I'm not yet ready to call Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a dead man walking. Still, saying the Kentuckian's leadership of Senate Republicans is on life support and hanging by a thread, you bet.
As we reported earlier on Monday, the Senate's much-anticipated so-called "bipartisan" border "security" bill was finally released late Sunday evening. Despite protestations to the contrary from Senate Democrats and Republican Sen. James Lankford (Okla.), one of the bill's architects, the proposed legislation turns out to be just as disastrous as its Republican opponents predicted it would be — make that worse.
Adding insult to injury, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) swooned over Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for his help on the bill: "I have never worked more closely with Leader McConnell on any piece of legislation as we did on this."
Schumer's lauding of weak-kneed McConnell only threw gasoline on the fire of already incensed Republican lawmakers in both chambers of Congress. One such lawmaker was Sen. Mike Lee (Utah), who was already angry with McConnell before the bill was released.
As I reported on Sunday, Lee blasted Schumer and McConnell over their "corrupt approach to legislating."
By by Monday, Lee was even more infuriated, leading him to turn up the heat on McConnell ever higher. In response to a post on X from Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) who reshared comments from Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy, claiming the bill ensured the border "never closes," Lee demanded new Senate Republican leadership:
This feels like an elaborate practical joke.
But it’s not funny. Not one bit.
I cannot understand how any Republican would think this was a good idea—or anything other than an unmitigated disaster.
WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP — NOW
I'll second that — all of it.
As Republican rage continued to grow, Republican Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) fired off a blistering thread on X, calling the border bill "a trap into which some GOP willingly walk" and a "'shiny object' not worthy of further comment beyond immediate burial in the grave." Roy aptly labeled the proposed legislation the "War, Debt, and Open Borders" bill."
Even Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, often dubbed a "RINO" by Republicans who dub such names, has concerns about the bill, saying in a statement:
Now that I have seen [the] text, I have questions and serious concerns.
While Republicans and other patriotic Americans are more than justified in their anger at McConnell over his latest fold-up-like-a-cheap-suit acquiescence to Schumer, it's a bit of a moot point given that Speaker Mike Johnson has adamantly called the Schumer-McConnell dumpster-fire bill "dead on arrival" in the House chamber.
I’ve seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected, and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created. As the lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed: Under this legislation, "the border never closes."
If this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival.
And poor Mitch worked so hard.