😭

 Senators are tired of it (caveats to follow):

Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) told Cottle, “The problem is that we can’t get s---- done," adding that, "Creative obstructionism...has become 'a fine art that has reached its apex so that the institution is nearly paralyzed.'”

This is, of course, the NYT view from across the Hudson:

"Members current and former, Republican and Democratic, say the job comes with a sense of growing frustration and declining cachet," wrote opinion columnist Michelle Cottle. "The legislative process is a hot mess, and increasingly dominated by giant omnibus bills. Cross-aisle comity is passé. Independence and ideological heterodoxy are treated as heresy."

Proof? We got yer proof right here, buddy!

Senators headed home for summer break this weekend after failing to confirm a list of Trump nominees, prompting the president to tell Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY) to "go to hell" on social media.

Except they did approve Box o’ Wine Pirro 🍷 as USA of DC before they left. So there’s that.

“It’s a vicious cycle," wrote Cottle. "The more that talented people are turned off or driven out by the chamber’s dysfunction, the more it populates with extremists, opportunists and self-dealers. The more that partisan lines are enforced, the less room there is for moderates and independents, who are now nearly extinct."

Smith is leaving. And Bennett from Colorado, Peters from Michigan. But then, so are Tillis and Tuberville, as well as McConnell (not mentioned by Cottle, apparently). All three extremists and self-dealers. McConnell just knows he’s too old to go on. Someone needs to speak to Grassley. And why does the Senate have to be a sinecure until it’s time for the old folks home (or turned into an old folks home)? I’m fine with a bit more turnover.

And whence comes this lack of comity? McConnell, mostly. He vowed to make Obama a one-term President, and screwed him every chance got. The Roberts Court is as much McConnell’s legacy as it is any one man’s. And Trump screaming at Thune about pro forma sessions so the Senate is never in recess (and so Trump can’t make recess appointments), is a “tradition” that goes back to McConnell doing the same to Obama. McConnell literally started it.

But the guy who started it all, is Newt Gingrich. Trump hasn’t uprooted government; Gingrich did. Trump is just the last gasp of what Gingrich started.

Is the Senate no longer the place of comity that nearly choked the optimism out of Mr. Smith? Oh, dear! Where are my pearls to clutch? Are worthless Senators finally taking their leave, and good people moving on? Good riddance to the former; to the latter, it was never meant to be a lifetime appointment (Grassley, Collins, the late Feinstein, never got the memo).

Cry me a freakin’ river.