WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump escalated his feud with his top Senate partner Thursday, fueling conservatives' calls for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to step aside if he doesn't deliver on the president's agenda.
Trump called McConnell's failure last month to pass a repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act "a disgrace." Asked if McConnell should consider stepping aside or retiring -- something some conservatives are openly clamoring for -- the president's response was far from a vote of confidence.
"Well, I tell you what, if he doesn't get repeal and replace done, and if he doesn't get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn't get a very easy one to get done, infrastructure, if he doesn't get them done, then you can ask me that question," the president told reporters in Bedminster, N.J., where he is in the midst of a 17-day working vacation.
There was no immediate response from McConnell's office.
[PRESIDENT TRUMP: Timeline, appointments, executive orders + guide to actions in first 200 days]
Trump's remarks come as Republican lawmakers prepare to take up proposed legislation this fall on taxes and spending, as well as to gear up for next year's congressional elections.
Trump's comments came after he spent two days slamming McConnell on Twitter, writing Thursday morning that after "screaming" about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act for seven years, McConnell "couldn't get it done."
Several hours later, the president's tone took a motivational turn as he exhorted, "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!"
The comments from the president come as Breitbart News, Fox News' Sean Hannity and radio host Rush Limbaugh have been vilifying McConnell after the Senate's failure to pass health care legislation late last month. They represent a segment of the Republican electorate, including some big donors, who are out to punish what they see as a "do-nothing Congress" that has hampered the president's goals.
McConnell is "a coward who leads from behind," "spineless," and a lifelong "political animal" of the sort Trump wants to eject from Washington, said Doug Deason, a donor based in Texas, who said he decided months ago not to give money to any Republicans up for re-election next year, unless they can pass Trump's priorities.
McConnell's supporters, on the other hand, saw Trump's remarks as counterproductive.
"Virtually any substantial goals that the president intends to achieve, whether it is tax reform or more infrastructure, requires the active assistance of the Senate majority leader," said Michael Steel, who was a spokesman for former House Speaker John Boehner.
Even Newt Gingrich, a Trump backer and informal adviser who formerly served as speaker of the House, criticized the dispute.
"You saw Mitch McConnell say something, you saw Trump say something, when it's obviously better for them to learn not to do that," Gingrich said. "They have to work together. Governing is a team sport."
After the failure on health care, McConnell and other Republican leaders, including top White House economic officials, are determined to now move to overhauling the tax code with the hope of passing cuts by the end of the year. There are numerous challenges to that, but McConnell has made clear he has little interest in revisiting a health care fight he is numerically doomed to lose.
"The leader has spoken repeatedly about the path forward regarding Obamacare repeal and replace on the Senate floor, at media availabilities and in Kentucky," spokesman David Popp said Thursday before Trump's comments suggesting McConnell's eventual exit might become necessary.
Trump, 71, and McConnell, 75, did not start off as allies. McConnell came around to supporting Trump only after the businessman secured the GOP nomination, and unlike House Speaker Paul Ryan and others, he never wavered.
McConnell has paid numerous visits to the White House this year and traveled with Trump in March to Louisville, Ky. That Trump rally predated all of Congress' attempts to redo health care, and the president urged the crowd to "be nice" to McConnell.
But since the Senate left for recess after the collapse of the GOP health care bill, McConnell touched a nerve by telling an audience in his home state of Kentucky that Trump had "not been in this line of work before" and had "excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process."
Brent Bozell, a longtime McConnell detractor and president of the conservative social media group For America, said the Senate leader had made a ridiculous argument that will haunt him.
"By calling President Trump a political neophyte, McConnell is saying that Trump doesn't understand that Congress doesn't keep its promises," Bozell said. "This is exactly why Trump won -- to shake up Washington, and that includes Republicans."
Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan Lemire of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/11/2017