REPORT: McConnell Is ‘Uncertain Trump Will Be Able to Salvage His Administration’

‘Profane Shouting Match’ ‘Political Cold War’ ‘Open Conflict’ 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is not sure if President Trump will complete a full term in office. The New York Times Tuesday afternoon reports “Mr. McConnell has privately expressed uncertainty that Mr. Trump will be able to salvage his administration after a series of summer crises,” and “has mused about whether Mr. Trump will be in a position to lead the Republican Party into next year’s elections and beyond.”

The Times also notes the relation between Trump and McConnell “has disintegrated to the point that they have not spoken to each other in weeks.”

“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,” the Times’ Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin report. They add the “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.”

Chao serves as Secretary of Transportation. She stood next to President Trump one week ago, in Trump Tower, as he reverted to his “both sides” blaming over Charlottesville violence by white supremacists.

“Mr. McConnell expressed horror to advisers last week after Mr. Trump’s comments equating white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., with protesters who rallied against them.”

The Times adds that Trump and McConnell are “locked in a political cold war,” with McConnell questioning “Mr. Trump’s understanding of the presidency in a public speech,” and “in private, describing Mr. Trump as entirely unwilling to learn the basics of governing.”

It gets worse.

“In a series of tweets this month, Mr. Trump criticized Mr. McConnell publicly, then berated him in a phone call that quickly devolved into a profane shouting match.”

During the call, which Mr. Trump initiated on Aug. 9 from his New Jersey golf club, the president accused Mr. McConnell of bungling the health care issue. He was even more animated about what he intimated was the Senate leader’s refusal to protect him from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to Republicans briefed on the conversation.

Russia. Always Russia.

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