Mitch McConnell Warns: It’s Unlikely You’ll Be Elected President If You Meet With Anti-Semites And White Supremacists
[guest post by Dana]
Considering today’s Republican Party, I have my doubts about the accuracy of McConnell’s statement, but we’ll see soon enough…
Mitch McConnell called out Donald Trump about the inappropriateness of that now infamous dinner:
MCCONNELL: First, let me just say that there is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy. And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States. pic.twitter.com/IbUrlmwXvD
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) November 29, 2022
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned former President Trump for his dinner with Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, saying anyone meeting with individuals with views of antisemitism or white supremacy is “highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”
“There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy,” McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday. “And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”
McConnell was right to publicly condemn the actions of the man who hopes to become the next sitting president of the United States. However, we know as well as McConnell that, unfortunately, today’s Republican Party actually does have plenty of room for anti-Semitism and white supremacy. He’s seen it up close and in person for six years. In fact, in February 2022, McConnell said virtually the same thing as he did yesterday after Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar spoke at a gathering of white nationalists in Florida. And speaking of MTG:
Huh. pic.twitter.com/GXUoEgNFNb
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) November 29, 2022
You can read here how every Republican Senator and every member of Republican House leadership responded (or didn’t respond) to questions of whether they believed it was appropriate for Trump to have met with Nick Fuentes and Ye (Kanye West), whether they condemn meeting, and for non-leadership members, whether they called on party leadership to speak out on it.
–Dana
Good morning.
Dana (1225fc) — 11/30/2022 @ 7:05 amAs near as I can tell from Paul’s take on Liz Cheney sending campaign money to a white nationalist racist to primary a constitutional conservative member of the House for daring to go against her and Trump, once you realize your error your latest statement on the matter is iron clad going forward.
BuDuh (eaef9b) — 11/30/2022 @ 7:15 am“Trump bad” is morphing into “GOP bad” and will kick into overdrive as Trump fades away and nevertrump enters survival mode
JF (f8765c) — 11/30/2022 @ 7:23 amBut would McConnell vote for Trump if nominated? Probably yes.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 11/30/2022 @ 7:30 amBuDuh still butthurt for his half-story. Sad.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 11/30/2022 @ 7:31 am“Trump bad” is morphing into “GOP bad”
It’s already happened. We saw it with the Red Ripple.
nk (763d5c) — 11/30/2022 @ 7:37 amPersonal attack!
Please apologize, Paul.
BuDuh (eaef9b) — 11/30/2022 @ 7:53 amPaul, BuDuh is trying extra hard to troll you on this one.
Time123 (5d1082) — 11/30/2022 @ 8:06 amMcConnell has been in the Senate since 1985. When he tells you what wins (and what loses) elections, he knows what he’s talking about.
nk (763d5c) — 11/30/2022 @ 8:21 amBut Mitch chose not to whip his delegation to ensure the 1st Amendment and religious liberty protections were passed and instead permitted anti-religious bigotry to be enshrined into law.
NJRob (b9053f) — 11/30/2022 @ 8:27 amWe had an anti-Semitic president in Obama who showed that when he gave perferred status to Iran and made Netanhyu enter through the back door.
NJRob (b9053f) — 11/30/2022 @ 8:29 amNJRob, Good point, supporting laws to protect the rights of thousands to healthy, happy families while making sure there were protections against compelled speech is another good thing Mitch has done lately.
Time123 (5d1082) — 11/30/2022 @ 8:38 amTime,
Your trolling is boring.
NJRob (15fa95) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:01 amOne word: Ivermectin.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:07 amMcConnell knows what hills to fight on. He also knows a gay billionaire in a same-sex marriage who gave $32 million ($32,000,000) to Republican candidates this last election.
nk (763d5c) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:07 amMitch senses the only way to get the GOP out of the fever swamps is to remind them that each time they pander to racist militia leaders, they lose.
Appalled (f96124) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:10 amSomething you know about from experience, Paul?
BuDuh (eaef9b) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:11 amHe’s probably also pissed that after seven years, and his Secretary of Transportation to boot, The Stable Genius™ still does not know how to spell Elaine Chao’s last name. 😉
nk (763d5c) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:20 amMTG may have “misremembered” Nick Fuentes but another dinner party attendee is an intern in her congressional office.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:22 amThat article is from June, Rip.
