The McConnell era has been terrible for American politics

McConnell has carried over that focus on discrete partisan victories to his tenure as leader. He counts votes and secures them, and he uses the rulebook to achieve narrow victories, but when it comes to policy—the substance of legislation—he’s a cypher whose only real guidestar seems to be the maintenance of political power.

That’s true even of his two most consequential victories: the confirmations of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Gorsuch’s vacancy existed only because McConnell refused for most of a year to hold a vote on President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland. Keeping the seat open not only let Trump nominate a replacement, it created pressure on Trump-skeptical Republicans during the 2016 election by providing a strong reason for them to vote against Hillary Clinton. Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were confirmed with a simple majority after McConnell ended the minority party’s ability to filibuster Supreme Court nominations.

The same pattern applies to the GOP’s two biggest legislative initiatives during Trump’s first year in office: Obamacare repeal and tax reform.