Mitch McConnell Blasts Democrats Ahead of Election Results, But Americans Are Calling Him Out

Michael Hein

10/25/2020 03:40 pm EDT

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is under fire for his latest remarks about the Democrats ahead of the 2020 presidential election. McConnell tweeted a video of himself speaking on the United States Senate floor on Saturday, where he defended President Donald Trump's rhetoric about the "illegitimate" election results. He claimed that Democrats were hypocrites for using the same language about the Supreme Court nomination, but critics disagreed.

McConnell has been heavily criticized for his handling of the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court — and for his court appointments throughout his career in general. In February of 2016, McConnell claimed that it was too close to an election to vote on then-President Barack Obama's new Supreme Court nomination. However, this year McConnell is rushing to confirm Trump's nomination less than two months before the election. Not only does McConnell deny any hypocrisy in this move, he now claims that his political opponents are the ones being hypocrites.

In the process of defending his behavior around the Supreme Court appointment, McConnell also seemed to defend the president's dangerous claims that the presidential election itself will be fraudulent this year. Trump has repeatedly contradicted election experts and definitive studies which show that absentee voting is safe and fair, insisting that the election will not be legitimate if he loses.

McConnell and Trump have been drifting apart on some policy issues lately, so critics were surprised to hear McConnell seemingly defending Trump's conspiracy theories about the election this weekend. Here is a look at how Twitter responded.

'Changing the Rules'

Many critics said that McConnell was only "playing by the rules" because he himself changed those rules. Before 2016, there was no law or even precedent for postponing a Supreme Court nomination just because an election was coming up. However, in 2020 there was a precedent — set my McConnell himself — which he ignored.

Ailments

Meanwhile, many commenters were still preoccupied with the recent signs of bruising or other ailments that McConnell has shown. The senator has refused to comment on the injuries, some of which look concerning.

Vote

With the election approaching, it is no surprise that many viewers used McConnell's latest tweet to promote candidates running against him for his senate seat. Most supported retired U.S. Marine Amy McGrath, who is running against McConnell as a registered Democrat.

'Illegitimate'

Some users joked about McConnell's use of the word "illegitimate," which they predicted Trump would not say himself. The president draws on a small arsenal of adjectives and adverbs, unlike McConnell and other politicians.

Payback

Some viewers accepted McConnell's assessment that Democrats were acting out of self-interest, and they were okay with that. Some argued that the Senate should be able to confirm a Supreme Court justice even this close to an election, yet they still believed that McConnell himself should not be able to do so since he filibustered for nine months in 2016.

Precedent

If Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court, one option Democrats may take is to simply expand the court and appoint liberal-leaning judges, in order to balance the bench. Many Americans warned McConnell that he could not complain about such a measure, since he is setting a "precedent" that politicians can do anything in their power to achieve their partisan ends.

'Treason'

Finally, some users predicted that if Trump does call the election results illegitimate and refuse to leave, he will be charged with treason for his failure to acknowledge and abide by the laws of the land. If that happened, they argued, McConnell would also be counted as a co-conspirator.

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