\n
Comment on this story<\/title><path d=\"M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z\"\/><\/svg><\/p>\n<p>Comment<\/p>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"teaser-content grid-center\">\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">On Tuesday, the venerable Gallup organization reported that just 27 percent of Americans expressed <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/394283\/confidence-institutions-down-average-new-low.aspx\" rel=\"noopener\">confidence in their institutions<\/a> \u2014 the lowest level of trust since the questions were first asked half a century ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">On Wednesday, Mitch McConnell showed us why Americans feel this way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Republican senators <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationaljournal.com\/s\/718109\/senate-republicans-walk-away-from-china-competition-bill\/?unlock=4IWJ4NEB8FXD784G\" rel=\"noopener\">announced <\/a>that, under orders from the Senate Republican leader, they were pulling out of House-Senate talks finalizing details on bipartisan legislation to help the United States compete with China on semiconductor chips.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">It wasn\u2019t because McConnell objected to the China bill; he was one of 19 Republican senators who voted for the Senate\u2019s version. It\u2019s because he objects to a second, unrelated bill Democrats are working on to lower prescription drug prices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">McConnell wants to stop Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), from using a process known as \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/blog\/up-front\/2021\/02\/05\/what-is-reconciliation-in-congress\/\" rel=\"noopener\">reconciliation<\/a>\u201d to pass that prescription-drug bill by a simple majority vote, immune from any GOP filibuster. And to stop Americans from getting cheaper prescriptions, he is willing to sabotage American manufacturers (and therefore assist China) by denying them $52 billion in support under the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">In both cases, Americans lose \u2014 because McConnell thinks it\u2019s to Republicans\u2019 advantage in the midterm elections. He is willing to hurt the country, and help the Chinese, in order to harm Democrats\u2019 political standing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<div tabindex=\"0\" class=\"flex justify-between w-100 pointer b bt pt-xs pb-xs pl-0 pr-0 pr-md border-box font-xxs\" role=\"button\"><span class=\"flex items-center flex-shrink-0\"><\/p>\n<figure aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"hide-for-print mw-100 dib bg-gray-lightest h-auto overflow-hidden brad-50 bw-0 mr-xs\" style=\"width:32px;height:32px\"\/><span class=\"transition-all duration-200 o-100\"><strong>Follow<\/strong>\u00a0<!-- -->Dana Milbank<!-- -->‘s opinions<\/span><\/span><span class=\"flex items-center\"><span class=\"bold mr-xs gray-dark overflow-hidden transition-all duration-200 o-0 gold\">Follow<\/span><span title=\"Follow author\" aria-label=\"Follow author\" aria-pressed=\"false\" class=\"flex items-center transition-all duration-200 o-100\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"content-box fill-gold pointer\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" role=\"img\"><title>Add<\/title><path d=\"M7 7V1h2v6h5.929v2H9v5.929H7V9H1V7h6z\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"db border-box overflow-hidden duration-500 ease-in-out db\" style=\"opacity:0;transform:translateY(-10px)\"\/><span class=\"db b bb border-box mb-sm\"\/><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cLet me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill,\u201d he <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeaderMcConnell\/status\/1542600738823618564?s=20&t=_rU9lyJVzXrfi0tA8jLHRw\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">And let me be perfectly clear: This cynicism has destroyed Americans\u2019 faith in their government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">You can see it in this year\u2019s edition of the annual Gallup poll on 14 U.S. institutions: Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court, the military, business, police, media, churches, schools and more. The average confidence level, 27 percent, has declined from 46 percent in 1989.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Though opinions of individual institutions vary widely among groups, the overall distrust of institutions is universal \u2014 with little variation by gender, age, race, education or even party.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-el=\"text\" class=\"font--article-body font-copy gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Though the economic and political cycles play some role, Gallup\u2019s Jeffrey M. Jones, who led the study, tells me that the declining confidence is more because of a \u201cgeneral idea of government not being able to address the problems facing the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">That\u2019s backed up by other data. Two decades ago, just 5 percent cited the government as the most important problem facing the country. That reached 32 percent for 2019, and has remained at or above 20 percent for the years since then.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">This is no accident. For three decades, as the Republicans transitioned from a limited-government party to an anti-government party, GOP leaders have seen political advantage in undermining Americans\u2019 confidence in their institutions, and in sabotaging the functions of government. That\u2019s a major theme of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3c1cE0v\" rel=\"noopener\">my book<\/a>, out next month, \u201cThe Destructionists: The Twenty-Five-Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">It began with Newt Gingrich\u2019s instructions to Republicans on how to refer to Democrats (and the government) in 1990: \u201cTraitors.\u201d \u201cCorrupt.\u201d \u201cCheat.\u201d \u201cDecay.\u201d \u201cFailure.\u201d \u201cIncompetent.\u201d \u201cAbuse of power.\u201d As the era of government shutdowns, default brinkmanship, hostage-taking, name-calling and mindless obstruction was just beginning, Vice President Al Gore presciently remarked: \u201cThe Republicans are determined to wreck Congress in order to control it \u2014 and then to wreck a presidency in order to recapture it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">McConnell played a major part in the sabotage, and not just with his extravagant intransigence toward legislation and nominees, highlighted by the theft of a Supreme Court seat in 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">In 2009, he <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2010\/feb\/01\/mitch-mcconnell\/mcconnell-reverses-position-conrad-gregg-budget-co\/\" rel=\"noopener\">urged <\/a>the Obama administration to support legislation creating a debt-reduction committee \u2014 and then opposed the legislation after the Obama administration supported it. In 2012, he threw his support behind a majority vote on a debt-ceiling proposal \u2014 and then, when it appeared the bill would pass, he said he would <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/plum-line\/wp\/2012\/12\/06\/dem-unity-forces-mcconnell-to-filibuster-his-own-proposal\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_25\" rel=\"noopener\">block it with a filibuster<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Now, we see the fruits of such labors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">After Republicans\u2019 years of throwing sand in the gears of government, just 7 percent have confidence in the legislature and 23 percent in the presidency. After Republicans\u2019 use of underhanded tactics to secure a highly partisan supermajority on the Supreme Court, just 25 percent have confidence in the high court. After years of Republicans\u2019 attacks on the media (culminating in Trump\u2019s \u201cenemy of the people\u201d formulation) and after the GOP\u2019s fostering of propaganda outlets such as Fox News, just 11 percent of Americans have confidence in television news (16 percent in newspapers).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">They\u2019ve hacked away at public schools (critical race theory! trans athletes!), at the \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2021\/09\/28\/mark-milley-senate-hawley-blackburn\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_30\" rel=\"noopener\">broken<\/a>\u201d military and at the criminal justice system (\u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/a-terrible-and-corrupt-leader-trump-lashes-out-against-comey-after-he-accuses-the-president-of-lying-about-spygate\/2018\/05\/24\/3058a44e-5f4f-11e8-a4a4-c070ef53f315_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_30\" rel=\"noopener\">corrupt<\/a>\u201d FBI and Justice Department leaders) \u2014 and Americans\u2019 trust in those institutions has slipped, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Now, against all odds, Washington is on the cusp of lowering drug prices and boosting U.S. technology over China\u2019s. And so, McConnell, top Senate Republican, steps in to sabotage both.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">It doesn\u2019t exactly inspire confidence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"b bt bc-offblack dn-ns hide-for-print\" data-testid=\"mostRead\" subscriptions-section=\"content\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2022\/07\/08\/republicans-broke-americans-confidence-institutions-poll\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Comment on this story Comment On Tuesday, the venerable Gallup organization reported that just…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learningtheory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33590,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33588\/revisions\/33590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}