Nobody in Washington has had a rougher week than Republican Sen. Rick Scott. In the past seven days, the former Florida governor has been obliquely booed by his own party at the State of the Union address, bombed a television interview trying to defend himself, and had President Joe Biden fly to his home turf to keep wailing away at him.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has clearly loved every minute of Scott’s torment. Scott hasn’t kept it a secret that he sees himself as McConnell’s successor atop the Senate GOP caucus. But time and again, his attempts to position himself have backfired, leaving Scott only worse for wear.
Scott’s political pain is self-inflicted. As part of the “Plan to Rescue America” he released last year, Scott called for sunsetting all federal legislation — including Social Security and Medicare — after five years if not reauthorized by Congress. The 31-page document was released without McConnell’s consent, during Scott’s term as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The schism that formed between them has only grown since, exposing a key difference in how the two men function, and why Scott keeps failing.
McConnell rose to power in the Senate by fighting for something deeply important to him that he rightly realized most voters didn’t care about: campaign finance reform. It was — and is — a deeply unsexy topic, but McConnell saw that the free flow of money would help Republicans keep winning elections. His unyielding stance purposefully drew fire away from his fellow GOP senators on the issue, earning their respect and loyalty as the donations kept coming in.
At the same time, McConnell saw how entitlement reform proposals could backfire politically. Former President George W. Bush began his second term in 2005 by going all in on amending Social Security through a plan that would allow privatized investment accounts to exist alongside traditional accounts. The House GOP insisted that the…
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