GOP/MITCH MCCONNELL/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “As the Senate convened for a rare August work period, the late-summer session serves as a reminder of how much has changed in the partnership between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump. This time last year, the two men were barely on speaking terms. Trump bashed the GOP leader on Twitter after the collapse of Republican efforts to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law. McConnell said Trump had ‘excessive expectations’ for what was possible. The phone lines between them went quiet for days. But both learned how to better relate to the other. Trump now keeps the Kentuckian close as a needed ally in accomplishing his agenda on Capitol Hill. And McConnell talks to the president almost daily as the two chat strategy, monitor campaigns and count votes. It’s a course correction that’s enabling Senate Republicans to motor through their agenda this summer. They’re confirming Trump’s new judges, approving funding bills ahead of a government shutdown deadline and laying the groundwork for a fall vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. They’ve decided that forfeiting the August break is a small price to pay to prevent another round of Republican-on-Republican infighting before the midterm election.”
–AP Staff, “After Stumbles, Trump and McConnell Forge Bond for Midterms,” The New York Times online, August 17, 2018