Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell appeared at the White House for a press conference after they had lunch. Trump took the opportunity to insult Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as he aggrandized himself.
Mitch McConnell gave an uncomfortable but very visibly pained smile after Trump implied that McConnell was on the take from the healthcare lobby.
Donald Trump insults Mitch McConnell
To many, it may seem shallow to concentrate what Trump did to McConnell in his answer to an important question. A reporter asked Trump what specifically did he want to do to the insurance and drug companies. The following reply was interesting.
“So the insurance companies have made a fortune with Obamacare, an absolute fortune,” said Trump. “As you know what I did with the cuts at the end which we’re all going, you know, you’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars a month going right into the pockets of the insurance companies. And I’m very happy with what I did. And because of that people are talking now. Democrats are talking to the Republicans for a short-term taking care of what we will call health care; So that people can have good health care without big spikes. You would have had massive spikes. You already have. I mean every year the massive spikes to Obamacare have been ridiculous. As far as, and I didn’t speak to Mitch about this today, but a priority of mine and you know that this is coming up, will be the cost of prescription drugs. We’re going to get the costs way down, way down.”
Trump, then went at Mitch McConnell in a rather direct manner. He was speaking about the Washington Establishment.
“And those drug companies,” Trump said. “So you have the insurance companies in one case and the other case, actually with regard to both, you have the drug companies. They contribute massive amounts of money to political people. I don’t know Mitch maybe even to you. But I have to tell you, they contribute massive amounts of money. Me I’m not interested in their money. I don’t need their money. I will tell you. You have prescription drugs. You go to England. You go to various places, Canada. You go to many many countries and the same exact pill from the same company, the same box, the same everything is a tiny fraction of what it costs in the United States. We are going to get drug prices, prescription drug prices, way down. Because the world has taken advantage of us. The world has taken advantage of us.”
Of course, Trump does not talk about him being on the take throughout his life. He does not mention that his cabinet looks like Wall Street. Many Americans will see that jab as the outsider beating back a corrupt Washington on the take.
This is a funny aside but one that will mean a lot to his followers. It will give him some cover when working with the evil Washington Establishment. I would not be surprised to see this in an ad.