his party's direction that even when it looks like the party is leaving him you're reminded it was he who set the stage. Mitch saved The Trump from impeachment. Twice.
He knew exactly where things were going because he blazed the trail. Those rebellious upstarts in the senate and house? Not one would be there without his SuperPAC and none can get back without it, either. The turtle's shell is still large and strong.
Instead of looking back at the many things Yertle is responsible for which would take all the ink on today's paper and give me serious gas, my wondering eyes are looking ahead. If turtles hold up the world, who'll hold up the leaning tower of terror Mitch will leave behind?
All of the upstarts, the would-be Yertles, if you will, present plenty of ruthless bravado. But not all of them stacked up get close to the height of Yertle the King's intellect. And that's a problem.
For them.
Without McConnell's otherworldly timing and tactics, who's going to plot Republican legislative strategy? Ted Cruz? Tommy Tuberville? Ted will be lucky to get re-elected in November. Tuberville can't find the bathroom with a map and a flashlight.
McConnell rose at a time when the party valued smarts. Today's party prefers clueless bullies. Strategy and tactics that don't include clubs are above most of their heads.
Without Mitch to protect them from themselves, without his massive shell that has held up the entire party for a generation, without the true visionary focused through the chaos, what will happen?
More chaos of course. The party of Trump will always embrace chaos because, really, it can't do anything else. In order to function without chaos, there needs to be competence. Competence is not required in Trumpland. It takes no competence at all to bankrupt a dozen businesses.
If you are of a progressive mind, like I am, you should be very happy that Kentucky's Senator Yertle McConnell, aka Moscow Mitch, has set an end date for his reign of terror. His absence will leave a vacuum that is ripe for a power of a very different bent.