‘Mitch McConnell is a Russian’ trends after GOP senator blocks election security bills

The phrase “Mitch McConnell is a Russian” trended on Twitter early Saturday after the Senate majority leader repeatedly blocked election security legislation in recent days.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blocked two attempts to pass election bills this week shortly after former special counsel Robert Mueller testified before lawmakers on Capitol Hill, warning that foreign governments likely will attempt to interfere in the 2020 elections.

Hundreds took to Twitter to decry the senator for blocking the bills. Democratic activist Scott Dworkin called McConnell “a traitor” and “an accomplice to the biggest traitor in American history — Donald Trump.” 

Mitch McConnell is a traitor. Retweet if you agree. Mitch refused to publicly condemn Russian election interference with President Obama in 2016 and now refuses to protect our voting systems. He’s an accomplice to the biggest traitor in American history—Donald Trump. #MoscowMitch

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) July 26, 2019

“This is a man who prioritizes party over country to the extent that he is helping an adversary undermine our democracy,” MSNBC analyst Richard Stengel tweeted Saturday. “That’s not right. It’s the opposite of patriotism.”{mosads}

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank called McConnell a “Russian asset” in a Friday op-ed that was shared hundreds of times on Twitter overnight.

“Let’s call this what it is: unpatriotic. The Kentucky Republican is, arguably more than any other American, doing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bidding,” Milbank wrote.

The hashtag #MoscowMitch also trended on Twitter after MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Friday lashed out at McConnell for rejecting the pair of bills.

One of the measures requires the use of paper ballots and includes funding for the Election Assistance Commission, while the other requires candidates, campaign officials and their family members to notify the FBI of assistance offers from foreign governments.

McConnell blocked the two measures on Thursday, arguing that Democrats are trying to give themselves a “political benefit,” sparking backlash from Democrats over putting the bills into his “legislative graveyard.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee released a long-awaited report this week focused on election security and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The report found that “the Russian government directed extensive activity, beginning in at least 2014 and carrying into at least 2017, against U.S. election infrastructure at the state and local level,” adding that all 50 states were targeted in 2016.

The panel recommended considering the allocation of more funding to states for election security once existing funding runs out in order to examine elections systems’ vulnerabilities.