Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. In responding to Senator Mitch McConnell’s disinterest in securing urgent relief for millions of Americans last week, Rev. Barber said, “Sen. McConnell’s actions have created misery and mayhem, and they are just plain mean. He has repeatedly given money to corporations while undermining real help for poor Americans and low-wage workers. He blocks living wages, health care, and voting rights. Now he even wants to reduce unemployment assistance during a pandemic.”
Barber goes on, “While he rushed to pass relief bills in the spring that gave 83% of the record investment in recovery to corporations, he is holding up an extended moratorium on evictions for millions who could become homeless, to try to get legal immunity for companies that forced people back to work in dangerous conditions. This is ‘legislating evil.’ He must be held accountable because his actions are dooming the entire country and fundamental human rights for all people.”
[click_to_tweet tweet=”McConnell is holding up an extended moratorium on evictions for millions who could become homeless, to try to get legal immunity for companies that forced people back to work in dangerous conditions. This is ‘legislating evil.’ – Rev. William Barber” quote=”McConnell is holding up an extended moratorium on evictions for millions who could become homeless, to try to get legal immunity for companies that forced people back to work in dangerous conditions. This is ‘legislating evil.’ – Rev. William Barber”]
Constituents are being asked to send Bibles and copies of the U.S. Constitution to McConnell’s office to remind him and his staff that his cruelty toward millions facing hunger, eviction, and unemployment is morally and constitutionally indefensible.
Rev. Dr. Barber added, “McConnell holds up the Constitution and the Bible while trampling on the rights of all Americans. A true relief bill guarantees healthcare and an adequate income, protects housing, water, and utilities, and prioritizes the needs of all people, not just the wealthy and corporations.”
Knowing that Americans are finally seeing these evil ways, McConnell has given Senate candidates permission to distance themselves from Trump, particularly on “his mass-murder approach to the coronavirus and Trump’s continued claims that it’s safe for children to return to school,” says David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer-prize investigative journalist.
I’m reminded of a scene in “Schindler’s List” where Amon Goth, commandant of the Schindler Labor Camp, looks at himself in the mirror and says, “I pardon you” to absolve himself of evil. He then immediately reverts back to his murderous self, finding the young boy he had pardoned earlier in the day for not adequately cleaning his bathtub and kills him.
“I pardon us,” says Moscow Mitch.
McConnell may have “pardoned them” to show “independence,” but that quality has not been on display over the last three years. The Senate Republicans have backed Trump on his destruction of vital alliances, his racism and xenophobia, his unsupported conspiracy theories.
In January, they underscored their support for Trump/McConnell by signing the ultimate loyalty pledge when they refused to remove Trump from office despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt. His impeachable offenses have continued to multiply.
Having refused to call Trump out over any statement, no matter how ridiculous, racist, or fascistic, Trump/McConnell’s sycophants are wedded to those policies.
Now that he has left Washington without any semblance of progress, McConnell better get a Senate bill passed that is close to the House’s Heroes Act. Otherwise, “Misery, Meanness, and Mayhem” McConnell will go down in history, along with Trump and other Republican sycophants, as crippling this 244-year-old American Republic.
No matter how many times he says “I pardon me.”
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