Mitch McConnell is very worried about 'presidential harassment'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thinks the "left-wing mob" might work in President Trump's favor.

Republican leaders have taken to using the phrase to describe vocal dissent from the opposing party, but McConnell told The Associated Press on Wednesday that if mob-like Democrats gain power in Washington, they could inadvertently help re-elect Trump.

Democrats are poised to win control of the House in the midterm elections. McConnell warned that using that control to engage in "presidential harassment" would backfire. By "harassment," McConnell means launching investigations into Trump's finances and business ventures. Democrats have already pledged to get their hands on Trump's tax returns if they win the House, something McConnell thinks would only help make Trump more sympathetic in the eyes of the public.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"This business of presidential harassment may or may not quite be the winner they think it is," he said of Democrats' strategy. He pointed to similar circumstances during former President Bill Clinton's administration, when the GOP-led House impeached him, but the Senate acquitted him. "It worked exactly the opposite" as intended, said McConnell. "The public got mad at us and felt sympathy for President Clinton." The same tactics against Trump, he posited, will simply "help the president get re-elected in 2020." Read more at The Associated Press.