"Cocaine Mitch:" A controversial McConnell t-shirt would have "shattered"

Deaths from cocaine are on the rise across the country, but that did not deter Sen. Mitch McConnell's re-election campaign from marketing a cocaine-themed t-shirt.

Team Mitch, the official Twitter account for the McConnell campaign, R-Ky., Shared Wednesday the images of the new $ 35 tee with the #CocaineMitch hashtag. The bright red garment features a faceless silhouette wearing a Western-style shirt – unbuttoned at the collar – with black hair swept to the side. The faceless man adorned with the shirt, apparently McConnell, stands next to what appears to be a cloud of cocaine dust. The back of the suit proclaims the wearer "CARTEL MEMBER".

"A year ago, a legend was born", the senator's campaign tweeted. "Own your own piece of history."

Another tweet published by the campaign urged voters become "official cartel member!"

The t-shirts, which are also available for bulk orders for a $ 30 discount, according to the campaign store, refer to the nickname "Cocaine Mitch" given to the Kentucky Republican by Don Blankenship, a former coal baron who went to jail for his role in a deadly mining disaster. Blankenship called McConnell "Cocaine Mitch" in an election campaign when the Republican Senate was appointed in 2018 in West Virginia; he was a candidate at the time.

During his assault on McConnell's wife, transportation secretary Elaine Chao, during his failed Senate campaign, Blankenship claimed, without any evidence, that a cargo ship belonging to the Foremost group, of the family of Chao, had already been found carrying about 90 pounds of drugs. the weather.

Blankenship lost the race at the nomination. The Mitch team reacted to the loss of Blankenship at the time tweeting: "Thank you for playing, Don."

According to the Associated Press, the Republican's new t-shirt, which "thinks outside the box", sparked a debate on Twitter, with some users accusing McConnell's campaign of downplaying or rejecting drug addiction and contradicting the stance. often hard of the Republican party. on drug policy and related issues.