The big picture: Republican senators have noticed an evolution in McConnell’s relationship with Trump. When Trump first became president, McConnell avoided any public disagreement with him. But in the past two weeks, McConnell has condemned two of Trump’s ideas as politically disastrous:
Diving back into repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act after the Republicans spectacularly failed to do so in 2017. In a Senate lunch two weeks ago, per a source in the room, McConnell said: “I called the president and I said ‘Just so we don’t have any misunderstandings, we are not going to vote on health care before 2020. Just so we’re clear. And I’m not going to put together a working group. If you want a plan, it’s going to have to be yours. But we’re not going to vote on it.'”
Trump’s threat to close the ports of entry at the southern border. McConnell warned of a “potentially catastrophic economic impact on our country.”
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