Mitch McConnell, the most senior Republican in the Senate.
The rift between Donald Trump and his party leadership is far from being resolved. In fact, the once family grievance has snowballed into public view. The rift is ill-timed as the senior party figure who is at the receiving end could lose his two-seat majority in the Senate. Donald Trump recently took to twitter to hurl insults at Mitch McConnell, the most senior Republican in the Senate.
He further sustained his strings of attacks on Mr. McConnell’s method, demanding that he make amends to Senate procedure. Veteran Republican strategist, Rich Galeh, has described hitting on McConnell, who is in charge of much of the Senate’s business agenda as “nuts”. He further stressed that such jibes demonstrate that Trump has no clue as to how the system works.
Trump, following his own path, clearly thinks otherwise. He wrote on his Twitter profile, “If Republican Senate doesn’t get rid of the Filibuster Rule and go to a simple majority, which the Dems would do, they are just wasting time!”
If the rift lingers for too long without an amicable resolution, it could strengthen the call for the invocation of Article 4 of the 25th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America which would see Donald Trump exit the White House in an unceremonious fashion.
The feud is happening at a time when lawmakers are on the verge of beginning work on tax reforms and passing legislation to sustain government funding as well as raise the borrowing limit of the federal government. If the above processes should fail, it could lead to a financial collapse or a total government shut-down.
Senator Jeff Flake
On August 23, 2017, Trump accused one of Arizona’s senators, Jeff Flake, as being “weak on crime and border”. He had earlier stated that he would not name individuals while the campaign rally proceeded but as soon as he logged on to Twitter, he did just that.
According to a report in The New York Times, the president and his Senate lieutenant are having a cold war. They have not spoken to each other for two weeks after their last conversation degenerated into screaming, regarding the investigation into the possible ties of Trump’s campaign to Russia.
In Phoenix, he resurrected his campaign style address, flinging insults at opponents, accusing the media of twisting his comments on the recent violence that happened in Charlottesville and threatening to shut down the government if possible to get funding for his border wall. As witnessed in his election campaign, a crowd of protesters gathered outside, leaving the police with no choice but to fire tear gas and pepper balls to disperse them.
Earlier, Mr. McConnell had made a weak attempt to quell any sign of feud between him and the president. He said, “The president and I, and our team have been and continue to be in regular contact about our shared goals.”
Miami Herald news on Trump and Republicans.
According to a report in the Miami Herald, Republicans are advised not to speak publicly on the matter because of its sensitive nature. It is no surprise that only trickles of information are known about the feud. However, a few Republicans mentioned that the aides to the vice president say they are frustrated over the many political injuries Trump has inflicted on himself. Republican strategist, Doug Heye, said it was becoming frustrating for staff to be forever cleaning up the mess left behind by the President.
The rift between the president and his party is a clear indication of the difference between ideologies and reality. The Republican Party made a couple of campaign promises but coming into power, they have discovered that some of their promises are not as easy a feat as they tried to make them sound. This might be a source of the president’s frustration, which has caused him to turn against his party for delaying his purported plans.
The first showdown over Obamacare brought into view the rift between Republican ideologies and reality. Trump and the speaker literarily forced the bill through in 17 days, a record. When it failed, however, Trump turned the blame on the minority Democrats. As the rift between the president and his party filters into the public, the Republicans are likely to devise means to draw the attention of the public away from their internal affairs.
