Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to address voters Thursday morning at the Kentucky Farm Bureau’s annual ham breakfast after what has been a tumultuous few weeks for the Senate majority leader and Republican President Donald Trump.
After a failed vote to repeal Obamacare last month, tensions between Trump and McConnell have escalated. The two men haven’t spoken since an August 9 phone call, which CNN reported earlier this week devolved into a shouting match.
While staff has been in communication, the White House told CNN Wednesday that there are no current plans for McConnell and Trump to speak again until September when Congress returns from recess and they can talk in person.
A key moment in their public feud came earlier this month when McConnell told an audience in Kentucky that Trump had “excessive expectations” when it came to legislating, a statement that drove Trump to publicly attack McConnell’s leadership and Senate rules on Twitter.
Over the last several months, Trump has also threatened McConnell’s rank-and-file members, putting individual members’ re-elections and McConnell’s majority at risk. In a speech in Phoenix Tuesday night, Trump — without mentioning names — continued his tough talk as he lashed out at incumbents Sen. John McCain (who voted against the health care bill) and Sen. Jeff Flake, who has a long history of tangling with Trump during the campaign.
But the strain in the relationship between McConnell and Trump comes at a time when Congress and the White House have a long list of items that must be accomplished in relatively short order.
In the fall, McConnell and Trump have to agree to raise the debt ceiling, pass a budget and fund the government, an item that seems especially in jeopardy after Trump suggested Tuesday night that he would be willing to risk a shutdown if he didn’t get funding to build his long-promised border wall.
McConnell’s tried to downplay the drama. In a statement Wednesday, McConnell said “the President and I, and our teams, have been and continue to be in regular contact about our shared goals.”
“We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we are committed to advancing our shared agenda together and anyone who suggests otherwise is clearly not part of the conversation,” McConnell said. The White House issued a similar public statement later Wednesday.
It is unclear if McConnell will address Trump’s recent actions or rhetoric in his address at the Kentucky State Fair Thursday morning, but one thing is for certain: McConnell is walking a fine line. McConnell might be the most powerful senator in the country, but choosing to publicly spar with Trump, a candidate who won Kentucky by roughly 30 points, is still a risky proposition.