Editor's Note: Steve Schmidt is one of the founding members of the Lincoln Project. He is a communications and public affairs strategist who has worked on several Republican campaigns, including John McCain's 2008 bid for the White House, and he is now a regular political contributor to MSNBC.
On Saturday night, Schmidt responded to Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell's hypocritical promise to ram a new Supreme Court nominee through the Senate on his Twitter feed over 7 tweets. MaxNewsToday has assembled these tweets and reprinted them as one op-ed for our ongoing segment, Schmidt Storm. His tweetstorm has been edited for clarity. Democracy in this country, it seems, is far more fragile than I ever imagined. Trump’s constant undermining of the integrity of the election process -- through direct and repeated statements -- that a result which repudiates him is evidence of fraud and a stolen election, is a monumental betrayal of his oath of office, a desecration of our ideas and ideals, and a savage act of ingratitude toward the generations of American patriots who shed blood so that: “We the people ....” could live in liberty and chart our own destiny.
Democracies are fueled by faith and belief. The people must have faith and belief in the legitimacy of the system. This includes the people who vote for the losing candidates or party.
The continuation of the American experiment is dependent on this. Mitch McConnell is a political nihilist. Power for him is zero sum. Our founders placed great emphasis on the qualities of restraint in the arguments that abounded our national beginning.
Restraint is a necessary virtue in a democracy, as is wisdom. Wisdom would dictate a stepping back from the line of conflict in this country and showing restraint from the unprincipled, hypocritical and divisive act of Majoritarianism that McConnell is advancing.
McConnell bears great responsibility for breaking the institution of the Senate. His acts will break the Supreme Court by shattering the faith and belief of the American people in the fairness and equity of the system.
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean it should be done. McConnell’s abuse of power will have massive negative consequences. It will be interesting to watch how many Republican Senators will take that final ignominious step and fully become members of a rubber-stamp Politburo.
How many will insist on a process of confirmation that isn’t rushed, hackneyed and simply a Potemkin side act in Trump’s malignant reality-show presidency? Soon we will find out. It is all on the line. Vote.