Through his actions in 2016, “Mitch McConnell brought about the election of someone who, in almost every particular, he deplored,” conservative columnist George Will says in this excerpt from the new FRONTLINE documentary "McConnell, the GOP & the Court."
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Among those actions: Blocking any Senate consideration of then-President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee after Justice Antonin Scalia died months before the 2016 presidential election — and later placing his support behind Trump, framing Scalia’s Supreme Court seat as a central issue, as this excerpt explores.
“There was a lot of skepticism on the right of what Donald Trump was, and holding that Supreme Court seat open just as a political matter reminded Republicans, we can’t leave to chance that Hillary Clinton might put a liberal on the court,” Scott Jennings, a McConnell political adviser, says in the excerpt.
“McConnell, the GOP & the Court” traces the path to power of an unlikely political leader who has dramatically reshaped the Supreme Court — and whose decisions helped usher in an era of deep polarization in both the U.S. and the Republican party.
"McConnell, the GOP & the Court" premieres Tues., Oct. 31 on PBS and on YouTube: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/mcconnell-the-gop-the-court/
“McConnell, the GOP & the Court” is a FRONTLINE production with the Kirk Documentary Group. The director is Michael Kirk. The producers are Michael Kirk, Mike Wiser and Vanessa Fica. The writers are Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser. The reporter is Vanessa Fica. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; Park Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. Funding for “McConnell, the GOP & the Court” is provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation.