Mitch McConnell: How the Senate Leader Leveraged His Power Over 17 Years | WSJ

One of life's most underappreciated talents is to know when it's time to move on to life's next chapter. After 17 years at the helm of the Republican Party in the Senate, Mitch McConnell announced he will step down from his leadership role in November. I love the Senate. It's been my life. There may be more distinguished members of this body throughout our history, but I doubt there were any with any more admiration for the Senate. Now the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, McConnell cultivated political clout and a reputation as a master legislative strategist. But in recent years, he also faced concerns over his health and a changing Republican Party. The Senate's going to be a very different place, unquestionably. Switch to Mitch for senators. Mitch McConnell was first elected to Congress in 1984, flipping a seat in Kentucky, where he holds the title of the state's longest-serving senator. He served as the Republican whip for four years before becoming the head of his conference. He would be voted leader eight more times across four presidential administrations. Mitch McConnell is almost universally respected. That's not that he is universally loved. Some folks still don't think I spend enough time with Congress. Why don't you get a drink with Mitch McConnell, they ask. Really? Why don't you get a drink with Mitch McConnell? He's either your greatest asset or your biggest liability on literally everything that came before the federal government. I remember him saying sort of tongue-in-cheek, it's taken me 30 years to convince everybody I'm an asshole. I'm not going to turn back now. Wielding brass knuckle tactics to push his agenda, McConnell didn't aim for public popularity or shy away from controversial opinions. Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term. He is perfectly comfortable being the most unpopular person that he can be, and his view is he's not doing his job if you like him. Like he's just, there are no good decisions you can make in that role that's going to satisfy a 60% majority of Americans. Just not. With a decades-long tenure comes many legislative highs and lows for McConnell. This is a guy who watched John McCain cast the decisive no vote on the repeal of Obamacare, a heartbreaker for the Republican Party. Shortly after that, McConnell was able to deliver on passing a $1.5 trillion tax cut, the largest structural overhaul of the tax system in more than 30 years. Probably from a legislative perspective, the signature accomplishment of the entire Trump presidency. Some of McConnell's achievements will last for years to come. During the Trump administration, he pushed through the confirmations of more than 200 judicial nominees, including 53 on appeals courts and three on the Supreme Court. In 2016, McConnell refused to hold confirmation hearings for then-President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. We're not giving a lifetime appointment to this president on the way out the door to change the Supreme Court for the next 25 or 30 years. In October 2020, with Trump in the White House, McConnell and Senate Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the high court just days before the presidential election. A lot of what we've done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election. We won't be able to do much about this for a long time to come. The appointment was met with strong criticism from Senate Democrats. They subjected Judge Garland to an unprecedented partisan blockade, but they're erecting a monument to hypocrisy to rush Judge Barrett onto the bench. McConnell has cemented a conservative majority on the Supreme Court for at least a generation. One of the greatest challenges McConnell has faced during his tenure is the rapidly changing Republican Party, shifting away from more traditional conservative values and moving toward former President Donald Trump's populist brand of conservatism. Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time. I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them. Many of McConnell's legislative wins came during the Trump administration, but the pair had a relatively tumultuous relationship. McConnell has this idea that to win in politics, you must sit and stand firm, and that's absolutely what he did with President Trump. And that's not to say it was always easy. That's not to say it came without any toll. But it did speak to McConnell's sort of internal toughness and ability to persevere as qualities that were important to his leadership. Things really fell apart, though, between McConnell and Donald Trump after January 6th, when McConnell did not vote to convict President Trump, but got up and gave a very, very impassioned speech in public view on the Senate floor. There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. McConnell's decision to step down follows a series of health setbacks after the leader appeared to freeze during two public appearances. All right, I'm sorry, you all, we're going to need a minute. The Senate minority leader, who turned 82 on February 20th, said it's time for a new season in his life. He will step back from the leadership role in November, but plans to remain in the Senate until his term expires in 2027. McConnell has been a very strong, centralized leader at a time when rank-and-file members want more power to be devolved out into their hands. And so it could mean a weakening of the Senate Republicans' leadership. It's very, very hard to see someone else who's going to bring together all of those different skill sets, the mastery of the Senate rules, the mental and emotional toughness, to produce the same type of leadership that we saw with Senator McConnell. I have full confidence in my confidence to choose my replacement and lead our country forward. If you look at what he has done with his leadership from the moment he walked into that office to the moment he walks out, what he's ultimately done has been the most consequential figure over the longest period of time of any Senate leader in history.