McConnell Campaign Trolls Blankenship With ‘Narcos’ Cocaine Meme

United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican of Kentucky) makes remarks as he introduces one of the Ambassadorial nominees before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Capitol Hill in Wa... United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican of Kentucky) makes remarks as he introduces one of the Ambassadorial nominees before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Thursday, July 20, 2017. Credit: Ron Sachs / CNP - NO WIRE SERVICE - Photo by: Ron Sachs/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

“Cocaine Mitch” beat Don Blankenship, West Virginia’s controversial Republican Senate primary candidate, at his own game on Tuesday evening.

After Blankenship lost the GOP primary Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) campaign tweeted out a picture of McConnell photoshopped onto a Netflix advertisement for “Narcos,” a show about cocaine drug lord Pablo Escobar. The meme features McConnell’s face superimposed over Escobar’s body, surrounded by white power that’s meant to depict cocaine.

“Thanks for playing, Don,” the meme said, referencing Blankenship, who has attacked McConnell repeatedly in recent weeks, most notably giving him the moniker “cocaine Mitch.”

After his third place finish in the West Virginia Republican Senate primary on Tuesday evening, Blankenship mused whether he’d gone too far in some of his attacks against McConnell, who poured an aggressive amount of cash into the primary race to keep Blankenship from winning. McConnell has been vocal about his opposition to the controversial candidate, who served a one-year sentence in prison for his role in failing to prevent a mine accident that killed 29 workers.

Blankenship responded to McConnell’s opposition with a series of odd and racially charged insults, like calling McConnell’s father-in-law a “China person.” In a campaign ad released last week, Blankenship gave McConnell his “cocaine Mitch” nickname and vowed to “ditch Mitch” if he were elected to the Senate. The drug dig was in reference to a 2014 report in The Nation about drugs that were discovered on a shipping vessel owned by the family of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, McConnell’s wife.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: