Reid: If McConnell Wonders Where Trump Came from, He Should Look in a Mirror

"... It got worse after my first six years. The only possible message that is unprecedented and blind opposition could send is that this President and his policies are illegitimate. Indeed, Senator McConnell’s blind rejection of any policy proposed by President Obama, regardless of the merits, is the kinder, gentler version of birtherism.

Donald Trump’s style of no-holds-barred politics was forged in the Senate Republican caucus. We are seeing this play out now before our very eyes in the debate over the Supreme Court. Moments after Justice Scalia’s death, the Republican Leader decided to abandon the Constitution and any degree of bipartisanship to appease his radical base. That night, Donald Trump followed the Mitch McConnell playbook and said Republicans must delay, delay, delay. 

They didn’t know who the nominee would be. Merrick Garland’s name hadn’t even been mentioned. Yet, Republicans were already resolved to undermine President Obama again. That sort of 'punch first, ask questions later leadership' is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump. We know where he learned it. 

If Senator McConnell wonders from where Donald Trump came, he needs only look in the mirror. No one is working harder to support Trump than Mitch McConnell. McConnell is sacrificing the Republican majority to allow Donald Trump to pick the nominee. The Republican Party’s anti-Muslim movement is another force that spawned Donald Trump. 

Before he was elected, conservative outlets like Fox News began their efforts to convince Republicans that President Obama was a secret Muslim.Well-funded conservative groups engaged in a concerted effort to stoke the flames of hatred. Some speculated that members of the Muslim Brotherhood were working in the Obama administration. Others suggested that Sharia law was taking over America. Once again, Republican leaders did nothing to responsibly address the anti-Muslim hate coming from their party."