Rick Scott Unveils 'Bold and Brash' while McConnell Says it 'Belongs in the Trash'
After the 2020 elections, just a few months shy from the start of the Senate runoff elections in Georgia, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was voted unanimously by his colleagues of the Senate Republican Conference to serve yet another term as GOP leader, his eighth to be exact. In addition, the rising junior lawmaker Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) was elected to serve as chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee (also known as the NRSC). Scott told reporters at the time, "We've got great candidates for the 2022 cycle, we're going to recruit others and we're going to continue to have a Republican majority.” Although the hopes to continue that Republican majority legacy in the Senate swindled into an embarrassing defeat to both Georgian incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue at the time, the GOP has been willing to fight back what was once their majority.
In recent events, McConnell’s way to go about getting back a majority is by following the status quo, and not putting forward an agenda for the 2022 midterms. Maybe McConnell has learned his history, whereby many Senate Republicans were not in favor of endorsing the Contract for America in 1994 because they did not want to work through prior commitments on their agenda priorities once in control. But this isn’t the era of 1990’s TV Guide ads anymore, for so much has evolved.
Rachel Bovard of The Federalist wrote in her January piece that not creating an agenda, and just calling out the other side as ‘bad’ isn’t going to do anything, let alone be of value to new GOP voters. When McConnell was asked by CNN about what would be part of their agenda if they took back the majority, he responded, “That is a very good question and I’ll let you know when we take it back,” continuing “This midterm election will be a report card on the performance of this entire Democratic government, the president, the House, and the Senate.” Such a stance like this can only go so far, and is just another alleyway for leadership to avoid further discussions on the matter.
Bovard argues that McConnell not setting an agenda results in those on K Street and other influential corporations getting the satisfaction they need, establishment Republicans have to recognize that voters are flocking to the GOP due to the ruining of people’s lives by those in the distorted Democratic party. “As more voters turn to Republicans in desperate hope they’ll make the beatings stop, Republicans have to commit to doing it.” She writes, “Simply promising to defend the status quo won’t cut it this time, particularly for new voters who have no long-held attachment to the party.” Even if Republicans were to gain control of both chambers in the next congressional session, it would be a great benefit for them to pass legislation knowing it would get vetoed by President Biden, for it helps voters get the clarification on issues they are facing.
Despite a no-show lacking agenda by McConnell, Bovard suggests Republican Senators can still “rise to the task of actually meeting voter concerns - providing even the most baseline function of a legislative body in letting voters see their concerns addressed, discussed, and considered in the Senate - is a prerogative that sits equally on the shoulders of Republican senators.” In some sense, this shows how vital new ideas are, and anyone should be willing to step up to the plate if they want to help their party try to be forthcoming in the midterms.
The senior senator from Kentucky may not be a populist politician in the slightest, far from it to be exact, but if there is one clue from history that needs to be brought to his attention it’s this: To paraphrase from Bovard, if Senate Republicans were to take over the majority, they must stop setting it on a shelf, and admiring it from afar, only to check off a Beltway-agenda to protect their elite class of incumbent politicians. Such a majority should be used to give hope for new GOP voters, and stand up for them.
One of the most controversial political idols, yet best understood by many Americans, is former President Donald Trump. Without a doubt, his influence is heavy in Republican circles, with some eager to not contribute anything on the record to get into the crosshairs of the celebrity icon, and likely 2024 frontrunner for the party. Yet a handful of senators are careful on how to proceed with Trump, some even trying to back away from him. According to Burgess Everett and Meridith McGraw of Politico, about 20 Republican senators attended a weekend retreat at the Breakers resort, located three miles from the famous Mar-a-Lago. Of the twenty senators, just three met with Trump one-on-one: NRSC Chair Rick Scott (R-FL), including Steve Daines (R-MT), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS). Of those three, it is Scott that holds the importance of not only managing good relations with Trump, a vital part of his job as the campaign arm for the party but helping fundraise for his Senate colleagues as well.
Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) who did not attend the Florida events that weekend, did say Trump continues to represent a bloc of anti-establishment voters. Although it’s publicly acknowledged that Trump may have disdain for McConnell, it may be that the anti-establishment voters want a better leader in the Republican party that represents them in the Senate instead of the agenda-less McConnell. Here’s where the opportunity for Scott arises, only to say he tried, for now. Since no one else was going to set an agenda for Republicans to take back Congress, Scott published his plan instead, even if it grinds the Establishment's gears.
