Kicking off his surprise press conference with Mitch McConnell at the White House Monday afternoon, Donald Trump made the message of the day perfectly clear: “Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell . . . has been a friend of mine for a long time.”
It’s not the most natural of friendships, but the president and the GOP leader emerged from their lunch (Vice President Mike Pence was in attendance as well) to put aside publicly their differences of the past several months. “My relationship with this gentleman is outstanding, has been outstanding,” said Trump, despite severalinstances of public disagreement between the two Republicans over the stalled GOP agenda.
McConnell echoed Trump’s sentiments in his own way. “We are together totally on this agenda to move America forward,” said the Kentucky Republican.
What is that agenda, for those keeping track at home? “We are working very hard to get the tax cuts,” Trump said. “We will continue to work hard to get the healthcare completed. I'm going to be surprising some people with an economic development bill later on, but I haven't even told Mitch because I want to focus on tax cuts and some other things right now.”
McConnell had a slightly different shine. “Legislatively, obviously the top priority is tax reduction,” he said. He also noted the role the Senate has in confirming presidential appointments. But there was no talk of health care or “economic development”—whatever that means—from McConnell.
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05.02.2025