Thread by @brianbeutler

I take a more cynical view. Many Republicans clearly *thought* they had entered the “sabotage Biden era” and were thus inclined to block all stimulus, but Mitch realized that they’d miscalculated and being in lockstep “no” mode now might cost them their majority.

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1339545007653531649

Put another way: If those GA races had been decided outright one way or another on Nov. 3, and the question of Senate control were already answered, would McConnell have hopped off the sidelines after months of being an impediment to pass a relief bill? I think the answer is no.

So when McConnell says do it for Kelly and David, he’s speaking to his and his members’ own instinct for self-preservation. It’s convincing not because Republicans are evolving ideology, but because he has the better read on what outcome will maximize GOP power.

By contrast every Dem caucus meeting readout and Dear Colleague pertaining to COVID relief all year has included humanitarian appeals, and nothing so cynical as “do it for Biden” (because of course passing relief was against Dem political interests, but they did it anyhow).

Ergo, I take “do it for Kelly and David [and thus our majority]” at face value: he isn’t papering over any substantive debate, it’s the only mode of persuasion available to him at any time, and the only one that moves him.

One more point to resolve any lingering confusion: even if Republicans were at odds with each other and in their own minds over the stimulus question, the way McConnell would normally resolve that tension is by just refusing to consider stimulus at all, a la Merrick Garland.

He flipped because of David and Kelly, and David and Kelly are why he wants his members to flip, too.