McConnell: Trump is ‘doing a good job’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has had a rocky relationship with President Trump, said Thursday that the president is “doing a good job” and is “doing the right thing for our country.” 

But McConnell admitted that he gets annoyed by Trump’s tweeting habit, which makes many Senate Republicans nervous, especially when Trump trades insults with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“He knows I’m not a huge fan of tweets,” McConnell said.

McConnell made the remarks at a “News Shapers” event hosted by Axios on Thursday morning. 

{mosads}His relationship with the president hit a low point in August, when Trump ripped the Senate leader on Twitter over the failure to pass legislation repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

“The only problem I have with Mitch McConnell is that, after hearing Repeal & Replace for 7 years, he failed! That should NEVER have happened!” Trump tweeted in late August.

Trump even suggested to reporters that month that McConnell’s future as Senate GOP leader might be in danger if he failed to pass tax reform and infrastructure investment legislation.

McConnell admitted Thursday that those tweets “weren’t my favorite, no.”

But he insisted Trump has “gotten better” on Twitter. 

Trump praised McConnell effusively the day before, tweeting, “I could have not asked for a better or more talented partner.”

He congratulated the leader for doing a “fantastic job both strategically & politically” in passing tax legislation.

McConnell returned the compliment Thursday, telling an audience the president is “doing a good job” and “doing the right thing for the country.”

McConnell described his working relationship with Trump as “good” and said he talks with him “all the time.” 

“He likes to talk,” McConnell quipped. “You get phone calls at the oddest hours, but it’s not just me. He calls a lot of people.”

“There’s a lot of interaction, a lot of back and forth,” he added.

The relationship was a lot less friendly earlier this year, when Trump was livid over the Senate’s failure to pass health-care legislation.

The New York Times reported in August that the two had not spoken for weeks after the Senate ObamaCare repeal bill went down in flames.

The Times also reported that McConnell had privately expressed doubts about Trump’s ability to salvage his presidency after a rocky first few months in office.

Trump had grown exasperated with McConnell for not doing more to shield him from Senate investigations into the influence Russia had over his 2016 presidential election, while McConnell was angered by Trump’s threats against GOP colleagues and disdain for Senate procedural rules, the Times reported.