Echoing Trump, Fox & Friends blasts McConnell for “taking a recess” and “blaming” Trump for health care failure
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
From the August 10 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Meanwhile, let's talk a little bit about President Trump kind of sent a missile over toward [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell [(R-KY)] yesterday. And it all got started earlier in the week when Mitch McConnell, who was talking to the rotary club out there in Florence, Kentucky, he was talking about, “Eh, this rookie president, he just doesn't know exactly how Washington works.”
[...]
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): So he feels as though the president put too much pressure on him to speed up things, therefore health care failed. We don't have anything in terms of a stimulus package, and we don't have any infrastructure package and we don't have tax reform yet, but don't blame him. The president [INAUDIBLE] picked up the phone and said, “Senator, what are you talking about? You're blaming me for the speed of our agenda because I don't know what I'm doing?” So he let him have it. And then he tweeted.
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): He said, “Senator Mitch McConnell said I had 'excessive expectations,' but I don't think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?”
DOOCY: Sure. So, Brian, you're right. The reports are that the president called up Mitch McConnell before the tweet went out. I don't think he called him up to say, “Hey, I'm about to tweet something.” I think he probably chewed on him just a little bit. Because when you look at what he said, Mitch McConnell said that, the president had put an artificial time line out there. But when you look back at what congressional leaders, particularly the Senate, said in the last six months, they were the ones who made the artificial deadline.
[...]
KILMEADE: Isn't part of the plan for them to execute and not let the president, who's doing this for the first time, get in the way? The president behind the scenes was picking up the phone, talking to lawmakers. And by the way, Mitch McConnell has a lot to be proud of. He got some never-Trumpers like [Sens.] Ben Sasse [(R-NE)] and Jeff Flake [(R-AZ)] and people that were going to be tough to haul, like [Sen.] Rand Paul [(R-KY)] was a definite no. He flipped a lot of them. He fell short when [Sen. Lisa] Murkowski [(R-AK)] wouldn't budge, [Sen. Susan] Collins [(R-ME)] wouldn't budge. And [Sen. John] McCain [(R-AZ)] shocked everybody with a dramatic thumbs down. So he could have said that and said we hope to be better and learn from that for tax reform. Instead he said, “Don't blame me.”
EARHARDT: Well, the Democratic Party has it right when it comes to loyalty. They stick together. The Republican Party, you just have some that are wayward and they're [not being loyal to this administration. They're not being loyal to the people, to the constituents that put them in there who wanted repeal and replace. And they've got to all get on board and do this. Meanwhile, he's on vacation. He's taking a recess --
KILMEADE: Again, when he promised to work.
EARHARDT: -- and saying -- and blaming the president for the time frame. Meanwhile, they knew, they've been running on this for seven years.
DOOCY: Sure.
EARHARDT: Where is the plan?
DOOCY: Exactly. And the Senate famously a couple of weeks ago said we're going to stay in session until we get this done. They didn't get it done. They left town early. You know what? They're actually going to stay out an extra week.
Related:
NY Times: Mitch McConnell’s ‘Excessive Expectations’ Comment Draws Trump’s Ire
Previously:
Right-wing media figures and online bots are going after “weak, spineless” Mitch McConnell
Conservative Media Split On Who To Blame For Trump's Attempt To Destroy Health Care