| MITCH, PLEASE! How Mitch McConnell Sold Out Kentucky (and America Too) Matt Jones with Chris Tomlin New York: Simon & Schuster, March 2020 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
|||
| ISBN-13 978-1-9821-4204-9 | ||||
| ISBN-10 1-9821-4204-9 | 500pp. | HC | $27.00 | |
There are one hundred and twenty counties in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In order to understand how the 36-year career of Senator Mitch McConnell had harmed his home state, Matt Jones enlisted the support of his lifelong friend Chris Tomlin as travel companion and set off on a road trip to visit all of them — in the process getting to know why so many Kentuckians who disliked McConnell nevertheless returned him to office term after term.
The road trip was also part of Matt Jones's process of deciding whether to run against McConnell in 2020. Well-known and popular in the state, Jones is a sportscaster and the founder of Kentucky Sports Radio (KSR). His rural, eastern-Kentucky origin and his rapport with rural folks gave him a leg up in appealing to them — as opposed to voters in the solidly Democratic big cities. He had a real shot at winning — if he had gotten the support of the Democratic Party. There were obstacles in his way to that goal, which he describes in the book. He won Chuck Schumer's approval, but in the end Schumer chose to stick with Amy McGrath.
It's a hot, sticky summer day in a city park in Stanton, Kentucky, and an elderly man in a flannel shirt is giving me the what for on all things Mitch. "I don't like Mitch and I don't know how anyone could. He's a weasel and we gotta get him out of there!" We are at the Powell County Democratic "Rally 'Round the Rooster" event, a yearly celebration for local Democrats. The event is filled with a disappearing breed, rural blue-collar Democrats, a group that once dominated Kentucky politics that now see their ranks thinning with each passing year. These folks are in desperate need of good news and have come for a sweaty mix of politickin', hot dogs, and homemade potato salad. The Kentucky governor's election is just a few months away, and this large crowd is ready for change—not just in that race, but also another a little more than a year away. The man continues, "Here's the thing, Matt, we can beat Mitch. We can. But we can't be running these people from the big cities like Louisville and expect them to come and be able to talk to people out here in the country. We tried that. It don't work. Everybody in this state knows McConnell is awful. But they ain't gonna just vote for anybody. They might vote for you, though!" I am here, in part, because I am considering a run against Senator Mitch McConnell in 2020. It's admittedly a ridiculous notion. McConnell is the second most powerful man in the country, spending his days ruining America's democracy. I am a forty-one-year-old sports radio host who spends his days entertaining tens of thousands of Kentuckians by debating whether John Wall or Kyle Macy was the better former University of Kentucky (UK) basketball point guard. It isn't the normal biography of a United States Senate Candidate, but defeating McConnell in this deep-red state is goind to take something out of the ordinary. I came to Powell County to give my first political speech as a potential candidate. All the big Democrats in Kentucky are here, each trying to energize the crowd. As I await my turn to speak, a line of locals comes over to say hello. They all tell me they love my show, are big fans of UK basketball, and "hate Mitch worse than anything." They aren't alone. – Pages 1-2 |
The book, therefore, gives us a uniquely personal travelogue of Kentucky. Each chapter leads off with a short introduction and a county-lines map of the state; the subject counties of that chapter are highlighted in gray. Matt and Chris show us lots of small-town restaurants and shops, lots of talk with small-town people, lots of descriptions of local festivals and outstanding scenery and, usually, an overview of the county's demographics, economy, history, infrastructure, or politics. That aspect of it is fascinating. But it also makes the book a long slog.
The other thing the book does very well is to expose McConnell's many defects as a public servant. However, it does this in "dribs and drabs" as the travelers encounter circumstances relevant to those defects: a public school system that McConnell failed to support, small farmers he sold out in favor of "big ag," military veterans he ignored, and so on. Interspersed with descriptions of the many towns and cities visited, these revelations about Kentucky's long-time senator make up a relatively small portion of the narrative.
Mitch McConnell is not an easy dude to get riled up. He is notorious for his ability to maintain his composure, rarely showing emotion. Which is why Kentucky Democrats take such glee in the anger plastered on his face every time he is called 'Moscow Mitch." He became so enraged at the the phrase that as #MoscowMitch was trending across the United States, he said, "It's an effort to smear me. You know, I can laugh about things like the Grim Reaper, but calling me Moscow Mitch is over the top." Naturally, his statement only made him say it more. – Page 298 |
Here's a condensed version of the events that gave rise to the moniker. The city of Ashland in Boyd County was home to the Ashland Works, a facility of ARMCO: the American Rolling Mill Company.1 The plant supplied thousands of good jobs from the 1920s through the early 1990s. In 2016, Braidy Industries announced a plan to base an aluminum rolling mill company in Boyd County, with the actual mill next door in Greenup County. The plan was popular thereabouts, and earned the blessing of Governor Matt Bevin. But rounding up the $1.7 billion in financing proved difficult. Knowing how much McConnell wanted the plant, the Kremlin saw an opening. Oleg Deripaska, head of massive aluminum firm Rusal, offered to invest. Deripaska was under U.S. Treasury sanctions, and a movement began in Congress to quash the deal. But McConnell managed to defeat it. The details are complicated; See the first two sections of Chapter 8. Suffice it to say that McConnell fully deserves the moniker "Moscow Mitch."
A few of the behaviors by "Moscow Mitch" that the author mentions:
This by no means completes the list. I've omitted McConnell's ties to NRA money (possibly another aspect of The Russian Connection), his push for Brett Kavanaugh and other conservative judges (and blocking of Merrick Garland), his 2010 vow to make Barack Obama a one-term president, his current suspension of hundreds of bills passed by the House, etc., etc.2 You should turn to other books to get the full picture.
To sum up, this book accomplishes two things very well: showing us present-day Kentucky as a state beset by problems but filled with hidden gems (places, institutions, and people); and effectively revealing the manifold flaws of its senior Senator. I found it fascinating, but, with its 450 pages of text presenting very detailed pictures, also a long slog. Fortunately, its structure lets the reader easily take it in bite-sized chunks. Its sources are well documented and it has a good index. There are very few errors of fact or grammar. I'll give it a top rating and consider it a must-read.
The big picture is indeed concerning. But the testimony presented here by Matt Jones bolsters faith that given a few changes at the top, things will — not without much hard work, it is true — quickly begin to improve. We all need to hold on to that faith. Accordingly, I'll let Matt Jones have the last word.
"The Washington Mitch McConnell has helped create is a different world. Mitch once bragged about being the "guardian of gridlock" and expressed early in Obama's presidency that his most important goal was to make Obama a one-term president. That political world, where each day's goal is to win a never-ending political bloodbath, and victory is achieved only by destroying the other party, is the preferred living place for McConnell and it is being mirrored online by the greater citizenry. One trip to Facebook and you are sure to see someone ranting about the "liberals ruining America." But when this same person actually encounters one of those liberals, the angry online rhetoric usually disappears, and the regular hospitality shines through. "Our political lives in America are increasingly acted out on social media, where the most rabid of partisans channel their inner Mitch McConnell and root for members of their party to be as vicious as possible to those on the other side. But I think in real life, most Americans want leaders like Shorty Tomlinson: focused on getting the Interstate expanded and helping end traffic woes in their communities. Compromise and cohesion over vicious partisanship. I still think America will take a Shorty over a Mitch any day. – Pages 130-131 |
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.