Trump, Senate leader make nice
President, McConnell make show of unity at news conference
President Trump led Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to the White House Rose Garden on Monday afternoon to claim unity less than two hours after Trump ripped the Republican Congress in general for failing to deliver on health care and other issues.
During their impromptu appearance, Trump hurriedly grazed through a buffet of topics, including condolence calls to families of dead soldiers, the chances for a tax bill and accusations of Democratic obstruction in Congress.
“We’re fighting for the same things,” he said with McConnell at his side after a private lunch at the White House.
McConnell, who has clashed with the president repeatedly, said, “We have the same agenda.”
Trump said that previous presidents had not called the family members of troops killed in combat. “The traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls,” Trump said. He amended that by saying previous presidents had “probably” contacted family members.
During an earlier Cabinet meeting, Trump predicted a short-term health care “fix” this year and an overhaul next year.
He blamed the Republican congressional majority for a string of setbacks.
“I’m not going to blame myself, I’ll be honest,” Trump said before the Cabinet meeting. “They are not getting the job done.”
Hours later in the Rose Garden, Trump put the blame on Democrats, who are “obstructionists” and “basically just want us to do badly.” The president said his party must “go through hell” to pass legislation because of Democrats, though his biggest defeat as president — the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act — was due to Republican lawmakers’ objections.
Other topics he touched on: uRussia: Trump called the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into his campaign’s contacts with Russia “an excuse for the Democrats losing the election.” The president added, “They ought to get to the end of it because I think the American public is sick of it.”
uNFL player protests:
Trump repeated his contention that players “taking a knee” during the national anthem are “very disrespectful to our coun- try.” He said the American people are “very angry,” and the players “shouldn’t do it.”
uTax Trump said congressional negotiators are making “minor adjustments,” noting that it took President Reagan “years to get it done.”
Trump said he understood why former White House adviser Steve Bannon seeks primary challengers for some GOP incumbents in next year’s elections and wants McConnell ousted from Senate leadership.
“There are some Republicans, frankly, that should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump said.
After his lunch with McConnell, Trump said Bannon is doing what he thinks is right, but there are only a few Republicans who deserve to be targeted. The president said he has a “fantastic relationship” with most Republicans — with only a few “exceptions” — and they should be re-elected.
McConnell wouldn’t comment on Bannon’s attacks. He said the GOP has nominated very conservative Senate candidates in past years who could not appeal to a diverse electorate and lost to Democrats.
The objective, he said, is to nominate candidates “who can actually win,” because “winners make policy and losers go home.”
Trump said he and McConnell are “probably now, I think, at least as far as I’m concerned, closer than ever before.”
McConnell said: “We talk frequently. We don’t give you a readout every time we have a conversation, but frequently, we talk on the weekends about the issues that are before us.”