Life After RBG: Senator Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell Do Complete 180 on Beliefs For Appointing New SCOTUS, Reportedly Left Their Nuts in 2016

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has flip-flopped his stance on voting in Supreme Court justices at the end of a president’s term. After barely pausing to fake-mourn Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death last week, McConnell (aka Swamp Turtle) is plowing ahead on a floor vote for President Trump’s yet-to-be-announced nominee.

You may recall that in 2016, McConnell denied Merrick Garland (the nominee of then-President Barack Obama) confirmation proceedings, citing the presidential election and the will of the people, blah blah blah.

“Over the coming days, we are all going to come under tremendous pressure from the press to announce how we will handle the coming nomination, ” McConnell said in a letter to Republican senators. “For those of you who are unsure how to answer, or for those inclined to oppose giving a nominee a vote, I urge you all to keep your powder dry. This is not the time to prematurely lock yourselves into a position you may later regret,”

(In case you were wondering how old and crusty McConnell is, the phrase “keep your powder dry” dates back to the 1800s.)

Sen. Lindsey Graham was also opposed to confirming a new Supreme Court justice before the presidential election in 2016. Two years later, in an interview he said, “I will tell you this. If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term and the primary process has started, we’ll wait to the next election. Hold the date.” In a complete 180, he’s now “dead set” on confirming President Trump’s pick before the end of the year.

Politicians lying is nothing new, so why should we care? Because, according to Republican Senator Rob Portman, “Since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposing-party president’s Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year.” But there’s no time like the present, apparently! So much for those silly checks and balances.

“A basic principle of the law — and of everyday fairness — is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment,” Obama wrote in a statement responding to McConnell and Graham’s complete lack of integrity. (Oh, Obama. How we miss you.)

There are only 43 days left until the election. While the rest of us sit around broke AF because the completely useless Congress can’t come to an agreement on another coronavirus financial relief bill, some conservative woman is going to get the biggest job promotion of her life because a couple of old ball sacks without balls decided to make it so. Nice priorities.

Cover Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Staff (Getty Images)

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