The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2019

I never lack for candidates to receive my biweekly Ass Clown Awards, and as the 2020 presidential slog gets underway in earnest, the number of potential awardees has exploded across the political spectrum ... and not just in terms of those trying to climb the greased pole of presidential politics. The easiest choice would be simply to anoint Donald Trump every two weeks were he not already the recipient of a lifetime "achievement" award and thus no longer eligible for consideration, but others need the recognition, too.

This week, the churning cesspool of ass-clownery has pushed an amazingly large chunk to the surface, and made the selection a bit easier than usual. I have put on my shoulder-length insulated gloves and skimmed the greasy surface of the pool to draw forth

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2019

and the award goes - for the seventh time - to

Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell (R, KY)

Senator McConnell has well-earned his adopted nickname of "The Grim Reaper" for his role in single-handedly bringing the legislative branch to a grinding halt in the service of a feckless president and a relentless agenda to turn the United States into a conservative dystopia rejected by most Americans.

Since the beginning of the year, Senator McConnell has refused to bring to the Senate floor for debate a single bill passed by the Democratic Party-controlled House; the only actions he has allowed the Senate to take have been the rubber-stamp approval of an assembly line of deeply conservative judges (132, according to a recent count) in the service of his attempt to completely remake the judicial branch of government. He is, of course, famous for his comment in 2012 that his top priority was to make Barack Obama a one-term president, and for his comment this past week that Obama was elected to "pay for the original sin of slavery," and for his shameless hypocrisy - the most glaring example of which came last month when he said the GOP-controlled Senate would confirm a Trump-nominated Supreme Court nominee should a vacancy on the court occur in 2020 (the final year of Trump's term), after refusing to even consider President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016 (the final year of his).

Many years ago I heard a wonderful bit of German army slang that described an inept and useless soldier - "Er ist der Bremsklotz am Siegeswagen der Nation" - "he's the brake shoe on the national victory train." There can be no better description of the role of Mitch McConnell, who has turned the Senate - once known as the world's greatest deliberative body - into a useless sham that exists only to force a fiercely conservative reordering of American government and society.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ... the shame of the Senate and the proudly acknowledged "Grim Reaper" of the legislative branch ... is our Left-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2019 - his seventh such award.

Have a good day. Come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday, because we need the laughs.

More thoughts then.

Bilbo