While we’d love to be reporting that “Moscow Mitch” is a slick new Russian rapper you’ve got to keep on your radar, the reality is that the nickname belongs to the loathsome Mitch McConnell for doing all that he can to abet Russian interference in our elections.
For the past several months, Moscow Mitch has blocked bills that would create tighter electoral security, despite repeated protests from senators on both ends of the political spectrum. Just recently, he asserted that what’s been brought to him are “highly partisan” bills “from the same folks who spent two years hyping up a conspiracy theory about President Trump and Russia,” per the Salt Lake Tribune.
In Robert Mueller’s latest dispatch, he warned that Russia was actively interfering in the latest election and, yet again, McConnell has blocked more bills, leading many to argue that he’s all but a Russian plant. Thus, Moscow Mitch was born.
Needless to say, he doesn’t like the nickname, which is quickly catching on. Julian Castro called him by that name in Wednesday night’s debate, #MoscowMitch trended on Twitter and publications like the New York Times are referring to him by the name. Per MSNBC, Moscow Mitch calls the nickname “modern-day McCarthyism,” seemingly forgetting that he was a central voice in the “Lock her up” chants of 2016.
Will Moscow Mitch’s nickname change his terrible politics? Probably not. Has it given us Twitter fodder to numb the pain of his ineptitude? It sure has.