Mitch McConnell doesn’t always appear to be the staunchest supporter of conservative values. President Donald Trump hasn’t always felt like the Senate Minority Leader has his party’s best interest in mind.
Likewise, most conservative Republicans would like to see McConnell make a visibly stronger stand against the radically liberal Democrats. In a recent question-and-answer session, McConnell seemed to step away from his guarded demeanor.
McConnell was being questioned ahead of Joe Biden’s upcoming Supreme Court Justice Nomination. But Latino Rebels correspondent Pablo Manriquez immediately tried to play the race card with the longtime Kentucky senator.
It didn’t work. McConnell handled the questions’ direct racial references admirably. Manriquez’s first question tried to goad McConnell. “How many Black women do you have on staff, and how are they informing your decision to move forward with the SCOTUS nomination?”
We’re not really sure if McConnell didn’t hear the question, or if he used the moment to take control of the narrative. Either way, his response to Manriquez was perfect. McConnell shot back, “How many what?”
To further support the idea that McConnell was pulling Manriquez back into his own cleverly laid trap, he repeated, “How many what?” McConnell made Manriquez repeat his senseless question three times.
After a third request, “How many Black women do you have on staff and how are they informing your decision to move forward with the SCOTUS nomination?”, McConnell shot back with a poignant reply.
The most powerful Republican in the Senate fired off, “Yeah, Actually, I haven’t checked. We don’t have a racial quota in my office. But I’ve had a number of African American employees, both male and female, over the years in all kinds of different positions, including speechwriter.”
Question: "How many Black women do you have on staff and how are they informing your decision to move forward with the SCOTUS nomination."
McConnell: "Actually, I haven't checked. We don't have a racial quota in my office. But I've had a number of African American employees." pic.twitter.com/z6e0Cowjkc
— Forbes (@Forbes) February 1, 2022
You can agree to disagree with some of Mitch McConnell’s methods and strategies. However, there is no denying he is a gifted politician. McConnell knows how to deflect when necessary. He’s also gifted at turning a question, one purposefully designed to goad him back on its asker.
McConnell quickly figured out Manriquez’s agenda. He didn’t fall for it. Manriquez was trying to insinuate that unless black women were advising the Senate Minority Leader, he somehow was unfit to handle the impending nomination process for a black Supreme Court Justice.
If not for being so blatantly ignorant, this might have been amusing. But it’s a common strategy of the liberal left. They try to play the race card, even when racial bias has already been introduced by their own liberal ideologues. Joe Biden purposefully triggered the race debate.
He did it with his bigoted proclamation during the presidential campaign. He’s the one who pigeonholed his pick for SCOTUS by bragging that it would be a black woman. This single-minded and predetermined choice, based on skin color and gender, is racist in its own right.
To begin with, by looking around and gauging how many black employees congressional officials have on staff is racist as well. Thankfully, Mitch McConnell immediately saw through Pablo Manriquez’s sham questioning. It’s the overused trap of racism. No one should fall for it.
This appointment is nothing more than a scheme. It’s the old Democrat strategy of infusing racism into everything. Republicans cannot fall for the trick. They must maintain the utmost degree of integrity during the confirmation process.
Conservatives must refuse to address the skin color of the nominee. Republican senators must remain focused on the judicial ideology, not the person. This is a trap that’s so simple to avoid. Mitch McConnell may have helped set an example for his colleagues to follow.
