Trump Spars with McConnell, Ryan as Bloody September Looms

McConnell, Trump, Ryan
Penny Starr

Messages from the White House and Congressional leaders reveal the ongoing friction between President Donald J. Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-W) as a bloody battle looms in Washington, D.C. come September.

The core of Trump’s agenda will be in the hands of Republicans in both chambers, including funding the federal government, a fix for the debt ceiling, tax reform, and perhaps the last gasp for the years-long GOP promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. Not to mention funding the wall.

As McConnell was speaking on Thursday morning at the Kentucky Farm Bureau about how he believes Congress can push through a better tax code, Trump was tweeting about how it was McConnell’s fault that the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is still the law of the land.

“The only problem I have with Mitch McConnell is that, after hearing Repeal & Replace for 7 years, he failed!That should NEVER have happened!” Trump tweeted on Thursday.

The media, which follows Trump’s tweets obssessively, sent out tweets of their own:

“JUST IN: Pres. Trump blames Senate Majority Leader McConnell for Obamacare repeal-and-replace effort: ‘He failed!’” NBC tweeted.

According to CNN, McConnell’s message in Kentucky was mostly positive.

“The message from McConnell was clear Thursday morning: when it comes to reports of tensions between he and Trump, there’s nothing to see here,” CNN reported.

That included McConnell saying that Trump’s election meant a mandate for Congress to put America first.

“If you look at the federal government today and last year’s elections, I think it’s pretty safe to characterize what happened last year in many respects as a comeback for rural and small-town America,” McConnell said. “Look at the map of last year’s election, a sea of red between the coasts.

“Our friends on the other side are largely dominated by the coasts, by big cities and that characterizes so many of the debates that we have in Washington,” McConnell said. “I think it’s pretty safe to say this Congress wants to look after rural America.”

But privately, McConnell has been griping about Trump, per recent reports. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that friction between the top senator and the president could be building to all-out war.

Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin wrote in the Times:

The relationship between President Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has disintegrated to the point that they have not spoken to each other in weeks, and Mr. McConnell has privately expressed uncertainty that Mr. Trump will be able to salvage his administration after a series of summer crises. What was once an uneasy governing alliance has curdled into a feud of mutual resentment and sometimes outright hostility, complicated by the position of Mr. McConnell’s wife, Elaine L. Chao, in Mr. Trump’s cabinet, according to more than a dozen people briefed on their imperiled partnership. Angry phone calls and private badmouthing have devolved into open conflict, with the president threatening to oppose Republican senators who cross him, and Mr. McConnell mobilizing to their defense.

While seemingly not as hostile as the relationship between McConnell and Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and the president have publicly disagreed with one another, including on the pending spending bill that Trump hopes will include funding for the wall on the U.S. southern border.

Ryan — who also criticized Trump’s response to the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, — said on Wednesday that he rejected Trump’s threat to shut down the government in order to force Congress to approve the wall funding.

“I don’t think a government shutdown is necessary and I don’t think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included,” Ryan said at a news conference in Oregon where he was lobbying for tax reform, CNN reported.

“Ryan argued the House had already passed funding for border security but that the narrowly divided Senate — where Democrats have considerably more sway over what gets into funding bills — would need more time to act,” CNN reported.

Ironically, both McConnell and Trump issued statements on Wednesday playing up their shared goals.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we are committed to advancing our shared agenda together, and anyone who suggests otherwise is clearly not part of the conversation,” McConnell said in his statement.

The White House press office issued this statement on Wednesday:

“President Donald J. Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell remain united on many shared priorities, including middle class tax relief, strengthening the military, constructing a southern border wall, and other important issues. They will hold previously scheduled meetings following the August recess to discuss these critical items with members of the congressional leadership and the President’s Cabinet.”

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