Was the attendee still an intern for MTG during the dinner party?
BuDuh (eaef9b) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:24 amRob, I’m not trolling. If you look at the text of the legislation that’s exactly what it does.
Time123 (b4aad9) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:26 amDoesn’t seem a wise ‘angle of attack’ on Trump by Mitch. A glass house; stones thing. Mitch McConnell is a U.S. senator from Kentucky in his seventh term and has held the seat since 1985. So for him, it is a festering, pesky, ‘votes versus voters’ thing– for 37 years:
Kentucky among states where white supremacist propaganda most often found
https://fox17.com/news/local/report-kentucky-among-states-where-white-supremacist-propaganda-most-often-found
DCSCA (478998) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:28 amRiP, hypocrite is the tribute Vice pays to virtue in this case.
Time123 (b4aad9) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:32 am#22
So, you figure Mitch should appeal to the racist militia vote, DCSCA?
Let’s see where that line of argument takes you.
In the meantime, Trump has declared war on Mitch. Mitch will find his ways to strike back. Because, you know, he fights.
Appalled (f96124) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:35 amIt was only six months ago, and I haven’t seen any news announcing a change in his status. It still remains a fact that MY is/was an intern in MTG’s office, long after he established his controversial past and political views.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:52 am@24. Just see his blatant hypocrisy for what it is. Clearly it’s an overwhelming problem in his state- a state he has represented and where it has festered and worsened for the four decades he has represented it. They vote– and some how, he keeps winning. Not a lot of nutbag lefty Ds keeping him him in office. Don’t see him shouting ‘I don’t want your support’ either– or rejecting any Kentuckians who vote for him– but welcomes all votes, as long as the good, the bad and the ugly keep quiet.
DCSCA (478998) — 11/30/2022 @ 10:06 amSure. Why bother to follow the constitution when there’s patronage and graft to be had. You just explained in a nutshell why DC is so unpopular and why we are on the gradual decline.
NJRob (15fa95) — 11/30/2022 @ 10:12 amNJRob, have you read the text of the bill in question? It’s *clearly* constitutional, since all it says is:
* states cannot deny full faith and credit to marriages between two people performed in other states (the constitution already requires this, and explicitly gives the congress the power to codify it)
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
* the feds must recognize any marriage between two people which is legal in any jurisdiction (congress obviously has the power to determine which marriages the feds will and will not recognize).
Your allegation that this bill is unconstitutional is misinformed at best.
aphrael (4c4719) — 11/30/2022 @ 10:39 amAphrael,
I wanted to add that Section 6 explicitly protects first amendment rights and the rights of religious organizations not to participate in marriages that violate their conscience.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/8404/text#id9f81bbb81c974ead9d977374f0b1d320
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/8404/text#idbebc991f419a4b988ba6a76ecf8199d0
Time123 (5d1082) — 11/30/2022 @ 10:52 amDCSCA:
This is how Mitch worded his comment:
That’s actually not hypocracy, even if you can prove that Mitch, sometime between 1985 and the current day, met with racists and militia folks. I am sure there are pictures of Mitch posing in front of Confederate flags.
Mitch is talking about the likelihood of such a person winning in 2024. Tht’s not hypocracy. It’s punditry.
Appalled (f96124) — 11/30/2022 @ 10:54 amAphrael,
Did you read Sen Lee’s protections which were needed to protect religious liberty? You clearly ignored the discussion.
NJRob (15fa95) — 11/30/2022 @ 10:54 amNJRob, you claimed that McConnell failed to follow the constitution.
That is *at best* absurd hyperbole.
It’s also straddling the line between absurd hyperbole and a lie.
This bill is clearly within Congress’ constitutional authority, and does not violate the constitution in any way.
aphrael (4c4719) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:01 amRob, What do you feel is insufficient about the protections that are in the bill? They explicitly protect that 1A and the rights of Religious institutions that oppose SSM.
Time123 (5d1082) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:06 amGoogle is my friend.
