A letter of apology to Mitch McConnell

From a caring Democrat.

Dear Senator McConnell,

I am not a prominent figure in the Democratic Party, but if it were left to me to talk on their behalf, I would say to you these simple words:

I am sorry.

When Democrats advocated for a bipartisan commission to investigate the mob attack on the Capitol on January 6th, we, along with many of your fellow Republicans, thought it best for the nation to get to the truth. Honestly, we actually were quite confident that you would agree. As you said soon after voting against President Trump’s impeachment, the attack was on democracy itself, and that the guilty parties must be brought to justice. I have no concern about whether or not you still agree. In fact, I am sure you do.

What we did not consider — and we should have — was how unfair we were to ask you to help. A bipartisan commission — our elected officials united in an effort to reach the truth — is just too hard for someone like you now.

Senator, yours is a career built on winning elections and gaining power, but we should have seen that you had already begun your retreat. That was in plain evidence in how you sided with President Trump so regularly in the past four years. You turned to this wildly dangerous, delusional, anti-democratic martinet of a President to make you feel relevant again. The price, of course, was having to accept Donald Trump’s terms on most everything, and I’m sure you would agree the price was too high. But your mistake was understandable. You evaluated yourself as the stronger version of yourself that prevailed so many times in the past, and you thought you could contain him. Who could expect you to see yourself as the weakened, addled man that you have become? This was truly out of your hands.

This is not to say you did not get many things right in the end. For that, I must compliment you. Once powerful men like yourself who find themselves in a state of decline often turn to their wives for strength, and I am sure that worked well. I have no doubt that your wife, part of the Trump cabinet, was a critically valuable resource. You learned what you needed to from her, and she helped you understand how much you had to lose if that commission was formed. I am sure you thanked her.

I would also acknowledge the humility you summoned in those dark, desperate moments before the vote, when you found yourself begging for a “personal favor” from the Senators you once commanded so easily. There is no comparison between those short episodes of personal humiliation and the far worse loss of stature you would have had to confront as Republicans lose the next elections. There was no being too careful about that at this point. You needed to grab onto all you could and you had very few options left.

Going forward, I have absolutely no problem with you staying in your leadership position until those final days. We want to help you, actually, and at this point, you need the help. We will loosen the grip the former President has on Washington, and we will not leave you out. We cannot grant you any greater influence than you have now, as the most important matters facing the country are now best left to people who can handle them, but we can provide some relief to you by lifting Donald Trump off your shoulders. I have no doubt that you will experience deep feelings of helplessness and resentment as your legacy becomes entombed in history, and after we made it all worse for you, we will try our best to atone and give you encouragement. Our door will be open to you.

I repeat to you, Senator: I am sorry, so very sorry. You did not lose your principles — we know this. It all came down to a matter of resource. We will not blame you for having limits. The Democratic Party was totally inconsiderate in what it asked, and to request a politician like yourself, now in obvious decline, to do what was right for the country at the possible expense of a career setback was simply out of line. Again, I am not a prominent Democrat, but I will urge my representatives in Washington to go light on you now. We must now allow you your space to grieve the inevitable. I sincerely hope they will not come to you for something so big as this again.

Sincerely,

Jim Campbell — a Democrat who cares.