“Well unfortunately my friends, it’s not over,” McConnell said Monday at a hospital in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky. “We are seeing an increase in Florida, Texas and Arizona and yes, here in Kentucky.”
It’s a very different message than the one espoused by President Donald Trump, who brags about the country’s response, demands that the economy be reopened, rarely urges Americans to wear a mask, and rules out the increase in the virus in the sunbelt and the increase in cases in 37 states.
“It will take a while to get vaccinated,” McConnell said in his country this week, less than a week after Trump promised a vaccine “very, very soon” and in “record time.”
McConnell, on the other hand, urges caution.
“Remember that once we receive one or more vaccines, we will need a massive amount of doses, not just for our country, but for everyone,” he said this week in front of the hospital, with his disposable face mask in his left hand. “For everyone. A lot of doses.”
On Tuesday, McConnell added in Henderson, Kentucky: “The first thing I heard that someone suggested it might be available would be later this year, and that would be extremely optimistic.”
“On the hill front, a strong emphasis on testing, treatment, and vaccination. Testing, treatment, vaccine,” McConnell said Tuesday.
It is surprising that the president and the most powerful Republican in Congress express very different messages, given that the November elections could activate Washington’s response to the pandemic, underscoring that the optimistic vision of the Trump virus has little support within your party. Additionally, McConnell has long preached party unity and message discipline during election season, but staying on the same page rhetorically with Trump is an almost impossible task.
While meeting with hospital workers and talking to local reporters less than four months before confronting voters and seeking a seventh term in the Senate, McConnell does not criticize Trump for the response to the pandemic, making it clear that the Republican Senate Party and the Trump administration want to advance a new recovery package later this month, even when Democrats attack him for moving too slowly.
Back in Kentucky, McConnell’s speeches have been largely devoid of politics and avoid the rhetoric of the partisan battles he leads in the Senate. Instead, it provides a largely apolitical view of the crisis.
Privately, some of the top Republicans told CNN that they wanted Trump to take a similar approach: speak frankly about the real challenges in managing the deadly pandemic, level with the public about deficiencies in the federal response, avoid minimizing the real risks to Americans and try not to rush a reopening of the economy at the risk of public health.
“I would be in a very different place if I did,” a Republican source said of Trump.
“Entering a contest with Dr. Fauci about whether or not he was right doesn’t move the ball forward,” Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who is running for reelection this year, said Tuesday. “The infection rate is going up.”
In appearances across his state, McConnell doesn’t mention Trump much. In Washington, journalists frequently ask McConnell about the President’s comments and incendiary tweets, and he often refuses to participate. He took a similar tactic in Kentucky last week when asked by a reporter about conflicting messages from Fauci and the Trump White House.
“I can only speak for myself,” McConnell replied. “What I’m trying to do is be a good example,” pointing out the use of masks and social distancing in the Senate.
In Kentucky in recent weeks, McConnell talks about Washington’s response to the pandemic and his plans to move forward on a new package, which he is currently negotiating with senior administration officials and key Republican Party presidents. Democrats have asked him to move faster, engage in bipartisan talks, and accept a $ 3 trillion package that the House approved two months ago, a proposal McConnell flatly rejected when asking Washington to first evaluate the roughly $ 3 billions. approved before moving on to a new plan.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Senate Democrats in a private call Tuesday that McConnell has had no contact with a new plan, warning his caucus that the Republican leader will attempt to advance a partisan bill to The end of this month.
“Republicans are stuck in shilling for special interests,” Schumer told Senate Democrats, according to a person on the call.
Since helping to introduce the $ 2.2 billion economic bailout package in March, the largest in history, McConnell has been criticizing the state for thanking the first to respond and promote the elements of the measure, citing an impact of $ 12 billion that the law had in his state, and a meeting with workers in food banks and hospitals. He also notes that if he were not the majority leader, Schumer would be leading the agenda.
During the two-week July 4 recess ending Friday, McConnell will have held 18 events across the state, according to aides. And during the events, it offers a similar refrain: talking about how Washington had to figure out how to respond to this new virus, how it turned the economy upside down, and how Americans should take steps to protect themselves and others from continuing the crisis. spread of the disease.
And make it clear, it’s not over.
“The best thing we can do to protect ourselves and others is to wear a mask and maintain social distance,” said McConnell in Corbin, Kentucky. “It is not that difficult. Some people in the country tried to politicize that issue. Believe me, the coronavirus is not involved in American politics, it has no part in American politics. But we have an obligation as individuals to try to protect ourselves and others . “
McConnell’s aides say the senator knows how to speak to his constituents during a time of crisis.
“It doesn’t do anybody any good to tell them the truth,” said Josh Holmes, one of McConnell’s top aides and his former chief of staff. “You feel an obligation to level people with what they can do here right now. There is no magic button to help us get through six months and more … The best thing you can do is try to mitigate it here.”
But the bailout package McConnell is campaigning passed to the Senate without dissenting votes, a rarity on Capitol Hill, and has been the subject of an ad campaign that the Republican Senate leader has carried out across the state. A review of his ads shows that 45% have focused on the coronavirus, more than any other topic, with the ad in which his campaign is the one that most promotes his role during the crisis, a sign that the Republican leader sees the problem as a central issue. in the minds of voters.
“The United States is in crisis like never before, and in times of crisis, we look at leaders,” says the ad, which shows McConnell.
CNN’s David Wright and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
.