Seems like Sen. Lee wanted the law to allow non-religious institutions the right to discriminate against SSM and gay people.
https://www.lee.senate.gov/2022/11/respect-for-marriage-act-why-religious-liberty-deserves-protection-and-my-amendment-will-provide-it
Time123 (b27463) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:15 am“Trump bad” is morphing into “GOP bad” and will kick into overdrive as Trump fades away and nevertrump enters survival mode
You cover a rock with sh1t and it all looks like sh1t. In this case the “rock” is the GOP. More sh1t won’t help.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:28 amMcConnell has been in the Senate since 1985. When he tells you what wins (and what loses) elections, he knows what he’s talking about.
I’ve never heard hims say something stupid, either.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:30 amHe wanted to protect an individual’s right to religious liberty as is recognized ny the 1st Amendment. You clearpy have an issue with people practicing their faith as recognized when our union was formed. Time, why is that?
NJRob (33e46f) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:30 amI’m guessing it’s just the standard anti-Christiam bigotry that’s practiced by much of the secular left.
NJRob (33e46f) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:31 amMTG may have “misremembered” Nick Fuentes but another dinner party attendee is an intern in her congressional office.
To be fair, the racist and anti-Semitic base of MAGA are pretty much the majority in her district.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:33 amIn the meantime, Trump has declared war on Mitch. Mitch will find his ways to strike back.
I think he deeply regrets not voting AYE on the 2nd impeachment. I also think he tried very hard to lobby a shoulder-to-shoulder block for conviction.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:36 amNJRob, Our union was formed on the idea that people would be free to practice their faith as they saw fit/believed was God’s will. I’m fine with that and think the protections for religious liberty in the respect for marriage act are good ones.
The law currently doesn’t allow people who operate businesses generally open to the public to refuse service to gay people because of religious reasons. But our law doesn’t allow people to discriminate based on age/sex/race either and this is consistent with that. There are a lot of ways that our laws interfere with various religious teachings when it’s necessary to balance conflicting rights.
As for my personal feelings, The church I attend would tell someone that wanted to discriminate against a gay person that they were misunderstanding Jesus’s teachings. I don’t expect you to live to the teachings of my church, and I have no intention to living to the tenets of yours. Our country was founded on the idea that neither of us can force that.
Time123 (ae7b06) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:47 am@34:
The only concerning claim by Lee is this:
IAMAL and would have little interest in parsing random bills and seeing how they amend current law even if I was. But I know that the more-rabid supporters of SSM (like the more rabid supporters of most anything) are quite capable of this kind of attack.
I do note that the Supreme Court has shown an interest in protecting such organizations (Fulton v. City of Philadelphia), but here is no guarantee that smaller organizations will not be legally harassed or extorted.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:54 amThe law currently doesn’t allow people who operate businesses generally open to the public to refuse service to gay people because of religious reasons.
Nor should it. But there is a difference between serving coffee to anyone in your restaurant — or hiring someone who is in a SS marriage — and catering the reception for a SSM. The last act requires you step over the line from acceptance into participation, if not celebration.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:59 amBut I feel we’ve had this argument before.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 12:00 pmI don’t expect you to live to the teachings of my church, and I have no intention to living to the tenets of yours. Our country was founded on the idea that neither of us can force that.
Well, a law that preserves the options taught by your church, but denies those options taught by his is actually using force. That the force does not apply to you does not make you righteous.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 12:02 pmNot that the law does either of those, but your dicta has holes.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 12:03 pmRIP Christine McVie (79).
Rip Murdock (0be58f) — 11/30/2022 @ 12:24 pmR.I.P. Christine McVie 😢
Icy (b0ee77) — 11/30/2022 @ 12:34 pmI didn’t think Christine McVie would be the first to go. Based on appearances, her ex-husband John McVie would have been my bet. Never judge a book by its cover, I guess.
Fleetwood Mac is one of the few bands I have seen in concert. I went to their concert in Oakland shortly after Christine rejoined the band in 2014. At that concert, Stevie Nicks talked about how Christine had hired a personal trainer to get ready for their tour.
Christine had such a sultry voice. The band better grovel and get Buckingham back. If they don’t, they’re toast.
norcal (862cdb) — 11/30/2022 @ 12:42 pm@30. Except it is- given the troublesome issue in his own state. Again: clearly it’s an overwhelming problem in Kentucky- a state he has represented and where it has festered and worsened for the four decades he has represented it. They vote– and some how, he keeps winning. Not a lot of nutbag lefty Ds keeping him in office. Don’t see him shouting ‘I don’t want your support’ either– or rejecting any of those wack-job Kentuckians who vote for him– but welcomes all votes, as long as they keep quiet. He’s a hypocrite– and likely done anyway given his age and the rooting populism in his party.
