Jen Psaki weighed in on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to leave his post later this year by describing the “real legacy” he leaves behind.
The MSNBC host, a former Biden White House press secretary, took a “bit of a deep dive” into McConnell’s “unwavering devotion to winning and winning at any cost” Sunday.
She started with his support of campaign finance reform in the 1970s.
“[He was] denouncing the cancer of the corrupting influence of money and politics, only to do a complete 180 in the U.S. Senate, where he became instrumental in opening up our politics to the flood of special interest dark money,” said Psaki.
She also noted he once was a defender of the Voting Rights Act, which he had described as a “landmark piece of legislation” in 2006.
“And yet, McConnell has blocked all attempts to rebuild the law after conservatives on the Supreme Court, of course, gutted portions in 2013,” Psaki said.
“This all adds up” for the Kentucky Republican, Psaki said, arguing that McConnell realized that opposing campaign finance reform “would mean raising far more unrestricted money” that could help him politically and that “suppressing the vote might help Republicans win elections.”
She later referred to him having “stonewalled” President Barack Obama’s appointment for Supreme Court justice in 2016 and seeing former President Donald Trump as the “means to an end” when it comes to filling federal courts with conservatives.
Psaki described McConnell as leaving his post in a “diminished” state. She added that there’s been a lack of action on new Ukraine aid “despite his insistence” and the inability to pass a bipartisan border bill.
“And yet despite all that McConnell thinks about Trump, which we know, he’s already said that if he is the Republican nominee he will support him,” Psaki said.
“And that’s the real legacy of Mitch McConnell: a cynic focused on power only to be swallowed by the monster that he enabled to obtain it.”