GOP/POLITICAL FIGURES/TAXES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose relationship has been tense for months, offered a united front Monday [10-16-17] to promote their plans to rewrite the tax code as the Senate nears a critical vote.
The White House had asked for the meeting over a week ago, according to a person familiar with the decision, and orchestrated a joint news conference that followed in the Rose Garden where the two men took turns praising each other.
The congenial appearance stood in contrast to the president’s statements at a cabinet meeting earlier on Monday, where he decried how Congress had failed to pass key parts of his agenda and made a nod to threats from his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, to declare war on the Republican establishment.
After the lunch meeting, Mr. Trump eased away from promoting primary challenges to Republican senators, as Mr. Bannon is threatening, and made clear he would sign a bipartisan health care bill that would diminish the political fallout that could come from his decision to cut off Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies—two moves that could help Mr. McConnell.”
-Eli Stokols, “Trump and McConnell Declare They Have a Common Agenda,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 16, 2017 07:48pm