DCSCA (478998) — 11/30/2022 @ 12:48 pmKevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:36 am
He would have rounded up the vote for conviction if he had done that. I think the Democratic leadership didn’t want to negotiate with him. I don’t know if he outright regrets that (which would have probably included precluding Trump from running again also)
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 11/30/2022 @ 12:55 pmBroken Clock Moment for this dude (I was definitely Team Savage in that tiff):
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fox-news-host-mark-levin-190825596.html
urbanleftbehind (f45844) — 11/30/2022 @ 1:01 pmExcept it is-
This is the kind of start to a comment that tells me I’ve already read the rest of it last time.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 1:03 pmThe real reason why IL’s possible Darren Bailey administration wasn’t gonna mess with an abortion ban: https://www.yahoo.com/news/abortion-clinic-came-town-131941414.html
urbanleftbehind (f45844) — 11/30/2022 @ 1:05 pmExcept it is-
This is the kind of start to a comment that tells me I’ve already read the rest of it last time.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 1:03 pm
🤣
norcal (862cdb) — 11/30/2022 @ 1:09 pmKevin, the law drew the line at organizations whose principle purpose is faith based. text is below. I bolded the pertinent part. I’m sure there will be legal challenges. But I this seems like a reasonable place to draw the line. A church that sells flowers from their garden as sideline doesn’t have to provide flowers for a SSM. A commercial florists that thinks SSM is against god’s will can’t discriminate.
Time123 (7fbc3c) — 11/30/2022 @ 1:17 pm#50
I look forward forward to Trump’s stalwart condemnations of the racist militia problem
Appalled (f69dd9) — 11/30/2022 @ 1:28 pmIn Kentucky. It will be like waiting for Godot.
The people who care wouldn’t vote for him anyway and the people who will vote for him don’t care/ Trump has made some pathetic excuse about not knowing and that will be good enough for his populist voters. They are already talking about going after “media judens” attacking trump on line. Cocaine mitch isn’t all that popular in his own caucus especially voting against interracial marriage when his wife is asian!
asset (04bdb1) — 11/30/2022 @ 2:28 pmTime123 @56.
You don’t see a problem with the “nonprofit organizations/entities” limitation? That maybe, possibly, remotely, a license from the IRS might violate both the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses?
nk (935a5c) — 11/30/2022 @ 3:57 pm@56:
It must be somewhere else that it demands that the religious florist provide the flowers.
This brings up the discrimination against people who believe their connection to God is individual, not through a church. The first Amendment does not give churches the right to hold beliefs. The rights belong to the individual members.
I think that the individual florist has a stronger case under the 1st Amendment than the church to which they belong, as the right being transgressed (if that is what it is), is the individual’s, not the church’s.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 4:08 pmYou don’t see a problem with the “nonprofit organizations/entities” limitation?
Scientology, for example.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 4:09 pmI think that it is time that we left “marriage” (the civil contract and status) to Caesar and “Holy matrimony” (the binding of souls) to God. It would make so many things clearer. Few (I would hope) would sue the Catholic Church for refusing to perform a religious ceremony. After all, the Church will refuse to perform quite a few traditional marriage ceremonies.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 4:13 pmScientology, for example.
I was thinking of Parson Brown, who is no kind of organization or entity, he just does the job when he’s in town, and declares the $15 on his regular income tax in April.
nk (935a5c) — 11/30/2022 @ 4:38 pmSaved by the bell: Just heard a few minutes ago on the Mark Levin radio show an excerpt of the confirmation hearings for George Kent, who’s up for Ambassador to Estonia. Ted Cruz was questioning him about Joe Biden’s statement Joe Biden made on January 23, 2018 in front of the Councilon Foreign Relations abot withholding $1 billion tto force the Ukrainians to fire the prosecutor
The truth is, Joe Biden made the whole thing up.
If this is realized, Joe Biden could have ahard time running for re-election as president.
And the Democrats – some Democrats – know the whole story is not true.
