Samantha Bee counts the ways Mitch McConnell is ruining American democracy

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Full Frontal)

President Trump's loyalty to Fox News "is the closest thing he's ever had to a monogamous relationship, but his marriage to Fox must be growing stale, because last week he cheated on them with ABC's chief news sprite George Stephanopoulos," Samantha Bee said on Wednesday's Full Frontal. But "while Trump is openly saying that he thinks it's fine for foreign powers to meddle with our elections, the Senate is making sure there's nothing standing in the way of a good meddle." Well, one senator in particular.

"Of course Mitch McConnell is blocking election security bills, just like he spent years stalling health aid for 9/11 first responders," Bee said. "McConnell's so good at blocking things he's like the kidney stone of the Senate," or "the dry rot of Democracy. If our institutions seem like they're on the verge of crumbling, Mitch is the guy who gnawed away at the foundations." But "McConnell's awfulness gets only a fraction of the attention Trump's awfulness gets," she said, and that's not right.

Bee walked through McConnell's Senate history, from moderate Republican to the dull "genius" who weaponized the filibuster. Thanks to his unprecedented filibustering of President Barack Obama's judicial nominations, she said, "at least 89 judgeships that were President Obama's constitutional right and duty to fill have instead been filled by President Trump. We'll be feeling the consequences of that for decades. In 2050, when my granddaughter gets jailed by Judge Kid Rock for brewing bathtub Plan B, she will have McConnell to thank." And yes, she covered Merrick Garland.

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Long before McConnell "was blocking efforts to secure the 2020 election, he was blocking efforts to secure the 2016 election," Bee said. "He made us go soft on Russia because his side was benefitting. I'd ask how he can show his face after betraying America like that, but honestly, I've also wondered how he showed his face before he did that." Along with insult comedy there's also NSFW language. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.