Trump intensifies attacks on his party
Senior Republicans fear president’s continued attacks could lose him his two-seat Senate majority
Donald Trump openly attacked the Senate majority leader and hurled insults at senators as his rift with the Republican party deepened. He dismissed one senator as being weak on immigration and accused all Republican senators of “wasting time”. Senior party figures fear his rhetoric could wipe out the party’s two-seat Senate majority over the Democrats and say that the divide could not have come at a worse time. Next month Congress must pass legislation to raise the federal borrowing limit or risk a government shutdown.
DONALD TRUMP is escalating the cold war with his own party leadership, using campaign rallies and Twitter to chastise Mitch Mcconnell, the most senior Republican in the Senate, and hurling insults at senators.
Senior party figures fear his rhetoric risks eliminating his two-seat majority in the Senate and say the rift could not have come at a worse time.
Not only do they want to begin work on tax reform, but next month Congress must pass legislation to keep funding the government and to raise the federal borrowing limit. Failure could prompt a government shutdown or financial collapse. On Tuesday, the president used a campaign rally in Arizona to accuse one of the state’s senators of being “weak” on immigration. After promising not to use his name, he repeated the jibe on Twitter yesterday and named Jeff Flake.
He also kept up a steady string of attacks on Mr Mcconnell’s tactics, urging him to change Senate procedure.
He wrote: “If Republican Senate doesn’t get rid of the Filibuster Rule & go to a simple majority, which the Dems would do, they are just wasting time!”
Yesterday, Mr Mcconnell attempted to silence talk of a rift. “The president and I, and our teams, have been and continue to be in regular contact about our shared goals,” he said.
Rich Galen, a veteran Republican strategist, described going after Mr Mcconnell, who controls much of the Senate’s business agenda, as “nuts”.
“It’s another example of Donald Trump having no understanding of how this system works,” he said. “He can intimidate any around him in New York putting up buildings or buying golf courses and he thinks he can intimidate these guys who were indepen- dently elected, and who didn’t run with him.”
The president and his Senate lieutenant have not spoken in two weeks, according to The New York Times, after their last conversation escalated into a screaming row over the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia.
The party ructions were among the topics he addressed before his fervent fans in Phoenix. Away from Washing- ton, he looked at his most content as he resurrected the freewheeling style of the 2016 campaign, flinging insults at opponents, threatening to shut down the government to get funding for his border wall, and accusing the media of twisting his comments about recent violence in Charlottesville.
And just like during the campaign, thousands of protesters gathered outside. Police in riot gear used tear gas and fired pepper balls – projectiles that release irritants – to disperse crowds after missiles were thrown. Officers said they made three arrests.
Inside, Mr Trump brought the crowd to a state of high excitement as he hinted he was preparing to pardon Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff convicted of disobeying court orders to stop his immigration patrols. “I’ll make a prediction: I think he’s going to be just fine,” he said to cheers.
Defending himself against accusations that he wasn’t firm enough in condemning white supremacists protesting in Charlottesville, he pulled a piece of paper from his jacket and read out his initial words condemning racists involved the protests.
“Did they report that I said that racism is evil?” he asked, to which the crowd shouted: “No!”
The president turned his attention overseas, claiming his hard-line stance – promising fire and fury – had earned the respect of North Korea.
“Some people said it’s too strong, it’s not strong enough,” said Mr Trump. “But Kim Jong-un, I respect the fact that I believe he is starting to respect us.”
Newly released photographs suggest otherwise. Hours after Mr Trump’s speech, North Korean state media reported that Mr Kim had visited the Academy of Defence Sciences and ordered more solid-fuel rocket engines and warheads.
Concept diagrams of a new generation of missile – the Pukguksong-3 – could be seen in official photographs.