How GOP leaders broke confidence of Americans
WASHINGTON >> Earlier this month, the venerable Gallup organization reported that just 27% of Americans expressed confidence in their institutions — the lowest level of trust since the questions were first asked half a century ago.
The very next day, Mitch McConnell showed us why Americans feel this way.
Republican senators announced that, under orders from the Senate Republican leader, they were pulling out of House-Senate talks finalizing details on bipartisan legislation to help the United States compete with China on semiconductor chips.
It wasn't because McConnell objected to the China bill; he was one of 19 Republican senators who voted for the Senate's version. It's because he objects to a second, unrelated bill Democrats are working on to lower prescription drug prices.
McConnell wants to stop Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), from using a process known as “reconciliation” to pass that prescription-drug bill by a simple majority vote, immune from any GOP filibuster. And to stop Americans from getting cheaper prescriptions, he is willing to sabotage American manufacturers (and therefore assist China) by denying them $52 billion in support under the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.
In both cases, Americans lose — because McConnell thinks it's to Republicans' advantage in the midterm elections. He is willing to hurt the country, and help the Chinese, in order to harm Democrats' political standing.
“Let me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill,” he tweeted.
And let me be perfectly clear: This cynicism has destroyed Americans' faith in their government.
Though opinions of individual institutions vary widely among groups, the overall distrust of institutions is universal — with little variation by gender, age, race, education or even party.
Though the economic and political cycles play some role, Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones, who led the study, tells me that the declining confidence is more because of a “general idea of government not being able to address the problems facing the country.”
It began with Newt Gingrich's instructions to Republicans on how to refer to Democrats (and the government) in 1990: “Traitors.” “Corrupt.” “Cheat.” “Decay.” “Failure.” “Incompetent.” “Abuse of power.” As the era of government shutdowns, default brinkmanship, hostage-taking, name-calling and mindless obstruction was just beginning, Vice President Al Gore presciently remarked: “The Republicans are determined to wreck Congress in order to control it — and then to wreck a presidency in order to recapture it.”
McConnell played a major part in the sabotage, and not just with his extravagant intransigence toward legislation and nominees, highlighted by the theft of a Supreme Court seat in 2016.
In 2009, he urged the Obama administration to support legislation creating a debt-reduction committee — and then opposed the legislation after the Obama administration supported it. In 2012, he threw his support behind a majority vote on a debt-ceiling proposal — and then, when it appeared the bill would pass, he said he would block it with a filibuster.
Now, we see the fruits of such labors.
After years of Republicans' attacks on the media (culminating in Trump's “enemy of the people” formulation) and after the GOP's fostering of propaganda outlets such as
Fox News, just 11% of Americans have confidence in television news (16% in newspapers).
Now, against all odds, Washington is on the cusp of lowering drug prices and boosting U.S. technology over China's. And so, McConnell, top Senate Republican, steps in to sabotage both.
It doesn't exactly inspire confidence.