Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, Faces the Press about the Upcoming Trump Presidency
President-elect Donald J. Trump has entered what seems to be uncharted territory for a man of wealth and privilege, one who is used to being the man in charge.
The truth is that being president of these United States does involve working with Congress. It is not a job in which a CEO speaks the word and his/her underlings jump to fulfill commands.
Even decisions that on their face appear to be at the sole discretion of the president are often negotiated behind the scenes in exchange for Congressional support on other decisions.
That is why it is important to pay attention to how Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, responds to media questions regarding controversial components of the agenda that Trump promoted during his presidential campaign.
On November 09, 2016, McConnell participated in a post-election news conferenceduring which he answered questions from the press for about 18 minutes. In this post, I highlight much of McConnell’s Q & A with the press in an effort to understand a possible (probable?) tempering influence upon Trump’s often outlandish campaign promises.
First of all, McConnell seems to realize the importance of working with Senate Democrats; he realizes that a Senate Republican majority is not forever (and likely that the Senate Republican majority is a slim one). In this case, McConnell identified a member of the press, “Paul,” who had this question:
Senator, the last time there was a unified control of the White House and the Senate and the House, your belief was that the Democrats in 2009-10 acted too fast on their own, unilaterally, with no real bipartisan on stimulus, ACA, Dodd-Frank. How do you avoid those mistakes given the views of your voters, help your base voters right now?McConnell: Well, let me just answer it, sort of, broadly. I think it’s always a mistake to misread your mandate, and frequently, new majorities think it’s Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, Faces the Press about the Upcoming Trump Presidency | deutsch29:
