An Open Letter To Senator Mitch McConnell-- If You Have Any Humanity Left, Resign Now-- But Do The Right Thing First

An Open Letter To Senator Mitch McConnell-- If You Have Any Humanity Left, Resign Now-- But Do The Right Thing First

To: Senator Mitch McConnell

Washington DC

c/o Rayburn  Senate Office Building

Cc: Republican National Committee, Senator Charles Schumer

Honorable Senator McConnell,

Respectfully, I'm writing to you on behalf of myself and concerned citizens of all political backgrounds regarding your personal culpability for our current existential crisis.

In August of 2020, it was clear to the majority of Americans that the greatest threat to our national security, our economic future, health and general welfare was both embodied and driven by the self-serving criminal intentions of then sitting President Donald Trump, and the growing fascist movement which metastasized behind his misleadership. This was equally understood by a majority of your Republican Party's leadership, who unfortunately had decided the year before to capitulate to their own moral cowardice and enable him.

You should remember that it was after the campaign of 2015-2016, that many of your closest colleagues in the Senate, House, and RNC had denounced Trump as dangerous, a nut, a racist, a potential national security threat, and unfit to lead. Once he was made your Party's nominee however, you chose to gaslight yourselves and the American people in a fashion not unlike the agents in the film "Men In Black," using a fictional "Nebulizer" on each other to do a complete memory wipe of your own statements. You Sir, lied, and you know exactly how, where, when, why and what you lied about. But with nary a moment of conscience, you "flicked the light switch off" and left the building. 

You, Senator McConnell were the "gold standard" for that cowardly capitulation, not once but twice, in your dereliction of duty when you chose to oppose Senate conviction of Trump in both Impeachments. You admitted openly Trump's personal responsibility for the criminal attacks on the Congress and election on January 6th, but for reasons of purely partisan, parochial and personal interest, (especially your intent to appoint right-wing Justices to SCOTUS)  you called for acquittal in the first Impeachment also.  Thus you granted your assent to the worst ever crimes in history committed by an American President. By doing so, you enabled him in committing even worse crimes since leaving, which as you are now very aware, potentially rises to the level of espionage and treason. 

You personally Senator, perhaps more than any other besides Trump himself, have on your hands the blood of the possibly hundreds of US Intelligence agents and/or assets who appear to have been murdered by foreign governments due to Trump's alleged theft and trafficking of government classified and top secret files bearing their names.  This would not have happened had you done what you knew to be the right thing back then. Do not insult us, yourself, and The Creator by claiming otherwise, because you know this to be true. In previous eras of US history Senator, you would have been expelled from the Senate, from your Party leadership, and forced to leave government service in disgrace. Arguably not one of these people who lost their lives in service to America's interests would be dead, had you Sir shown the integrity to place our national interests ahead of those of your Party. It would be a therapeutic just reward were you to lose your ability to sleep, and see their faces at night, as did Shakespeare's evil King, Richard III. Therefore you are personally corrupted in every sense of the word, with virtually no indication that you intend to atone in any way. As of this moment that is. 

The Conflict With "Your Friend" President Biden

To be clear, those of us who have not been "Nebulized" are more than aware that your policy disagreements with the President are secondary and largely window dressing, a form of performance art as cover for influence peddling, benefitting your donors, corporate backers, Evangelical activists, and Party hacks who made you once Majority and now Minority Leader. We know that your so-called program is simply the political equivalent of a high-end prostitute's wardrobe for the day, which changes from time to time with the preferences of your customers. You wear it because it's the job, not because it gives you pleasure. 

No Senator, your conflict with the President goes much deeper. The President thinks you are a good man, a decent human being, a Patriot, a fine colleague and good friend. And you have been doing and saying everything within your power to prove Joe Biden to be utterly wrong in his estimation of you. That Sir is the essence of your disagreement. 

For those Americans who support the President and his policy outlook, this fact is confusing, an anomaly. Most Democrats harbor thoughts about you and your role which should never be expressed in public. They see you for what you've admitted proudly, that the interests of your Party's backers come ahead of the nation's welfare. Yet, in the words of Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the President thinks that you, like Brutus "are an honorable man." "So are they all honorable men." 

They have seen you repeatedly obstruct legislation which you know to be needed and beneficial to the nation and even your own state, because the greater benefit for you is "not giving Biden a win." There was one recent occasion in which you did not do that, which was the Ukraine Aid Bill. And we all know what that was; merely pre-election damage control to distance yourself and your Party from Trump's insane statements praising Putin's invasion of Ukraine. You could not let that be the "talking point" for the Democrats which cost you your position as Senate Majority Leader after the election. Period. Don't try to tell us otherwise, because we know how you lie. 

Yet, President Biden calls you his "dear friend." His dear friend, "The Obstructionist." The friend who had he been Minority Leader 90 years ago, would have obstructed the New Deal, Lend Lease, Social Security, the economic war mobilization, and would have condemned us to a 25 years long or more cycle of Depression and global fascist domination of the planet, in order to not give FDR "a win" for the next election. Yes, Senator, you've been a really great friend to Joe Biden and America, just in a way which is invisible, non-existent and inexplicable. You would have been Hitler's Fifth Column, just like you are currently enabling Trump's openly fascist MAGA to destroy our democracy without a shot being fired. 

