Beyond the fuss created by President Donald Trump’s social media habit, the new Oval Office occupant is undertaking many of the same policy initiatives a generic Republican administration would have pursued, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told a calm group of his Kentucky constituents on Tuesday.
“Am I a fan of all the tweets? Eh …” he paused during remarks to a local chamber of commerce. “Use your imagination. But if you focus on what the president is trying to accomplish, and you believe America needed to go in a different direction, I think he’s doing a lot of the right things.”
Those things could have been done by “a President Rubio or a President [Jeb] Bush,” he said, echoing comments he made to reporters in Washington, D.C., last week.
It was the first time McConnell had made such an appearance since Inauguration Day, and he was greeted by protesters waiting outdoors. Once inside, however, the even environment reflected the area’s voting preference four months prior—Anderson County, the site of Tuesday’s event, went 72 percent for Trump to Hillary Clinton’s 23 percent.
McConnell accordingly faced little animosity once the event was underway, appearing before a quiet group hesitant to ask questions during a brief Q&A session. “Anybody interested in anything I had to say?” he asked the audience after he entertained a couple of tirades, one of which in fact extolled McConnell for his leadership on coal-related issues.
He eventually heard from a couple of small business owners about Obamacare and the nation’s opioid crisis. He tied efforts to solve the latter to the country’s mood when it elected Trump. Voters “didn’t like either one of these candidates. It’s pretty obvious,” he said. “But in the end, they decided they wanted something different.”
Both the Senate and the House are on break this week for the Presidents’ Day holiday, marking the first congressional recess of the year. Unsettled crowds of voters in districts across the country have been expected as members face their constituents for town halls and similar public events.
Fred Barnes interviewed McConnell prior to his trip home last week, which can be read here.
