# Moscow Mitch working on exit strategy?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [March 5, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276 "2021-03-05T16:44:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/1 "2021-03-05T16:44:07Z")

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He might be taking his bat and ball and going home. Not happy being in minority I guess

> **[Mitch McConnell Working With Kentucky Legislature on Senate Exit Strategy](https://theintercept.com/2021/03/04/kentucky-mitch-mcconnell-senator-replace/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=theintercept&utm_source=twitter)**
>
> Legislation informally referred to as the Daniel Cameron Election Bill is moving through the Kentucky General Assembly.

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**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/2 "2021-03-05T17:15:03Z")

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Hopefully, the Daniel Cameron bill doesn’t pass, and the governor, a Democrat, keeps his ability to appoint a successor.

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/3 "2021-03-05T17:16:40Z")

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Now you’ve got my hopes up…

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/4 "2021-03-05T17:17:43Z")

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Half the reason I wanted to see the election more decidedly anti-Trump & Republicans was to repudiate McConnell and get him out of power. If he is thinking of going, that is great news.

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/5 "2021-03-05T21:24:08Z")

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> [@cochrane](#):
>
> Hopefully, the Daniel Cameron bill doesn’t pass, and the governor, a Democrat, keeps his ability to appoint a successor.

What hope can there be of that? According to the article, the Republicans not only control the legislature, but have a veto-proof majority. And furthermore, the idea behind this bill is not a sudden new thing just about MqQonnell, but has been brewing in the legislature for quite some time.

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/6 "2021-03-05T22:33:12Z")

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> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> And furthermore, the idea behind this bill is not a sudden new thing just about MqQonnell, but has been brewing in the legislature for quite some time.

I’m sure there’s renewed interest right now for realpolitik reasons, but the concept in general is a good one, for the same reason that we don’t make the runner up to the Presidential election the vice President.

It’s a bad idea to incentivize people who might want to use violence to remove a legislator and have them replaced with someone from the opposing party. With partisanship running high and a 50-50 Senate, there’s a real risk of an assassination resulting in the change of control of the Senate.

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**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/7 "2021-03-05T22:39:00Z")

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> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> It’s a bad idea to incentivize people who might want to use violence to remove a legislator and have them replaced with someone from the opposing party. With partisanship running high and a 50-50 Senate, there’s a real risk of an assassination resulting in the change of control of the Senate.

Yes, as much as I might fantasize about McConnell dropping dead, things should not work this way.

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**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/8 "2021-03-05T23:07:31Z")

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Apparently in Kentucky the Governor’s veto can be overridden by a majority vote of each legislative chamber. What’s even the point of having a veto, since it presumably took a majority vote to pass the bill in the first place?

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/9 "2021-03-06T00:49:28Z")

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When I first read about the legality of Chao’s expenditures being challenged, my first thought was “Hey, maybe she and Mitch should retire to a country without an extradition treaty!”

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/10 "2021-03-06T00:51:22Z")

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> [@flurb](#):
>
> What’s even the point of having a veto, since it presumably took a majority vote to pass the bill in the first place?

There are a lot of vestigial or cargo-cult government functions in state constitutions that are there to mimic the US constitution without a lot of thought about why they might actually be a good idea. Why have a bicameral legislature, for example (not quite as meaningless, but mostly just another dumb veto point in governing).

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**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/11 "2021-03-06T00:55:48Z")

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> [@digs](#):
>
> When I first read about the legality of Chao’s expenditures being challenged, my first thought was “Hey, maybe she and Mitch should retire to a country without an extradition treaty!”

My first thought was, “Wow. He really _is_ sick!”

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**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/12 "2021-03-06T00:56:50Z")

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My problem with this legislation is that parties, and specifically the current GOP and Democratic Party, are not enshrined with our constitutions, and we should not have laws written that give them constitutional powers.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/13 "2021-03-06T01:05:48Z")

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> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> It’s a bad idea to incentivize people who might want to use violence to remove a legislator and have them replaced with someone from the opposing party. With partisanship running high and a 50-50 Senate, there’s a real risk of an assassination resulting in the change of control of the Senate.

I don’t feel it’s a good policy to appease people because we’re worried they might otherwise resort to assassination.

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/14 "2021-03-06T01:08:52Z")

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That’s not what I said. It’s not about appeasing a group. It’s about removing incentives for bad behavior.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/15 "2021-03-06T01:09:52Z")

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I’m not seeing what the difference is.

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**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/16 "2021-03-06T04:05:42Z")

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McConnell has arguably been the single most important Republican - perhaps the single most consequential political figure in American politics - in the last 50 years. McConnell, unlike Trump and pretty much anyone else, figured out how to make Republicans relevant even when they didn’t have power.

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**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/17 "2021-03-06T04:14:04Z")

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Is mission is complete- the federal bench is full of right wing extremists and his wife got herself rich as DOT secretary. Time to head back to KY and count their money.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/18 "2021-03-06T04:21:27Z")

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> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> Half the reason I wanted to see the election more decidedly anti-Trump & Republicans was to repudiate McConnell and get him out of power. If he is thinking of going, that is great news.

But that would also mean he’s given up on the power struggle with Trump. And while I would hope that a Trump-led party would be doomed since Trump lost the election (and even the people who support him say they’d rather have someone else actually run for office), it very much might not be.

I’d much rather McConnell stay there and keep fighting a civil war inside the party. Or, if the must leave, torch everything on the way out first.

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**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/19 "2021-03-06T04:23:39Z")

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Seriously, he’s not leaving because he’s afraid of anyone; he just doesn’t see the upside of having to wrest the party away from idiots.

I see his departure -if it happens - as a beautiful thing. The Trumpists have the rage to turn America into an authoritarian hellhole but I think they still need McConnell’s brains.

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-mitch-working-on-exit-strategy/937276/20 "2021-03-06T05:06:23Z")

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Appeasing people is giving them what they want in exchange for their agreement to not act violent. Designing a system in which they can’t achieve their ends through violence reduces violence, and you don’t have to give them what they want.

When we got rid of the runner-up Vice President, that wasn’t to _appease_ violent extremists, it was because having a system where supporters of the loser have a big an incentive to murder the winner _is a really bad idea_.

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