Bloomberg Surveillance · Monday, July 13, 2026
The US Senate has seen a decline in bipartisan respect, with actions like degrading members on Twitter eroding the institution's integrity. This contrasts sharply with a past era where figures like McCain, Lieberman, and Graham fostered an environment of reverence and cross-party collaboration, a quality now perceived as nearly extinct.
“You know, I served in the Senate when all three of those legends were there, and it was absolutely a different time. The reverence that we walked through the halls with when we saw any of those members. Mitt Ronney is another good example of how we would sort of all operate and look not across party lines, but just incredible respect for these men. I know I certainly had it.”
“I think a lot of that is lost when you sort of degrade members, whether they're Democrats or Republicans in tweets. It just brings down the entire institution. And that's what's really made me sad over the last decade is the downfall of these institutions that so many of us hold in very high regard, in particular the US Senate.”