Monday, speaking from Louisville, Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell addressed the protests over the confirmation process of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
Unlike some of his colleagues and the President, McConnell stopped short of stating protesters were paid to protest. However he did say they were clearly "trained" based on how well they did.
In organizing protests, it is common practice to let people know what to expect and what they could and should not do. Many of the most effective protests probably did benefit from shared knowledge.
However McConnell, like his fellow members of the GOP, intended to imply the protesters were not there to express their own views and opinions, but rather were paid to victimize the Republican Party by rich liberal leaders. That narrative dominated statements made by numerous members of the GOP for the last several weeks.
The Congressperson as victim to the voice of their constituents was further emphasized by McConnell's choice of words in his opening statement. He said:
"I couldn’t be prouder of the Senate Republican Conference... we were literally under assault."
"These demonstrators, I’m sure some of them were well-meaning citizens. But many of them were obviously trained to get in our faces, to go to our homes up there. Basically almost attack us in the halls of the capitol. So there was a full-scale effort to intimidate..."
Watch McConnell's comments here.
Considering the reason many people protested—the multiple sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh—the Senate Majority Leader's choice to use the word "assault" to describe his own situation angered many people.
People were not sympathetic to the GOP Senate leader's plight.
Some did not seem to want to hear anything McConnell had to say.
McConnell's claims of being assaulted were not his only statement about reactions to Kavanaugh that did not go over well with the public. On Saturday, McConnell said anger over Kavanaugh would "blow over".
Watch his comments here.
The Senate Majority Leader's current Senate term ends in 2020. McConnell held meetings in June of this year which indicate he intends to run again.
The 2018 midterm elections are slated for Tuesday, November 6.
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