President Joe Biden will not tolerate disrespect for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), whose virtuosic talent for wielding political power has earned him a series of badass nicknames, including "Cocaine Mitch," "Midnight Mitch," and "Apex Predator."
In yet another example of political journalists having nothing to write about now that Donald Trump is no longer president, Politico has investigated the "nickname" situation in the early days of the Biden administration. Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) is "Your Highness," thanks to his status as a key vote in an evenly divided Senate. White House chief of staff Ron Klain is "Prime Minister Klain," presumably because he is the one actually running the country while Biden builds a train station out of Legos.
When Politico dared to ask members of the White House staff if they had come up with any nicknames for McConnell, however, the answer was a resounding "hell no." One senior White House official, whose refusal to speak on the record was presumably motivated by fear of ruthless retribution, replied: "If anyone here called Sen. McConnell anything other than Sen. McConnell, the president would have that person fired."
The legend persists.
