May 11, 2021

The Right Is Very Excited an Unelected Monarch Announced a New Voter Suppression Policy

She hasn’t endorsed anything. But MAGA patriots, new fans of the queen, are embarrassing themselves by fawning.

In an unusual move for a party leader, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday directly inserted himself in the issue over voting rights, taking a lead role in the latest Senate hearing on the For the People Act, the most consequential elections reform bill since the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

But for America’s right-wingers, McConnell’s starring role was no match for the queen of England, who on Tuesday made her first solo appearance since her husband’s death for the State Opening of Parliament. There, the maskless queen announced a new set of proposals—including the requirement of photo IDs to vote in future elections—that appeared ripped straight from the Republican playbook. As Vice UK observed, MAGA-world could barely contain their excitement:

Of course, these are wildly misleading headlines. It’s not the queen who writes the State Opening speech; it’s whichever government that’s in charge that’s responsible for laying out the government’s priorities. In this case, it’s Boris Johnson’s conservative party that’s authored a fever dream of voter suppression efforts to lead this year’s agenda. Don’t believe me? Look no further than the UK’s explainer on the speech: “The Queen’s Speech is delivered by the Queen from the Throne in the House of Lords. Although the Queen reads the Speech, it is written by the government. It contains an outline of its policies and proposed legislation for the new parliamentary session.”

Now, you’d think that our new and unlikely big fans of the monarchy would know that the royal family has merely a ceremonial role in government business. It’s also apparently lost on the right of the hilarity of saying a monarch supports your anti-democratic proposal. But apparently, that’s asking too much. And so, embarrassing dysfunction and profound ignorance—hallmarks of American political life—ensued. Here’s a candidate for Florida’s 3rd congressional district trumpeting the same, very wrong claim:

A suggestion for the right: turn your attention back to closer waters. McConnell, not the queen, is your guy today.

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