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Trump lashes out at Mitch McConnell, suggesting he may have to go.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump escalated a stunning feud against his top Senate partner Thursday, suggesting Majority Leader Mitch McConnell might have to think about stepping aside if he doesn’t deliver on the president’s agenda of health care, taxes and infrastructure.
Trump called McConnell’s failure to pass an “Obamacare” repeal last month “a disgrace.” Asked if McConnell should consider stepping aside or retiring, an outcome some conservatives are openly clamoring for, the president did not respond with a vote of confidence.
“Well I tell you what, if he doesn’t get repeal and replace done and if he doesn’t get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn’t get a very easy one to get done, infrastructure, if he doesn’t get them done, then you can ask me that question,” the president told reporters in Bedminster, N.J., where he is in the midst of a 17-day golf vacation.
McConnell’s office did not immediately respond.
McConnell-bashing
A sitting president openly turning on a Senate majority leader of his own party in such a fashion is practically unheard of — yet another norm destroyed since Trump’s rise on the political scene. And while the fighting words might elate Trump’s core supporters, they can only hurt broader Republican efforts to move major legislation this fall on taxes and spending.
Trump’s comments came after he spent two days slamming McConnell over Twitter, writing Thursday morning that after “screaming” about repealing and replacing Obamacare for seven years, McConnell “couldn’t get it done.” Several hours later, the president’s tone took a motivational turn as he exhorted, “Mitch, get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!”
The presidential megaphone amplified the McConnell-bashing that’s been snaking through conservative media: Breitbart News, Fox News’ Sean Hannity and radio host Rush Limbaugh are among those who have vilified the leader after the Senate’s failure on health care late last month. They represent a segment of the Republican electorate, including some major donors, who are out to punish what they see as a “donothing Congress.”
Never easy allies
McConnell is “a coward who leads from behind,” “spineless,” and a lifelong “political animal” of the sort Trump wants to eject from Washington, said Doug Deason, a major donor based in Texas who said he decided months ago not to give money to any Republicans up for re-election next year, unless they can pass Trump’s priorities.
Trump, 71, and McConnell, 75, have never been easy allies, even though the senator’s wife, Elaine Chao, is the president’s transportation secretary.
McConnell touched a nerve by telling an audience in his home state that Trump had “not been in this line of work before” and had “excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.”
Brent Bozell, a longtime McConnell detractor and president of the conservative social media group For America, said the Senate leader had made a ridiculous argument that will haunt him.
“By calling President Trump a political neophyte, McConnell is saying that Trump doesn’t understand that Congress doesn’t keep its promises,” Bozell said. “This is exactly why Trump won — to shake up Washington, and that includes Republicans.”