Trump, McConnell ties face severe test
Health care fatemay depend on relationship
washington » President Donald Trump’s administration was still in its first hourswhen MitchMcConnell snagged an open seat next to him for a private chat at his inaugural luncheon. For more than 15 minutes, McConnell did most of the talking.
Eleven days later, McConnell had a front-row seat as Trump announced Neil M. Gorsuch as his pick for the SupremeCourt, the culmination of the Senate majority leader’s advice during the campaign on how to handle the court vacancy: Consult the Federalist Society, and make a list of prospects. Trump did that.
For months, McConnell, the consummate political insider, has been dispensing his counsel to Trump, the ultimate outsider, who has been absorbing the Kentuckian’s words. The dynamic has provided a degree of stability in the stillforming relationship between the low-key Senate leader and the loquacious president, who are starkly different types of people.
But cracks have also emerged in their partnership, most notably when Trump has casually suggested that McConnell change the long-standing rules of the Senate andMcConnell has bluntly brushed him off.
Their fragile alliance is about to face its biggest challenge yet in the next phase of the Republican effort to overhaul the nation’s health care laws. The work of revising major parts of the act known as Obamacare is now in the Senate’s hands after the House narrowly passed its own bill following months of destructive Republican infighting.
At stake is the long-term future of the American health care system and the near-term future of the new Republican-controlled government— which has yet to shepherd any major legislative proposals into law.
“Whether or not they are able to forge a positive, personal andworking relationship will be one of the early tests of this,” said former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele.
It will be as much amakeor-break moment for McConnell as for Trump. The Senate leader has so far been able to fly below the radar on health care as HouseRepublicansworked through their disagreements before ultimately passing a bill. If he cannot do the same, he is likely to be blamed for the collapse of the effort to fulfill a signature GOP campaign promise.
McConnell is cool and deliberative, while Trump is hot and impetuous. But they have privately developed what people close to them say is a respectful relationship.
In the 75-year-old majority leader, Trump, 70, sees a senior player in navigating the ways ofWashington, in both age and experience. He views him as someone on his level — or at least more on his level than many other Republicans, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis.
In some regards, McConnell has become a tutor to Trump. The twomen speak regularly, with McConnell initiating some calls to guide the novice president.
“Leader McConnell has been a great resource in giving guidance and counsel on a myriad of issues in the first few months,” said one senior administration official, speaking generically aboutMcConnell.
It was McConnell, after all, who helped handTrump his only major congressional victory during his first 100 days in office: the confirmation of Gorsuch to the high court. In nominating Gorsuch, who won wide praise in conservative circles, Trump also aided Mc- Connell by helping him pay off his gamble to hold the seat open during the presidential campaign.
Those close to McConnell say that his relationship withTrump is rooted in trying to accomplish the things Republicans campaigned on last year — no more, no less.