August 10, 2017

After Days of Attacks, Trump Suggests McConnell Should Step Down

The Republican party is having a meltdown.

Bill Clark/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump ramped up his attacks on Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Thursday, suggesting the Senate Majority Leader should step down if Republicans continue failing to pass measures at the top of the party’s legislative agenda. 

“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,” Trump told reporters from his Bedminster golf course in New Jersey.

The president has been feuding with McConnell this week, after the Senate’s top Republican on Monday expressed frustration at Trump’s relative inexperience in Washington, along with his “excessive expectations” for passing legislation in such a short period of time.

“Our new president has, of course, not been in this line of work before, and I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process,” McConnell said at a Rotary Club meeting in his home state of Kentucky.

McConnell also complained that it was “extremely irritating” that Congress was being blamed for failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act. 

In response, Trump has taken to Twitter the past several days to blast McConnell. 

This post has been edited throughout.

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You just sent an incredible message: that quality journalism doesn't have to answer to advertisers, billionaires, or hedge funds; that newsrooms can eke out an existence thanks primarily to the generosity of its readers. That's so powerful. Especially during what's been called a "media extinction event" when those looking to make a profit from the news pull back, the Mother Jones community steps in.

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