Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is accusing Democrats of wanting to dismantle the United States’ institutions and replace them with more liberal policies.
On Thursday, McConnell released a statement urging Republicans “to confront the Democratic Party’s willingness to threaten our governing institutions themselves.”
Describing protesters as “far-left mobs” and Democratic lawmakers as “far-left politicians,” McConnell offered examples of how he feels Democrats’ advocation for change is a threat to the country’s governing institutions.
“So, while we have far-left mobs attacking statues of our Founding Fathers from coast to coast, we have far-left politicians attacking the institutions they left us,” McConnell said.
The Kentucky lawmaker noted the latest Democratic push to end the Senate’s longstanding legislative filibuster as they advocate for more seats on the Supreme Court.
“Just days after Democrats used the filibuster power to block Senator Scott’s police reform bill, even colleagues who recently defended this important tradition have bowed to the pressure to flirt with ending it,” McConnell said.
The Stonewall Jackson statue in Richmond Virginia has been removed. pic.twitter.com/cwY1f8IMmo
— Goad Gatsby (@GoadGatsby) July 1, 2020
The Senate leader went on to suggest that there is “entire political movement” ready to abandon the “rulebook.”
“We have an entire political movement that is telling us out loud they’ve lost patience with playing by the rules and may well declare war on the rulebook itself,” McConnell said.
McConnell also expressed concern about “radicals” tearing down the “likenessess” and “legacies” of the Founding Fathers as he stressed the importance of preserving the “gifts and the institutions we celebrate.”
“We cannot let radicals tear down their likenesses… or their legacies. We must preserve the gifts and the institutions we celebrate so our grandchildren and their grandchildren can celebrate them as well.”
McConnell’s statement comes amid heightened, racially-charged protests against police brutality, racial inequality, and systemic racism.
Many of the controversial statues that have been removed are considered vestiges of racism commemorating the legacy of the Confederacy.
