Mitch McConnell is very worried about 'presidential harassment'

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 10 October 2018

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.

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"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.

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Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.

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