POLITICO
Mitch McConnell tends his legacy 8,000 miles away
After a recent military coup in Myanmar, President Joe Biden consulted with the GOP leader on the U.S. response.
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell has been vocal in pushing for a return to democracy in the embattled Asian nation. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
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He reshaped the federal judiciary. He made history as the longest-serving Senate GOP leader. But Mitch McConnell has unfinished business more than 8,000 miles from the halls of Congress.
There's no more consistent or surprising through line to McConnell's 36-year career than promotion of democracy in Myanmar, a Southeast Asian nation of 55 million. McConnell's championing of representative government in Myanmar, mostly run by a military junta since it declared its independence in 1948, is so vital to his identity that after a recent military coup there, President Joe Biden consulted with the GOP leader to coordinate the U.S. response.