So the two questions which might be asked are thus; is the President deluded, blind, living in the past by believing you have a better side? And this I should emphasize is not personal. Rather, it was the President's belief in your integrity and friendship that was his bedrock for pursuing bi-partisanship, to overcome the bloodcurdling division set afoot by Trump and his MAGA movement. Unfortunately, when he knocked on your door, there was never anybody home. The second question, which is the most difficult to ask and the hardest answer to swallow is; what if the President is right? What might it mean that he sees something in you, or which was in you, that we don't see. Maybe the person that "has not been home" is actually still there, but is just in hiding in the attic. 

I've staked my life's work in politics on my belief that people can change, that they can find redemption. Dare I heed my own words and believe that you are one of those who are capable of such change, at this stage of your life? Admittedly there is such a thing as a point of no return, both in the history of nations and the individual lives of people. At what point are you right now Senator? Have your consciously destructive decisions thus far made you irredeemable, or is there hope? And we might also ask, what, at this stage, might redemption look like? 

The Great Italian Poet Dante Alighieri in his Epic "The Divine Comedy" reserves the lowest (and coldest) circle of Hell (Inferno) for traitors. There our traveller accompanied by the poet Virgil encounters Judas Escariot, his body and soul being gnawed upon by Satan himself for all eternity, along with Brutus and Cassius who conspired to murder Julius Caesar.  In his poem, Dante posits that when someone commits treason, their soul immediately dies and goes to Hell, while the shells of their physical bodies still walk the Earth. He discovers this when he meets a dead soul in Hell who seemed alive and healthy that very day. 

Yes, there are limits to the universe's tolerance for evil, and capitulation to evil, and when the damage done becomes irreversible. And likewise there is a similar point for an individual soul, in which the very idea of redemption no longer even exists in the mind of the one in need of it. They are already far gone. 

You Have A "Way Out"

Only you Senator know where you are in this process. You are conducting this runaway train, and you are the one who holds the handbrake. You could undo much but not all of the damage done by doing one thing. Resign. And go out with a bang. 

Do you want a legacy which is something other than the suffering, hardship and death you've inflicted on women who will be denied abortion services thanks to your packing of the Supreme Court?  Then do this one thing. Resign, and take Donald Trump down with you, before he takes the entire nation down with him. One time, just once, put your nation first ahead of Party, and make an end of Donald Trump. 

You know what he wants and what he's planning. Don't say that you don't, because we know how you lie. Why not stop lying Senator, and make that your new legacy? "The Senator Who Finally Stopped Lying." That could be the title of your Autobiography, if you choose to write one. 

The facts are Senator, Trump has files with dirt on both friends and foes, including you and your wife Elaine Chao. You know what was in those boxes. Trump wants you out as Minority Leader, and if there is a GOP Majority you are as good as gone. You'll never get that position back, because Trump owns your Party and he despises you personally. If you think you have security problems now, wait until Trump really opens up on you on his social media and campaign speeches.  Do you really need all of this at your age? 

Speaking of age, you have, as would be expected, health issues. We know you were on blood thinners. There are likely other things. Why not announce your exit and go out with the old standby "I'm resigning for health reasons and I want to spend more time with my family" blah blah blah...  No one has to know that Trump has files on you. It'll be our secret. You could even do a Press conference with President Biden to reminisce on all of your years together in the Senate. You don't have to endorse him, just appear with him, the message will come through.

Then you can hit the interview circuit, "60 minutes" Jimmy Kimmel, and stick the knife in Trump's back, just like that other "honorable man," Brutus.  You don't have to attack him. Just say you won't vote for him if he's the nominee. Say "I think the Republicans might need to go in another direction." Go on Hannity first, and say it there. Would that be so hard? 

Remember that he hates you. All of the consequences which you fear might result from doing this will happen to you anyway and worse if you stay and keep quiet. You have nothing to lose, he thinks he's a character in "The Godfather" and you are a "loose end." Capish?

If there is any humanity left within you to which I can appeal, I'm doing it now. Do this, and you will not have the thanks of a grateful nation by any means. But you might sleep a little better at night. Think about it. 

Sincerely, Lance Rosen

"The Rosen Report"

@LanceRosenBlog

Addendum

I anticipated what many of you are thinking before even writing this letter, so I thought I would address it. 

I was hoping that the semi-satirical spin would be evident, as I really have no expectation that McConnell will change. However, the idea that he might change is useful as a "self-test" of our own unconscious adaptation to pessimism or cynicism. Even thinking about it calls it all up. 

So I wanted to write this, so I could in effect say to Mitch McConnell those things which others would love to say, but who hate him so much they can't find words. Not having any expectation he might read it, I wasn't writing to him so much, as writing for you all. 

The other thing to keep in mind is that there have been many despicable assholes in history who because of circumstances, be it a sea change in the population, or just being boxed in, have done good and important things despite themselves, even when their motives were selfish. Writing about those people is itself another article. 

So, don't rule anything out as a possibility. We are in a world dynamic which is non-linear, in which the absolutely unexpected can happen. McConnell might want personal satisfaction by taking revenge. He could hurt Trump badly if he wants, even if for the wrong reasons. And I think the prospect of him resigning is not a stretch. 

For Shakespeare fans, think about Buckingham, who helped Richard III conspire and murder his way to the throne. (Albeit the semi-fictional Richard) Richard became paranoid, suspected Buckingham of disloyalty, and broke his promises to endow him with an estate. The deal off, Buckingham defected to Henry and helped depose Richard. 

Sometimes Lady Justice walks through the door sideways, at times you don't expect. We just have to keep the door unlocked to let her in.