According to Everett, Scott developed a blueprint plan that ran on a wide variety of priorities to focus on: limiting the number of years of government service to 12 (including congressional lawmakers), naming the border wall after the 45th President, becoming energy independent, enacting school choice for parents, and more. Despite a move to put forward an agenda, Scott acknowledged the recent publication is, “important to tell people what we’re going to do,” and that it is separate from his work as NRSC chairman. After all, at the bottom of the 31-page document, it does say, ‘Paid for by Rick Scott for Florida.’
Scott wants to be the man with the plan, as cheeky as that sounds, but it’s a case he’s willing to pursue to open up dialogue amongst what Republicans should get done. “Hopefully, by doing this, we’ll have more of a conversation about what Republicans are going to get done. Because when we get the majority, I want to get something done.” A man of his word he insists, yet Americans know when a politician is lying through their teeth. But here’s the catch, Scott doesn’t play well with establishment politics, and building a relationship with Trump, who is also no big fan of following the rules, maybe his best opportunity yet. After all, Scott knew his plan would strike Republicans with some fear in their heart.
If Kevin McCarthy is planning to release his agenda, why can’t McConnell do the same, or allow someone else to do it? Scott understands there is a “void to fill” in the older, therefore wiser chamber. “We ought to have a plan and what we’re trying to get done when we get the majority,” said Scott. McConnell fixated on the lessons of congressional history is sticking to his plan of not having a plan through and through. On the contrary, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) who is Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) said, “So, if you’re not running on an agenda, you’re not offering anything for the future, for the people in the country.” Scott believes if you were to talk to a normal ‘non-woke’ American family, the items listed in the agenda are what those families think.
Shortly thereafter the plans unravel, it was met with resistance, something Scott himself knows very well about (on that later). In an article by Natalie Allison of Politico, Senate Republicans were wondering why Scott put out the proposal in the first place, especially when it involved a tax increase. The only Senate campaign willing to speak to the network was Rep. Billy Long (R-MO), who backed the junior senator of Florida from his previous years living in Missouri as a young adult, “I agree with former Missourian Sen. Rick Scott that we need a plan before we take back the Senate, and while I agree with 95% of it, this suggested income tax hike is ill-advised,” before noting that President Biden has done more to increase taxes than Scott. As welcoming Long has been for Scott, Long did acknowledge that would be a no vote to any increase of income taxes.
Allison attributes this tax debacle to Mitt Romney’s Achilles heel of his 2012 then-presidential campaign when he spoke about how 47% of Americans paid no income tax. “All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount,” Scott wrote in the plan. “Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax.” Curt Anderson, who is close with the Scott camp and the NRSC suggested the plan was a concept, not an error, or typo for that matter. Using a shopping cart analogy, Anderson explained, “When you get to the point when there’s more people in the cart than pulling the cart in the country, there’s a problem.” Not backing down, he even went on to say how McConnell failed to release a single page of a legislative agenda, only for them to release it if they’d be in control after the midterm elections. Dialing it up to a new level, Anderson suggested American voters outside of the DC Beltway want to know what Republicans will do once in the majority. Who cares if some senate candidates are not impressed by Scott’s platform? As long as “Rick’s attitude is we need to start somewhere and we need to have a plan,” Anderson concluded.
Trump, a man of controversy, also has a strong bloc in his voting base made up of anti-establishment Americans. He sees the potential in Rick Scott because of his ability to reach out to the everyday American families who are talking about the political issues of the day, who are not easily bought into the establishment political correctness agenda snake oil politicians try to sell to get your vote.
From an article by Rachael Bade of Politico, Trump endorsed Rick Scott to run for the top position of his party, “You should run for Senate majority leader,” as given to the outlet by a source close to the details of that exchange. Though noted as ‘treacherous terrain’ by Bade, one may argue that Scott is stuck between a rock and a hard place: both being the two most powerful Republican figures who don’t see much eye-to-eye. Scott, as previously mentioned, does not play along to get along with the establishment’s game.
