Washington, D.C. — Against the backdrop of protests in over 100 cities, yesterday Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution supporting the constitutional right to peacefully protest and condemning the president’s order to tear gas peaceful protesters outside the White House on Monday night.
While this resolution should have passed without objection, one Senator did, in fact, object.
That was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
On Monday night, President Trump ordered officers to tear gas a peaceful gathering outside White House for the sole purpose of a photo op in front of St. John’s Church. This is the stuff of authoritarian regimes that America once stood up to, condemned, and offered assistance to, in the interest of democracy.
But on Tuesday evening, McConnell apparently thought that was acceptable behavior, so he blocked a resolution that served only to reinforce that we were still, in fact, a nation of laws.
“One has to wonder what Mitch McConnell thinks his job description is because what he is doing now is not exercising the powers of his office in the interest of the American people,” said Joshua Karp of Fix Our Senate. “Mitch McConnell must explain himself and where he feels his duty is to: his corporate donors or the U.S. Constitution.”