• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    1 day ago

    years from now, history will look back on the likes of Schumer and Jeffries as the most pathetic, cowardly human beings we may have ever seen in Congress

    I mean, I’d like to believe that. But does anyone look back at Tip O’Neal or Tom Daschle this way? Does anyone remember these guys at all? Even someone as relatively recent and memorable as Ted Kennedy or historic as Goldwater get drowned out in the deluge of the modern moment.

    I don’t think anyone is going to be talking about Schumer or Jeffries or McConnell or Johnson in something more than a footnote. Maybe Gingrich will get a nod, if only for the degree to which he self-branded and then flopped on his face - a sort of modern day Henry Clay in that regard. But Trump kinda sucks all the oxygen out of the room. It’s like asking who the House Speaker was during the Nixon administration.

    • qarbone@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Mitch has been the (public) headliner for the Republican for a long time. It might not be in high school textbooks but history will make a note of the Republican party he led.

        • qarbone@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          3 hours ago

          None, but I’m not a historian or even interested in history beyond the broad strokes. I’m not saying Mitch is gonna be as recognizable to the uninformed as “Julius Caesar” or even “Che Guvera”. But I’m sure historians (who focus on America) could tell you the majority leaders during similarly fraught periods of history.

          There’s a difference between “historians know this guy” and “historians would have to research if he existed”. McConnell will be the former.