As Sen. Mitch McConnell bids adieu to a national scene he has managed to muck up over the past 40 years, a bevy of upper chamber wannabes are lining up to complete the job of murdering American exceptionalism.
The long-anticipated declaration that he was taking a powder after seven terms in DC had barely parted McConnell’s lips before the jockeying began to replace him, with former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, no stranger to unbridled ambition and coming off a decisive loss to Democrat Andy Beshear in the 2023 governor’s race, announced that he is the man for the job. He made it official on X, posting a photo of himself with his wife and their two adorable children.
“I’m going to be the type of senator that stands up for your constitutional rights and is going to support President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda,” Cameron said in a campaign video.
It apparently never occurred to Cameron that supporting Trump’s America First agenda and standing up for constitutional rights are contradictory goals. Oh well.
If Cameron thought that immediate announcement would somehow scare off challengers, he was sadly mistaken. Rep. Andy Barr (R-Lexington), who has been angling for this job since heck was a pup, has made it known that he is seriously considering the run “because it’s time,” whatever that means, and posted on X mug shots of him and President-cum-Dictator Donald J. Trump side-by-side.
“As I’ve said before this announcement, I am considering running for Senate because Kentucky deserves a Senator who will fight for President Trump and the America First Agenda,” Barr said on X. “I’ve done that every day in the House and would do so in the Senate. I’m encouraged by the outpouring of support, and my family and I will be making a decision about our future soon.”
Ah, Andy, the walking, talking rubber stamp. No use sending someone with a brain to Washington. Just fit him with a short skirt and a pair of pom-poms and follow orders.
Then there’s some dude named Nate Morris, a Lexington businessman who has never sought public office before, maintaining that, according to WDKY-TV, “I think President Trump needs less of these weak career politicians running for office and more outside businessmen who are going to fight for his America First agenda.”
America First. Uh-huh.
But wait, there’s more! Rep. Thomas Massie (R-SomewhereOrOtherLewisCounty) might be talking himself into a campaign, thus leaving a safe seat in the House, potentially moving from a chamber where 434 other lawmakers despise him to one where only 99 would do so. But the biggest dark horse stands to be Scott Jennings, formerly of Dawson Springs, the overly glib CNN right-wing face man who mouths Trump platitudes as often as he blinks his eyes.
If you haven’t already concluded that this is going to be a single-issue campaign, you may want to watch the Stanley Kubrick epic film, “Spartacus.” In a famous scene, one after another, the gathered Roman slaves leap to their feet to declare “I am Spartacus!” or “No, I am Spartacus!” and on and on. In this go-round the boys will be spending countless hours looking into the television camera and bellowing “I am Trump!” “No, I am Trump!” ad nauseum.
Whoever most manages to cling to the Lord of Mar-a-Lago like a barnacle, the collective wisdom holds, has the best chance of grabbing the Republican nomination and, more than likely, the seat in the upper chamber, since the once powerful Kentucky Democratic Party has transformed into Mortimer Snerd, failing to stage even a ghost of a legitimate fight in numerous political contests.
And that’s political malpractice of the highest order.
With the exception of Massie, who inhabits his own political la-la land and forfeited his right to a Trump endorsement by favoring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP presidential primary, you couldn’t slip an index card between any of these jamokes on a question of policy. Their answer to any question is going to be, “Whatever Big Daddy says is fine by me.” The campaign isn’t going to be so much about gaining the Republican Senate nomination as winning the Trump endorsement.
In other words, who is willing to humiliate himself the most.
Tough call.
Cameron, bless him, got off to a fast start. Noting he was the first Kentucky elected official to endorse Trump, he’s quoted as saying on his campaign website, “President Trump needs fighters in the U.S. Senate to move forward his America First policies. I’m prepared to be that fighter and to help us Make America Great Again!”
But Danny’s going to have to go a ways to out-sop Barr who for months has exhibited the skills of a Russian grandmaster in a concerted effort to abase himself to gain Trump’s favor. If, when the time comes, and Big Daddy orders Andy to jump up and down and bark like a dog, one can imagine him, nearing the apex of his leap and asking the great man, “German shepherd of bloodhound?”
Barr has been singing Trump’s praises in a manner generally reserved for a different sort of leader on Sunday mornings. He’s even been known to appear publicly with Donald Trump Jr.
