Love your writing -- you're very funny and I especially laughed at the "anities" thing. But I can't say I agree -- or, to be exact, I would have agreed 100% as recently as a few months ago, but not now.

Yes, McConnell HAS always run circles around Democrats. And Republicans are so used to following him (there's an image, sheep following a turtle!) and Democrats are so afraid of his stealthy ruthlessness that both sides are behaving as though he hasn't slipped. But he has. And he knows it.

Hubris is the undoing of many a great leader (you can include "bloated with undeserved power" in that group) and it's what has finally gotten Mitch.

As I see it (and I think HE sees it), Mitch was outplayed by Trump, a person he considered not just beneath contempt but beneath even a contempt as icy and withering as his own. Yes, Trump went down -- but he took Mitch with him! After the election, Mitch waited way too long to acknowledge Biden's win, which had the effect of alienating pro-Trump Republicans without scoring any wins among moderate Republicans or the incoming Dems.

But after his public acknowlegment, when he tried to steer the Senate behind him as he's always done, it was still too roiled up with Stop the Steal to cooperate. By then the GOP as a whole was in too much disarray to support Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, so George went blue in the Senate runoff. That bumped Mitch out of his seat, and now he seethes in the minority, looking for opportunities to rise again but his way blocked from every side: by strong Democrats, by seditious/lunatic Republicans, and by an impoverished, post-traumatic public he screwed over during COVID.

He's a better at maneuvering than most of us but finally I think he's out of moves. Trump won't forgive him, but allying with Trump is a losing proposition now anyway. Then again, pushing away from Trump fractures the party further. And without the party, he's nothing.

I feel like he's finally been checkmated.

A comeback is probaly not in the cards for him, and he won't be easy for the party to replace -- fanatic tribalists with his degree of vicious obstinance aren't born every day, lol.

The time between now and 2024 is both too short and too long for Mitch: too short for the GOP to resolve all that's destroying it from within, yet probably too long for him to be of real use as he tries to re-establish his authority.

Anyway thank you for this funny and smart read - it got my day off to a great start.