Bade detailed how Scott somehow rose to politics on his own, running against the establishment. In a governor’s race in Florida back in 2010, the Republican Governors Association, and Haley Barbour the former governor of Mississippi both backed Scott’s primary challenger. A few years later into 2018, ironically the organization he now chairs (NRSC), once refused to help him in his senate campaign against Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, telling Scott that he possibly had to self-fund his campaign. He ended up winning his 2018 senate election by 10,000 votes. And further into Floridian state-level politics, he ran ads in areas where he knew he needed particular officials to get on board to pass his agenda.
Sure, he may have a sour reputation of being a “stubborn loser,” but he doesn’t need the permission from mom and dad of his party, or anyone else to tell him what he should be told to do. Righteously, given an expressive explicit description by a senior Republican official, “Rick Scott doesn’t give a fuck about what McConnell world thinks.” Yet those in the world of Cocaine Mitch believe that Scott should follow his lead, and not get his political ambitions ahead of him. Some critics also note how Scott gave Democrats a field day about the income tax as per his recently published proposal.
Meanwhile, those who back Scott say that it’s all about winning the next election, and not about his political ambition. “McConnell may know about elections, but he’s neither popular among, nor has the finger on the pulse of, base voters.” With Scott in the position as chairman of the NRSC, this allows him to meet with donors and new likely GOP voters. This exemplifies the fact made by those around Scott that he knows what the American people are thinking, better than McConnell. Republican voters are eager to know what their party has in store if they were to win back majority control.
In a matter of days after Scott’s agenda proposal was released, Mitch McConnell was not pleased in any way. Disappointed in the viewpoint that Scott gave ammunition for Democrats to use down into November, Scott stood firm saying how his agenda was not structured to be a statement of party plans, but rather as his role of a rank-and-file senator. Once again by Burgess Everett, and the inclusion of Marianne Levine of Politico, they entail while McConnell wants to keep the blame game on President Joe Biden and the Democrats to achieve a referendum strategy, some in their party want to see an approach to bring a more affirmative agenda.
Just before McConnell was set to speak, Scott rushed out of a press conference, as both authors explained, “The schism played out on into Tuesday at a leadership press conference. Scott exited the event abruptly just before McConnell castigated two of his proposals.” McConnell made it clear to reporters at the time that a bill to raise taxes would not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda. Here’s where things from the minority leader added a bit of heat to the spice, “If we’re fortunate enough to have the majority next year, I’ll be the majority leader. I’ll decide, in consultation with my members, what to put on the floor.”
*Hold up everyone. It looks as if Guy Fieri has entered the chat*
When Scott was pressed in a brief interview after the meeting with McConnell, he wished not to speak further about it, noting that he does not talk about private conversations and more on the fact that “it’s important to tell people what we’re going to do.” His spokesperson Chris Hartline followed up in his defense by saying similar to the remarks previously made by Anderson, whereby Republicans and many Americans outside the Washington bubble “are demanding that we have a plan to turn our country around,” with emphasis on Scott who is “not afraid to start this conversation and will continue talking about his plan to rescue America.” Meanwhile, the authors state that McConnell’s office declined to issue any further comment about the meeting with Scott.
Because McConnell wants to avoid giving out issues for Democrats to complain about, he wants to keep his party focusing on the Big Guy’s low approval ratings, once again being a referendum approach. He may also be backing down from advancing an agenda not only because he doesn’t want members of his party to not work on prior commitments once in control, but the remembrance the GOP failed attempt to repeal Obamacare after campaigning on that platform for many years against it may come to mind.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) who previously served in the position of party whip in the Senate from 2013-2019, had also spent time as a former two-time NRSC chair from 2009-2013, remarked by McConnell after the Tea Party wave in 2010 as, “the best NRSC Senate chair Republicans have ever had.” It doesn’t take long to theorize how both these two may have each other's backs, with Cornyn commenting on Scott’s proposed agenda, “This is not an approach embraced by the entire Republican conference,” further adding “We’re going to keep our focus on inflation, crime, the border and Afghanistan. And some of these other things are things to think about… after the election is over.”
