Lawmakers Detail What Trump is Like ‘Behind the Scenes’


Last week, Mike Kelly and other lawmakers were headed to the White House for a bowling outing.

This is completely opposite of Barack Obama, who was known for keeping lawmakers at a distance.

 

By contrast, Obama had a reputation for keeping lawmakers — both Republicans and fellow Democrats — at a distance, rather than cultivating friendships or personal relationships on either side of the aisle. Obama’s aides downplayed that criticism as unfair, and the one-time senator from Illinois did invite lawmakers over for official meetings or rare social gatherings.

Obama famously joked in 2013 that “some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress” and chide him for not getting drinks with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “Really?” Obama laughed. “Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?” But the following year, when Republicans retook control of the Senate, Obama said he’d enjoy having a bourbon with McConnell sometime after all.

Talking to Critics

But Trump has shown unexpected energy in reaching out to his GOP critics and Democrats.

On Wednesday, for example, Trump met with Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland to talk about rising prescription drug prices. Cummings has been a strong critic of Trump, accusing him of conflicts of interest with his business and calling for several investigations.

Still, the pair had talked on the phone in January, when Cummings said he and Trump found out they “had more in common than differences.” During Wednesday’s meeting, the White House said Trump indicated a desire work with Cummings in a bipartisan fashion to ensure prescription drug prices are more affordable.

During the meeting, Trump also offered his condolences to a longtime Cummings staffer, who lost six of her children in January in a tragic house fire.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a frequent Trump critic, was himself summoned for a private lunch with the president Tuesday, one day after House Republicans rolled out their new health plan.

Trump’s early outreach on a wide range of issues has included Republican leaders, conservatives who opposed him in the election and leading Democrats. On Wednesday evening, he dined with Texas Senator Ted Cruz — and his wife — a far cry from when the pair traded bitter personal attacks as rivals during the presidential primary.

Cruz said Thursday that Trump and the first lady were “warm and gracious,” and that one of their daughters took a picture with Trump and her kindergarten’s stuffed-animal mascot, Joe the Giraffe.

‘Wooing Each Other’

The president also called Senator Rand Paul to discuss the Kentucky Republican’s opposition to the Obamacare plan.

President Donald Trump listens to Senator Rand Paul speak in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on Feb. 16, 2017.

President Donald Trump listens to Senator Rand Paul speak in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on Feb. 16, 2017.

Photographer: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

“I think we’re wooing each other,” said Paul, a former Trump presidential primary foe, adding that the president sounded open to his ideas.

The Republican vote-counters who met with Trump on Tuesday came away impressed by his openness and spontaneity.

As they introduced themselves one-by-one around a long table at the White House, Trump suddenly chimed in.

“Youngest woman ever elected to Congress!” the president blurted out just before the 32-year-old Representative Elise Stefanik of New York managed to give out her name, according to Cole.

“He’s great like that. He’s interacting with members. He’s funny,” said Cole, who had himself been greeted by Trump in a personal fashion earlier.

“I walked in, and he said, ‘You, you’re great on television. Isn’t this guy great on television? He’s got a face made for television!’” he recounted. And throughout the meeting, aimed at discussing how the president could help congressional Republicans get their health bill to his desk, Cole said of Trump, “He was on top of it. He was energetic.”

Oval Office Tour

Representative Tom Marino of Pennsylvania recalled another recent meeting of House Republicans at the White House.

“We’re all sitting around,” he said, and Trump suddenly asks, “You’ve never been in the Oval Office?”

“And we say, no. And he says, ‘C’mon, I’ll take you around,’” said Marino.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday that the president is purposefully engaging lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to seek solutions and areas of compromise on a variety of issues, including a replacement for Obamacare.

“This is a president who is going to engage with everybody who can help join in proposing ideas and thoughts and opinions on how to move the country forward,” Spicer said.

Bowling Get-Togethers

On Thursday, Republican Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania and other lawmakers are headed to the White House for a bowling outing, said Kelly’s spokesman Tom Qualtere.

Kelly was one of the earliest House Trump supporters. But Qualtere said there is a chance this could be the beginning of regular bowling get-togethers for lawmakers at the executive residence.

 

Either Trump is a master manipulator, or he’s a genuinely good person and not the monster painted in the media. Or, perhaps loyalty is something we’ve never before seen in the realm of politics and Trump is a pioneer. We’ll have to see. For now, let’s hope that the left stops trying to hinder his progress and let’s him do his job.

Source: bloomberg.com

 



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