McConnell Leaving Leadership Marks End of Bush-era Politicians in Leadership

Last week, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that he was going to step down from his leadership role in the Senate in November.

Voters have been upset with McConnell’s leadership skills since the Trump administration, but our elected Senators continued to elect him to leadership.

With McConnell now stepping down, it will mark the end of an era where GOP leadership was influenced by Bush-era Republicans.

Good Riddance

The Bush family is a bit of an enigma for the Republican Party.

There are conservatives such as myself who hold nothing personal against the Bush family, but I also happen to think they were some of the worst presidents this country has ever seen.

The elder Bush lost after only one term and the younger Bush was bullied into positions by his vice president, Dick Cheney.

Also, during that time, however, leadership in Congress was formed, with McConnell being one of the last links to those administrations.

McConnell won his first race while Reagan was in office, but his rise to power in the party took place during the Bush era.

When McConnell announced that he was stepping down, most pundits tagged it as the end of the Reagan era, but I disagree with that simply due to the fact that McConnell’s leadership position was not until well after Reagan had left office.

For instance, McConnell became the Majority WHIP in 2003 when George W. was in office, and he was elevated to Leader of the Senate Republican Conference in 2007 when Senator Frist (R-TN) decided not to run for re-election as Senate Leader.

One of my biggest complaints about McConnell is that he is a warmonger, likely having his campaign chests fattened by lobbyists and weapons suppliers over the years.

To that point, he has made it his sole purpose in his waning days as GOP Senate Leader to lock down funding for Ukraine.

McConnell’s strategies may be worshiped by the old guard, but I am counting down the days to when he no longer has a say in the direction of the conservative movement in this country.