The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America

Historian and lawyer Shapiro (Broken) argues in this blistering if familiar takedown that Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has prioritized his own career and the Republican agenda above America’s interests. Though the “democratized” Senate of the 1960s and ’70s “met the challenge of history” by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and investigating Richard Nixon’s role in the Watergate break-in, today’s Senate Republicans are committed solely to obstructing Democrats and toeing the party line, according to Shapiro. He delves into McConnell’s efforts to stop the passage of the Affordable Care Act, prevent President Obama from appointing a Supreme Court justice after Antonin Scalia’s death, and oppose “blue state bailouts” during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Showcasing McConnell’s willingness to compromise his own beliefs and the country’s security to achieve political goals, Shapiro notes that McConnell voted to acquit former president Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot, despite declaring at the impeachment trial that Trump was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.” Though he doesn’t break much new ground, Shapiro draws an incisive portrait of McConnell and credibly concludes that he and his fellow Republicans have broken the congressional system. This forceful critique hits home. (May)