Now that’s desperation.
“President Trump’s leadership puts America first — securing our border, rebuilding our economy, and standing up to the Chinese Communist Party,” Barr said in one of his worshipful posts on X. “I’m committed to advancing his America First agenda however I can to restore American strength at home and abroad.”
Morris, meanwhile, is a big-time Republican fundraiser, palsy-walsy with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Bowling Green), and, perhaps more importantly, Vice President J.D. Vance. He was one of the Commonwealth’s top donors to the Trump campaign in 2024, although he initially endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Now, to listen to him, you would think he was Alexander Hamilton to Trump’s Washington.
Cameron, Barr, and Morris have all taken the unique step of positioning themselves politically by embracing Trump and tossing poor, old Mitch McConnell overboard, a man who indisputably has earned more Republican votes than any other candidate in Kentucky history.
That was then. This is now.
What better way to earn the love of your Big Daddy than by undermining McConnell, the man who is the source of his unbounded hate? Trump Jr. has, as a matter of fact, reportedly said any candidate looking to gain his old man’s imprimatur is going to have to renounce McConnell.
And these boys know how to follow orders.
Morris has taken the lead on that score and he’s using it to attack Cameron, who at one time served as McConnell’s legal counsel and advisor, ignoring McConnell’s guidance to skip the 2023 governor’s race, which proved unsuccessful, and wait for the senate seat to open up.
“Mitch McConnell’s Manchurian candidate, Daniel Cameron, is nervous because he knows KY doesn’t want a Mitch puppet as our next Senator,” Morris wrote on X. “His entire political career was handed to him on a silver platter by Mitch, which is why he refused to criticize Mitch for selling Trump out.”
In fact, realizing his political future may count on it, Cameron did, indeed, rip his mentor.
“Now what we saw from Mitch McConnell in voting against (three Trump cabinet nominees) was just flat out wrong,” Cameron said in a video posted on X. “You should expect a senator from Kentucky to vote for those nominees to advance the ‘America first’ agenda.”
There’s already been one poll even though the election to replace McConnell is still 20 months off. Co/efficient, a right-wing research and analytics firm with ties to Cameron, has released a survey of registered Republican in the Commonwealth asking the question, “If the Kentucky Republican primary were held today who would you vote for?”
Naturally, Cameron was ahead with 38.9 percent, compared to 17.6 percent for Barr and 2.5 percent for Morris. Those numbers overstate Cameron’s advantage. He has run two statewide campaigns – once for attorney general and once for governor, receiving 627,457 votes in the latter effort. He is a known commodity among Republicans statewide. Barr has never run a campaign outside of his Lexington-anchored district. Voters in Lone Oak don’t know him from Fifi Taft Rockefeller, who at least once ran a statewide campaign. Of a sort. Morris hasn’t run for so much as dog catcher.
Either Barr or Morris or both, or Massie and Jennings for that matter, can toss that poll in the trash with money and TV ads. The fact that an early poll has Cameron below 40 percent is nothing for him to write home about.
So, who wins the Trump sweepstakes, hence, more than likely, the nomination? Put the early money on Barr. Trump endorsed Cameron in the 2023 Republican gubernatorial primary, only to see him lose in the general, a fate that Andy said, probably correctly, embarrassed Trump, although he managed to somehow blame McConnell for the outcome. Trump is on record saying he doesn’t like losers. Cameron has lost.
Morris needs to catch fire at some point to get consideration. Kentucky voters aren’t often swayed by the rich businessman candidate, especially after the epic mistake of making Republican Matt Bevin governor in 2015. In 2020, Kelly Craft spent all sorts of her husband Joe Craft’s coal money hoping to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
She finished third.
Given that Massie continues to be persona non grata with the Trump camp and Jennings is likely a non-starter – he was not only involved in three McConnell Senate campaigns, managing the one in 2002, placing him on Trump’s wrong side, he also makes plenty of dough with his Louisville-based PR firm and has a sweet gig with CNN. Would you give that up for the mess in Washington?
Thought so.
Well, it could be worse, believe it or not. That dope, Rep. Jamie Comer (R-TheFrankfortLoop), has opted not to get involved.
He’s thinking of running for governor.
Good lord in heaven.
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