Even for McConnell, a five-time Olympic gold medalist in hypocrisy, this was special.

There is perhaps no human being more responsible for the tsunami of unlimited, unregulated “dark” money that has corrupted and consumed American politics than Addison Mitchell McConnell III. Nobody worked harder to thwart campaign finance limits and to block the disclosure of contributors’ names. One Nation, the dark-money group McConnell effectively controls with his former chief of staff at the helm, raised more than $172 million in 2020, according to a tax return obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

McConnell complaining about dark money is like Russian President Vladimir Putin complaining about cruise missiles. And the absurdity doesn’t end there. Leading the kvetching about dark-money groups supporting Jackson? Dark-money groups on the right that are spending millions in dark money to oppose Jackson.

Still, it’s refreshing to hear McConnell and the right complain about dark money distorting Supreme Court nominations. Therein lies a case of rough justice. It’s difficult to overstate the extent to which the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United and subsequent decisions have distorted and corrupted politics. So it’s only fitting that the distortion reaches into the high court, too. Just as unregulated, anonymous billions have elected extremists and rewarded intransigence, dark money is making sure that future court nominees are vetted and approved by unknown donors rather than through the advice and consent of the Senate.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.

Dana Milbank is an opinion columnist for The Washington Post. He sketches the foolish, the fallacious and the felonious in politics.