McConnell told GOP donors that replacing RBG would be their ‘October Surprise’: report

In April, The New Yorker published a blockbuster profile of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The story, by Jane Mayer, was titled, "How Mitch McConnell became Trump's enabler-in-chief."

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/20/how-mitch-mcconnell-became-trumps-enabler-in-chief

"The most famous example of McConnell’s obstructionism was his audacious refusal to allow a hearing on Merrick Garland, whom Obama nominated for the Supreme Court, in 2016. When Justice Antonin Scalia unexpectedly died, vacating the seat, there were three hundred and forty-two days left in Obama’s second term. But McConnell argued that 'the American people' should decide who should fill the seat in the next election, ignoring the fact that the American people had elected Obama," Mayer wrote.

"As a young lawyer, McConnell had argued in an academic journal that politics should play no part in Supreme Court picks; the only thing that mattered was if the nominee was professionally qualified. In 2016, though, he said it made no difference how qualified Garland, a highly respected moderate judge, was," she explained. "Before then, the Senate had never declined to consider a nominee simply because it was an election year. On the contrary, the Senate had previously confirmed seventeen Supreme Court nominees during election years and rejected two. Nevertheless, McConnell prevailed."

Mayer interviewed a former Trump White House official.

“McConnell’s telling our donors that when R.B.G. meets her reward, even if it’s October, we’re getting our judge. He’s saying it’s our October Surprise," the former Trump official revealed.