Of course, the Republicans persist in claiming that Joe Biden really did fire the prosecutor on his own, and that he did it to protext his son. (or that tthe prosecuttor was investigating him)
Sammy Finkelman (c62a24) — 11/30/2022 @ 5:34 pmThe chair or acting chair of the committee said George Kent was uncomfortablle answering that question that Ted Cruz asked and should not be forced to answer it.
Sammy Finkelman (c62a24) — 11/30/2022 @ 5:35 pmIt’s not true. Biden made the whole story up, what with the cancelled press conference and all. And it wasn’t aid, it was a loan guarantee. The prosecutor was not fired then, but he left office two or three months later,
I saw George Kent testify at the House Intelligence Committee hearings in 2019, and he was never asked the right question, But you could tell that the story Joe Biden told was nit true, Biden visited Ukraine a total of 6 times, not a dozen, and he wasn’t there in March, 2016, IIRC, but in December, 2015.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/02/correcting-media-error-bidens-ukraine-showdown-was-december
That’s putting it kindly, In faact Biden made thr whole story up. He never gave a date, by the way, so the whole story consists of himm being a vice president with superpowers,.
There’s no reason to believe that anything like the story Biden told happened in zDecemberm 2015 either. The only source, I think, is Joe Biden and people protecting him from being discovered as a liar,
The loan guarantee was eventually announced by the U.S. Ambassadoir at the beginning of June.
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/31/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine
Sammy Finkelman (5a21a3) — 12/1/2022 @ 6:38 amCan there be a difference between nationalists who are white and nationalists who want an actual all white run nation? (or an all white nation via ethnic cleansing)
White nationalist is a term that is thrown around so easily these days- sort of like the word racist- that it needs to be annotated.
I’ve seen white people who say they like Judeo-Christian values such as the 10 Commandments derided as “white nationalist” so its meaning has become blurred.
I don’t follow the Kanye story much, but it is impossible be exposed to media and not be able to piece together his story. Is he an anti-semite or a high functioning mentally ill person who spouts nonsense like an advanced paranoid dementia patient? People all know Kanye is mentally ill and maybe he is both mentally ill and an anti-semite but I can’t help but have some compassion toward him.
I don’t know Fuentes at all, don’t want to delve into his world, but here we are. This story reminds me of a guy I used to work with who was in charge of spraying the paraquat. He was hispanic an would pour the paraquat into the spray truck with no gloves and then mix it with an oar with all the fumes wafting up out of the access hole. He also used to pass out John Birch Society literature at the local supermarket on weekends. When Dave Chappelle did his skit on the blind black white supremacist, I think of the guy.
Fuentes seems like one of those whiter hispanics who despise the brown folks (kind of like the LA City Council woman Nuri Martinez).
I don’t really want to know what goes on in Trumps head but selfishly, I am mad at him for this. I don’t want to read about stupid S like Kanye-Trump-Fuentes. I’m not a good christian, but I believe in God and I do think it is a good idea to pray for our leadership, but lately its been less of a prayer to bring out the good God has in them and more of a prayer to rid us of the entire lot on both sides and start new
steveg (cdf7dc) — 12/1/2022 @ 10:20 amOn the bright side, yesterday I got Wordle in two guesses.
steveg (cdf7dc) — 12/1/2022 @ 10:25 amHas anyone ever noticed that on the wordle screen, top right, between help and settings, they are giving all of the players the finger?
steveg (cdf7dc) — 12/1/2022 @ 10:20 am
The two words go together so it sort of means the latter. The exact meaning isn’t settled.
Kanye West is most likely the victim of con artists who convinced him he could gain by repeating vile nonsense that nobody else says.
He thinks he’s another Donald Trump, but, in truth, not even Trump could actually shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support and in any case he’s no Donald Trump.
Kanye brought two other people there, one of whom Trump said he doesn’t know and the other was apolitical consultant whom he knew slightly
Michelle Goldberg said that Trump did know Fuentes — or had at least once encountered the name: (but who says that Trump has a memory like a steel trap – and besides Fuentes did not introduce himself)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/opinion/antisemitism-trump-nick-fuentes.html
The earlier column said:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/opinion/house-republican-elections.html
This white supremacist is now working for Kanye West’s campaign, so things are a bit more complicated. To put it simply, he is not anything but a total fraud.
More from the earlier column, which Donald Trump read:
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 12/1/2022 @ 4:25 pm