White House budget director Mick Mulvaney admitted Thursday that President Trump “probably is” annoyed with congressional Republicans, paving the way for him to blindside GOP leadership by agreeing to the Democrats’ proposal for a short-term debt ceiling extension.
“I’ll answer half your question, which is he annoyed with the Republican leadership? Yeah, I think he probably is,” Mulvaney told Fox Business’ Neil Cavuto. “And believe me, as a Republican, so am I. As a citizen, I am too.”
Mulvaney attributed his irritation to Capitol Hill Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace Obamacare after promising constituents that they would for seven years.
“I was disappointed and somewhat annoyed that we’ve not followed through on that promise,” Mulvaney said. “I don’t think that’s an unnatural reaction at all and, to the extent that the president was annoyed by that, I think he’s simply reflecting the opinion of many of the people in the country.”
Mulvaney denied Trump was losing Republican allies over his decision to embrace Democrats while criticizing GOP members on Twitter, saying that any Republican “worth his or her salt is probably annoyed at the party as well.”
Mulvaney added that he expected Congress to pass a tax reform plan by the end of the year.
“I think in mid-December, when the tax bill passes, people will look back at what the president did this week and say, ‘You know what? Maybe he was right, cutting that deal in September is a big part of getting these taxes before the end of the year,'” he said.
