Touting President Trump’s criticism of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a conservative group said Thursday the time is ripe to remove the Kentucky Republican from his leadership post for failing to deliver on campaign promises.
Ken Cuccinelli, the president of the Senate Conservatives Fund, said Mr. McConnell recently showed his true colors when attributed part of the GOP’s failed efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare to Mr. Trump’s lack of governing experience.
“It isn’t unreasonable to expect Republicans to keep their promises and McConnell’s excuse is yet another example of why he should be replaced as the Republican leader,” Mr. Cuccinelli said in an email blast. “Tell Senate Republicans to replace him now!”
The demand comes after Mr. McConnell tried to explain the GOP’s legislative struggles at an event this week in Kentucky.
“Part of the reason I think that the story line is that we haven’t done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point,” Mr. McConnell said. “Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before. And I think he had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.
The remarks sparked a backlash from Mr. Trump, who ripped into Mr. McConnell on Twitter Wednesday and Thursday.
“Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn’t get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!” Mr. Trump said.
He also said, “Mitch, get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!”
Mr. Cuccinelli, meanwhile, said Mr. McConnell — not Mr. Trump — is to blame for raising expectations by vowing to rip Obamacare out “root and branch” and by promising to pass border wall funding by the end of April and tax reform by August.
“Yet it’s now the second week of August, none of these things have been done, and Mitch McConnell is making excuses and blaming others while the Senate is on a monthlong recess,” he said. “The problem isn’t that the president hasn’t been in his job very long, it’s that McConnell has been in his job for too long.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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