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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 10 auguSt 2019
Trump-McConnell 2020? Senate

leader glues self to president

By LISA MASCARO popularity in Kentucky tha- at media and political op-
AP Congressional Corre- non his own, a different ponents. When campaign
spondent political landscape from volunteers came under
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s the one he faced in 2014, criticism for appearing to
not quite “Trump-McCon- before the president took choke a cardboard cut-
nell 2020,” but it might as the White House. out of Ocasio-Cortez at
well be. “They need each other,” the picnic in a photo cir-
As he runs for reelection, says Scott Jennings, a long- culated online, McConnell
Senate Majority Leader time adviser to McConnell. allies said the high school-
Mitch McConnell is posi- The new McConnell strate- ers were being treated un-
In this Aug. 3, 2019 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., addresses the audience gathered at the tioning himself as the presi- gy shows just how far Trump fairly by opponents trying
Fancy Farm Picnic in Fancy Farm, Ky. dent’s wingman, his trusted has transformed the GOP, to maliciously shame them
Associated Press right hand in Congress, turning a banker’s-collar- in public.
transformed from a be- and-cufflinks conservative The shift in McConnell’s
hind-the-scenes player into into a “Fake News!” shout- strategy is not lost on Dem-
a prominent if sometimes ing senator. ocrat Amy McGrath, the
reviled Republican like Theirs was not an easy al- former fighter pilot and the
none other besides Donald liance in Trump’s first year, leading Democrat hoping
Trump himself. and they went a long to win the party’s nomina-
“In Washington, President stretch without talking to tion to challenge him next
Trump and I are making each other. But two years fall, her campaign said.
America great again!” he on, McConnell has proven McGrath is telling Kentuck-
declared at a rally in Ken- a loyal implementer of the ians that McConnell is part
tucky, his voice rising over president’s initiatives, and of the problem, a long-
protesters. Trump no longer assails the serving leader who has
Other than Democrat senator on Twitter. stood in the way of gun
Nancy Pelosi — and more Perhaps no issue has drawn safety, health care and
recently Alexandria Oca- the unlikely partners to- other legislation for years,
sio-Cortez — no current gether more than the cur- and hardly the one to fulfill
politician has so quickly be- rent reckoning over nation- Trump’s promises. Demo-
come such a high-profile al gun violence. Republi- crats and Republicans say
object of partisan scorn. cans, long allied with the she is expected to attract
McConnell was heckled National Rifle Association, plenty of fundraising dollars
last weekend at his home have resisted stricter laws and volunteers in a race
state’s annual “Fancy on firearm and ammunition that could easily approach
Farm” political picnic, and sales. But the frequency $100 million, second only to
protesters outside his Louis- of mass shootings and the the presidential contest.
ville house hurled so many grave toll are intensifying “It almost feels like we have
profanities that Twitter tem- pressure to act. a mini-presidential cam-
porarily shut down his ac- Trump on Friday revived his paign going on here,” said
count for posting video of interest in having Congress Jennings.
them online. take a look at expand- Kentucky remains a GOP
Undaunted, he revels in the ing federal background stronghold, and Trump is
nickname he’s given him- checks and other gun extraordinarily popular,
self — the “Grim Reaper,” safety laws long pushed by which is part of the reason
bragging that he’s bury- Democrats, insisting he will McConnell is tying his own
ing the House Democrats’ be able to get Republicans political future to the presi-
agenda — though he on board. McConnell, in dent. But it’s unclear if his
seems stung by one lobbed a shift, said he’s now will- is the right strategy for the
by opponents, “Moscow ing to consider those ideas times.
Mitch.” “front and center” when With a national profile, Mc-
But the Democrats’ agen- Congress returns in the fall. Connell’s record is coming
da includes gun legisla- Said Trump, “I think I have a under more scrutiny.
tion to require background greater influence now over A Russian oligarch’s in-
checks that Trump now the Senate.” vestments in a Kentucky
wants to consider, forc- “We’ve seen it before,” aluminum plant and Mc-
ing McConnell to adjust said Sen. Chuck Schumer, Connell’s refusal to allow
his earlier refusal to do so. D-N.Y., in a tweet after the the Senate to consider a
The Senate leader has weekend mass shootings in House-passed election
been here before, pushing El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, security bill have resulted
ahead with a Trump prior- Ohio. “An awful shooting in opponents calling him
ity that’s unpopular with occurs. @realDonaldTrump “Moscow Mitch” following
most Republicans. But this expresses interest in help- Russia’s 2016 campaign in-
will test both his relationship ing. Republicans try to get terference. His campaign
with the president and his him off the hook with lesser tries to make light of ques-
grip on the GOP majority. measures. Nothing hap- tions surrounding the ship-
All while he’s campaigning pens.” ping business run by the
to keep his job. In fact, McConnell and family of his wife, Elaine
McConnell is even more his allies have taken on Chao, Trump’s transporta-
dependent on Trump’s Trump’s style, lashing out tion secretary.q