Mitch McConnell has insisted for years that the filibuster is an indispensable element of the American constitutional system, even though it doesn’t appear anywhere in the Constitution itself. The Senate, according to Mitch, is the saucer where hot ideas go to be cooled. Deliberation results in wise moderation, and wild swings in policy are avoided. Democratic attempts to abolish the filibuster must, therefore, be resisted at all costs.
McConnell is now expressing a willingness to abolish the filibuster in order to facilitate a national abortion prohibition, which, of course, tells us that he never really meant any of that stuff about deliberation and wild swings of opinion. What he really meant was that the filibuster prevented left-leaning legislation on social and economic issues, but did nothing to stop GOP tax cuts, so it had value to him as long as Roe was in place. In about a month, that will no longer be true.
Are you surprised?