Although not everyone is on board with Scott’s plan, as previously mentioned, Scott did put to light that his plan would strike fear in the hearts of some Republicans. An example would be a tweet made by former Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-IA), who seeks to challenge the classy suit-and-sweater wearer Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), by suggesting Scott's endorsement of term limits, “even the @NRSC Chair is calling for term limits. He called Senators like Chuck Grassley who have sat in DC for DECADES part of the ‘Washington ruling class.’”
When asked about whether Scott's plan would hurt Grassley’s re-election chances, the senior Iowa senator responded, “absolutely not.” Understanding this was Scott’s “own personal ideas,” Grassley continued by saying if Grassley himself can express his views, the ability to do the same can come from Scott too. With some follow-up support to his longtime colleague from Kentucky, he said about the minority leader, “McConnell is putting all of his effort into winning because if we don’t win in November, there isn’t such a thing as a Republican agenda.”
Although not everyone in his party is taken aback by Scott’s proposal, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) commented that while he’s “on board” with his colleague’s plan, members of his party have to be thinking about “a universal plan that we need to sell to the American people.” Meanwhile retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) took a middle-ground approach, suggesting while the name of a border wall is less relevant, completing the southern border, and dealing with border security was on top of the minds of many Americans.
After all this fiasco between Scott and McConnell, Rachel Bovard returned with a new column, voicing her previous remarks, that to get new GOP voters to stick around and expand the base of the party, “you have to tell them what you’re for, what you’re going to do. And then you have to go and do it.” Because no politician wants to work on prior commitments once in control, the establishment status quo despises setting agendas because doing so holds them accountable. When McConnell was asked about Scott’s proposal, responding how he will be the next majority leader, Bovard implied with good reason, “Someone’s feeling touchy.” People are destined to hold onto power and do whatever it takes, even if their ego revolves around a title (like most in DC politics). “Instead of cultivating the creativity and leadership expressed in Scott’s effort, McConnell dismissed it as an affront to his own power,” she later wrote.
Despite McConnell making a big deal over the income tax issue, Bovard points out how the Senate minority leader once supported an income tax parity, telling CBS News at the time in 2012, “Between 45 percent and 50 percent of Americans pay no income tax at all. We have an extraordinarily progressive tax code already. It is a mess and needs to be revisited again.” It was never about the substance of Scott’s agenda, rather it was an attack on McConnell’s position of authority in his Senate Republican conference. “McConnell notoriously rules the Senate - constructed as a body of equals - with an iron fist. Although only when it suits him.”
What once was a leader elected unanimously to serve another consecutive term as the leader for the party in the ever wiser upper-chamber, now looks as if there’s trouble ahead, with that ranging support possibly shrinking. After all, Trump had previously suggested Scott should run for McConnell’s leadership position.
In the conclusion of her piece, Bovard portrays the failure of McConnell to create an agenda for his party in the midterms that made an open door for other senators in his party to lead the way. Scott, who has proven with a detailed plan, achieving results, “should be applauded for his effort.” She continued, “At the end of the press conference in which he trashed Scott’s agenda, McConnell, who has previously said voters will find out the agenda when they re-elect the Senate GOP, was forced to issue the bare outline of one: inflation, energy, defense, the border, and crime.” Such a dull response about these topics was given no thoughtfulness in detail compared to the effort exhibited by Scott. “But right now, it’s all GOP voters have to hang their hat on. And the fact that it exists at all is because Scott saw a leadership breach and stepped squarely into it. Good on him.”
Without a doubt, the ongoing feud between the establishment and anti-establishment movement in the Republican party will never end, but one strong argument is usually made by those who fight against the establishment, aka populists. It is that particular crowd that seems to be forgotten by those in higher political circles, and for a politician to hear their concerns, and act on behalf of them goes a long way. Scott developing good relations with Trump is vital to that populist base bloc inside the Republican party at large.
For now Republicans must take the perspective of focusing one task at a time if they want to win the Senate. Luckily there are two options to choose from: One is agendas-less hoping the enemy will collapse from within (a referendum on the Biden administration), with a leader eager to hold onto political power with an iron fist. While the other has set forth an agenda for all GOP voters to see, eager to reach out to American families getting to know what they are thinking, not following toe-to-toe with the party establishment status quo.
As President John F. Kennedy once said, “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.”