Nobody is asking the bigger question: "Why would a professional, lifelong politician and master tactician like Mitch McConnell make such a huge mistake?"

Nobody's asking, "Why?"

Just like he did with the Covid rescue bill a few months ago, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell just said that there will not be one single Republican vote in support of President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan.

Why would McConnell do this?

Why would he give away any bargaining leverage the GOP might have?

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Wednesday's Daily Stack

Hour One: National Progressive Townhall Meeting
- Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District) @MarkPocan @repmarkpocan

Article: "Cinco de Mayo" by Wikipedia.

Article: "McConnell Says 'Zero' Republicans Will Back Biden's Infrastructure Package" by Zachary Evans.

Article: "Biden's $4 Trillion Economic Plan, in One Chart" by Alicia Parlapiano.

Article: "President Biden Announces American Rescue Plan" by White House.

Article: "Symington Amendment" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Student Loan Debt Reaches Record High as Most Repayment Is Paused" by Stefan Lembo Stolba.

Article: "Tennessee lawmakers advance bill to ban critical race theory instruction in public schools" by Marta W. Aldrich .

Article: "Tennessee legislator praises three-fifths compromise on state House floor" by Joseph Choi.

Article: "Tennessee legislature leadership on board with capping unemployment benefit payout at as low as 12 weeks" by Yue Stella Yu.

Article: "Gerrymandering" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Census data delay scrambles plans for state redistricting" by David A. Lieb.

Article: "Judge Says Barr Misled on How His Justice Dept. Viewed Trump's Actions" by Michael S. Schmidt.

Article: "Trump Holds Some JFK Assassination Files Back, Sets New 3-Year Deadline" by Sarah Pruitt.

Bill: "H.R.1 - For the People Act of 2021" by Rep. Sarbanes, John P. [D-MD-3].

Article: "The US and EU must waive the patents" by Lori Wallach.

Article: ""Millions of Lives Are at Stake": Pressure Grows on Biden to Back WTO Waiver on Vaccine Technology" by Democracy Now!

Article: "Pocan Introduces Legislation to Let Students Refinance Their College Loans" by Mark Pocan.

Article: "Liz Cheney chooses truth over power -- a lonely path in Trump's GOP" by Stephen Collinson.

Article: "Senator suggests voting on Sunday will offend God: 'Remember the sabbath'" by Alex Woodward.

Article: "Fact Sheet: The American Jobs Plan" by White House.

Article: "Fact Sheet: The American Families Plan" by White House.

Article: "Pelosi renews call for Congress to investigate the Capitol insurrection" by Katelyn Burns.

Article: "Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are holding American democracy hostage" by Alexander Heffner.

Bill: "H.R.2474 - Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019" by Rep. Scott, Robert C. "Bobby" [D-VA-3].

Site: MoveOn.org

Site: Democracy for America

Site: Indivisible

Article: "Why McConnell Is About to Destroy the GOP" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "House Republicans Have Had Enough of Liz Cheney's Truth-Telling" by Nicholas Fandos and Catie Edmondson.

Article: "Nelson Rockefeller's Last Stand" by Richard Norton Smith.

Article: "Goldwater's 1964 Acceptance Speech", 1964. "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice... moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

Article: "Friedrich Hayek" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Ludwig von Mises" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Milton Friedman" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Barry Goldwater" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Pelosi slams McCarthy for promoting COVID-19 relief provision" by Cristina Marcos.

Article: "Trump's false or misleading claims total 30,573 over 4 years" by Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly.

Article: "Why it matters that McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring" by Steve Benen.

Article: "Trump provoked deadly Capitol riot, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell says" by Kevin Breuninger.

Article: "Rick Scott" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Tom Cotton" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Josh Hawley" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Kristi Noem" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Judge Says Barr Misled on How His Justice Dept. Viewed Trump's Actions" by Michael S. Schmidt.

Article: "Facebook's Trump ban upheld by Oversight Board for now" by BBC.

Article: "Mexico's Independence Day marks the beginning of a decade-long revolution" by Heather Brady.

Article: "Battle of Puebla" by Wikipedia.

Article: "How deep does the Russia collusion go? To McConnell?" (aluminum factory) by Joan McCarter.

Article: "Russian Backer Halts Funds in New Blow to U.S. Aluminum Project" by Yuliya Fedorinova.

Article: "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.

Article: "Mitt Romney" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Charles Booker" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Charles Booker forms exploratory committee for U.S. Senate run" by AP.

Article: "Gates Foundation Launches $40 Million Early College Initiative" by Candid.

Will Scotland Finally Have Her..."FREEDOM!!" (a la Braveheart-William Wallace)
- Victoria Jones, Executive Director - DC Radio Company LLC @victoriajonesdc

Article: "Scottish election 2021: How have candidates answered five key questions?" by Douglas Fraser.

Article: "Poll tracker: how will the SNP fare in Scotland's May elections?" by Martin Stabe.

Article: "Brexit" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Jersey" by Wikipedia.

Article: "France threatens to cut power to Jersey amid fishing row" by BBC.

Article: "French power threat in Jersey fishing row is 'unacceptable'" by BBC.

Article: "Anglo-French Wars" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Norman Conquest" by Wikipedia.

Hour Three: Why Mohammed bin Salman suddenly wants to talk to Iran
- Dr. Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft @tparsi @QuincyInst @RStatecraft

Article: "Why Mohammed bin Salman Suddenly Wants to Talk to Iran" by Trita Parsi.

Article: "Powerful Saudi prince sees no chance for dialogue with Iran" by Sami Aboudi, Omar Fahmy.

Article: "Prince Mohammed bin Salman says peace with Iran is possible if Tehran stops backing regional militias" by Robert Tollastand Mina Aldroubi.

Article: "U.S. withdraws from Vietnam" by History.

Article: "Hillary Clinton warns of 'huge consequences' in Afghan US troop withdrawal" by BBC.

Article: "Fox News' Dr. Seuss obsession, by the numbers" by Lis Power.

Article: "Of course Fox News would rather talk about Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head" by Philip Bump.

Article: "Texas Senate bill restricting transgender students' sports participation stalls in House committee, casting doubts on its fate" by Megan Munce.

Article: "1995–1996 United States federal government shutdowns" by Wikipedia.

Article: "2022 United States Senate election in Georgia" (Raphael Warnock) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Blind men and an elephant" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Ted Cruz calls Obama communist, gloats about Boehner quitting, threatens to assassinate Iran's supreme leader" by Todd J. Gillman.

Bill: "S.4263 - John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act" by Sen. Leahy, Patrick J. [D-VT].

Article: "Why Senator Mitch McConnell's Hand Appears Discolored, Here Are Some Possibilities" by Bruce Y. Lee.

Article: "Mitt Romney booed and called 'traitor' at Utah Republican convention" by Martin Pengelly.

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

I'll be talking with Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Co-founder, Democracy At Work / Author of numerous books - his latest is The Sickness is the System (now also available as an eBook)

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Is Treasonous Traitorous Trump Still President?

Nomadland Exposes US Middle Class Rip-Off

Crazy Alert! QAnon Freaking Out Over the Gates' Divorce

How Do We Vaccinate the World? (w/ Lori Wallach)