Mob Moves To Intimidate McConnell in Wake of RBG's Death, Home Location Posted Online
As 2020 moves into its third act, this annus horribilis has thrown us one of the most contentious plot points it possibly could in a year that’s seen a pandemic, racial strife, economic desolation and widespread rioting: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.
In 2016, when Antonin Scalia died, Democrats and the left insisted the Republicans who controlled the Senate entertain the nomination of Merrick Garland to the position. Republicans refused, invoking the Biden rule — proposed by then-Sen. Joe Biden in 1992 and widely considered among the general public to be more of a loose doctrine — that Supreme Court vacancies not be filled during an election year.
In 2020, Democrats are now insisting Senate Republicans follow the Biden rule. Republicans, meanwhile, have previously noted that in both 1992 and 2016, the Senate and the White House were controlled by different parties.
This year, the GOP controls both — and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed the belief that this means the Biden rule is moot.
Clearly, then, Democrats are about to put pressure on Mitch McConnell. And they’re going to do it in the most 2020 of ways: sending a mob to Mitch McConnell’s house.
According to the Louisville Courier Journal, demonstrators gathered for “rally” outside of the Kentucky senator’s Louisville home on Saturday.
“Protesters lined the streets the next day in front of the senator’s home in the Belknap neighborhood shortly after noon, chanting ‘Hey hey, ho ho, Mitch McConnell has got to go’ and ‘vote him out’ as several passing drivers honked and waved support,” the paper reported.
Ah yes, “vote him out.” It’s a sexennial tradition for liberals to view McConnell’s seat as up for grabs only to discover, after expending much effort and capital trying to flip Kentucky blue, that they had no shot.
The process has repeated itself this year as McConnell’s Democratic opponent, Amy McGrath, was seen as a promising challenger by the left, only to find herself behind by double digits in polling; the seat is rated as “Likely GOP” by RealClearPolitics.
“I’m disgusted that Senator McConnell would treat this opportunity in a complete different manner than he treated the opportunity when there was a vacancy when Obama was nine or 10 months away from the election,” Laura Johnsrude told reporters.
“I’m not surprised, but I am disgusted. I think that’s appalling.”
This woman, Laura Johnsrude, has a sign quoting Mitch McConnell from 2016. She said she is “disgusted” but is “not surprised” by his statement. pic.twitter.com/Aiuab2RIkh
— Hayes Gardner (@HayesGardner) September 19, 2020
Even though the process of demonstrating outside of a politician’s home sounds minatory on its face, the Courier Journal made it look like an exercise in participatory democracy. To be fair, Laura Johnsrude sounds like a relatively reasonable individual. She’s wrong, but reasonable, even if the very act of crowding outside a politician’s home is by nature intimidatory.
The question is how many of these individuals fall into that “reasonable” category.
Activist Charlotte Clymer, not long after learning Ginsburg had died, decided she was going to head to McConnell’s Washington, D.C., residence to protest.
We’re now walking to Mitch McConnell’s house to protest.
— Charlotte Clymer ?️? (@cmclymer) September 19, 2020
WARNING: Some of the following tweets contain vulgar language that some viewers will find offensive:
Not only that, she gave out the location of his D.C. residence. Unfortunately, after instructing her followers to head to his place of residence, she discovered he wasn’t there.
Protesting outside of people’s houses is implicitly threatening, not only telling the target of the protest that you frown upon their political ways but also coming with the unspoken statement, “I know where you live.”
This is also problematic because the left isn’t necessarily taking Ginsburg’s death in the most rational of ways. Here’s former CNN host Reza Aslan demonstrating yet again why he’s described as a former CNN host:
If they even TRY to replace RBG we burn the entire fucking thing down.
— Reza Aslan (@rezaaslan) September 19, 2020
So, fair, that’s just Reza Aslan Reza Aslan-ing.
Except this kind of thing isn’t just him, as political strategist Brian Dean Wright explained:
As protestors march on Mitch McConnell’s home, Democrats are promoting a fundraiser.
It’s called “Get Mitch or Die Trying.”
They’ve raised over $5M. pic.twitter.com/wnPSytJ2id
— BDW (@BryanDeanWright) September 19, 2020
Yes, I understand: Rapper 50 Cent’s breakthrough album was called “Get Rich or Die Tryin’.” That album was released in February 2003, so congratulations on a pop culture reference that’s less than a half a year away from being old enough to vote.
Congratulations, too, on invoking a pop culture reference that has the whiff of violence about it at a point in our nation’s history where maybe, just maybe, that shouldn’t have been a go-to.
And just to prove the point, here’s Robby Starbuck with a compilation of Democrats going crazy over the possibility of Ginsburg being replaced before Election Day:
It’s important for us to be aware that this is where many Democrats are mentally now. Remember this going forward. pic.twitter.com/C6u2pXgayb
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) September 19, 2020
McConnell has made it clear he intends to move forward on replacing Ginsburg.
“Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary,” the Senate majority leader said in a statement Friday night. “Once again, we will keep our promise. President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
The Senate and the nation mourn the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the conclusion of her extraordinary American life.
My full statement: pic.twitter.com/NOwYLhDxIk
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 19, 2020
I understand the rage this engenders on the left. Then again, as a very prominent Democrat once pointed out, elections have consequences.
Trying to defer those consequences via the politics of intimidation isn’t a viable form of politics at all. It’s mob rule.
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