A progressive super PAC took a shot at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell by creating a browser extension for Google Chrome, which will automatically replace the words “Mitch McConnell” with “Moscow Mitch.”
American Bridge 21st Century launched the browser extension with the goal to “help expose” the Republican leader as “a puppet for the Russian government” over his initial refusal to pass legislation funding states’ efforts to ramp up election security.
“Moscow Mitch McConnell continues to put our country at risk to foreign meddling by blocking critical legislation to improve the security and integrity of our elections,” Zach Hudson, the communications director for American Bridge 21st Century, told The Hill on Friday.
“While we know this nickname hurts Mitch McConnell’s feelings, the American people deserve to see McConnell for who he really is: a stooge doing [Russian President] Vladmir Putin’s dirty work,” he continued. “This extension will help do that.”
American Bridge 21st Century was formed in a partnership with Media Matters for America in 2010 as an opposition research outlet for the Democratic Party. The group compiles data on Republicans by monitoring and tracking “every handshake, every utterance by Republican candidates … looking for gotcha moments that could retail political ambitions or provide fodder for television advertisements by liberal groups,” according to The New York Times.
Democratic lawmakers and members of the left-wing media dubbed McConnell as “Moscow Mitch” over his unwillingness to bring the election security legislation to the floor for a vote, claiming that he was supporting Russia’s interference in American elections.
Stand Up America, a left-wing organization founded to resist President Donald Trump’s conservative agenda, launched a campaign against McConnell by putting up billboards throughout his home state of Kentucky. The billboards demanded McConnell take up the election security bill that passed in the Democratic-led House earlier in the session, and also referred to the Republican leader as “Moscow Mitch.”
Interestingly, McConnell expressed support on Thursday to allocate $250 million to states for additional election security. The move is largely seen my many as a major turnaround for the Senate majority leader who initially pushed back on what he referred to as a Washington takeover.
“Did he? Is that right?” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) replied on Friday when a reporter informed him on McConnell’s decision. “No more invitations to the Kremlin for him.”
McConnell has been vocal about his dislike of the nickname, which comes in stark contrast to the Democrat-dubbed “Grim Reaper” nickname that he has playfully touted.
“It’s an effort to smear me. You know, I can laugh about things like the Grim Reaper, but calling me Moscow Mitch is over the top,” he told talk radio host Hugh Hewitt earlier in the month.
“The more liberal special interest groups attack Mitch McConnell, the stronger he becomes,” Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) told The Hill on Friday. “His standing in the way of Democrats’ socialist agenda sure has made this bunch obsessed with him.”