Yet even at the time, McConnell claimed a narrow precedent for his maneuver that he knew would not necessarily constrain him in this exact scenario. As he argued in interviews and floor speeches, it had been more than a century since a Senate had, in a presidential-election year, confirmed the Supreme Court nominee of a president of the opposite party. To bolster his credibility, McConnell sourced his entirely invented new precedent to Vice President Joe Biden, who as chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 1992 had suggested that the Democratic-controlled Senate not consider a campaign-year nominee from President George H. W. Bush. Biden’s call ended up being moot, as Bush, who was then running for a second term, did not get another vacancy on the high court.

As the McConnell spokesman David Popp pointed out on Twitter, 2020 won’t be the same as 2016. The Senate and the White House will be controlled by the same party, and the Biden—er, McConnell Rule won’t apply. For the situations to have been an apples-to-apples comparison, Democrats would have had to recapture the Senate majority in 2018. And if they had, McConnell would be in no position to decide whether or not to confirm a Supreme Court nominee.

None of this is an accident. Unlike Trump, McConnell does not make off-the-cuff comments. His near-term goal in blocking Garland was to save Scalia’s seat—and with it, a narrow conservative majority on the Supreme Court—for a Republican president to fill. It was a risky gamble: Had Hillary Clinton won the presidency, she might well have nominated a younger, more liberal justice than Garland and moved the Court further to the left for a longer period of time.

Read: Mitch McConnell, a politician in full

McConnell’s longer-term goal—indeed, his bid for a lasting legacy as Senate leader—is no secret. His aim is to install as many conservatives in lifetime federal judgeships, and in particular on the Supreme Court, as possible. He is well on his way to success in this area, having prioritized judicial nominations over legislation during Trump’s first two years in office. Key to the effort has been McConnell’s embrace of shrewd, arguably ruthless tactics. After blocking Garland in 2016, he didn’t bat an eye in swiftly deciding to nuke the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for judicial nominations in the face of a Democratic filibuster of Judge Neil Gorsuch a year later. In 2018, McConnell steered Brett Kavanaugh to confirmation despite multiple accusations of sexual misconduct against the appellate judge; the majority leader held the vote weeks before a midterm election that could have handed control of the Senate to the Democrats.

As he runs for reelection to a seventh Senate term in Kentucky, McConnell is, to quote Politico, embracing his dark side—relishing his reputation as a “grim reaper” to the left and a master strategist to the right. During his appearance on Tuesday, he explained his preference for confirming judges over debating legislation in the Senate. “Everything else changes,” McConnell observed. New laws, such as Trump’s signature tax bill in 2017, can be rolled back or repealed as soon as the other party regains power. “What can’t be undone,” he continued, “is a lifetime appointment to a young man or woman who believes in the quaint notion that the job of a judge is to follow the law. So that’s the most important thing we’ve done for the country, which cannot be undone.”