Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., got a front row seat to the disillusionment the donors to his party are feeling, being told by one contributor to ‘just do something.’
Politico reported that things got heated at a recent fundraising dinner at the home of billionaire Robert Day in Los Angeles.
In front of about two dozen guests, party contributor and oil and gas investor Thomas Wachtell gave the top Senate Republican a scolding for the GOP’s inability to get health care or taxes or anything else passed – and donors, more broadly, are holding out cash.
‘Anybody who was there knew that I was not happy. And I don’t think anybody was happy. How could you be?’ Wachtell told Politico after the fact.
Wachtell had previously forked over $2,000 to McConnell, but has recently stopped giving money to the GOP.
‘You’re never going to get a more sympathetic Republican than I am,’ he told the publication. ‘But I’m sick and tired of nothing happening.’
Wachtell isn’t alone.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told his colleagues at a recent meeting, according to Politico, that donations had fallen off after this summer’s Obamacare repeal stall.
While the House was able to pass a repeal and replace bill, the Senate’s efforts to pass a ‘skinny’ repeal bill stalled in late July, when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., made a late-breaking vote that helped the Democratic side.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., got a mouthful from an angry donor recently, who begged the Republican majority in Congress to ‘do something’
In July and August the NRSC raised just $2 million, less than half of what it brought in in June.
McConnell, for his part, was defensive and pointed a finger at President Trump.
The Kentucky Republican told those dining at the Los Angeles home that Trump didn’t seem to understand how long it takes to get legislation passed, reiterating that that’s a Congressional reality.
Trump has likely made the situation worse by publicly complaining about it.
But some members of the administration think it could be a good thing for Congressional donors to hold GOP lawmakers hostage, as it might produce new Republican leadership.
Vice President Mike Pence’s Chief of Staff recently said in a closed-door meetings that donors should hold their funds and push lawmakers for a House and Senate leadership change
Some of Trump’s people think the party can do better than McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who come from the more establishment side of the party and don’t represent the interests of populists like Trump.
This week Vice President Mike Pence’s Chief of Staff Nick Ayers was caught by Politico giving donors some advice: don’t give to candidates unless they push for a leadership change.
‘I’m not speaking on behalf of the president or vice president when I say this,’ Ayers said, having been asked how to rally GOP lawmakers to replace their leaders.
‘But if I were you, I would not only stop donating, I would form a coalition of all the other major donors, and just say two things: We’re definitely not giving to you, No. 1. And No. 2, if you don’t have this done by Dec. 31, we’re going out, we’re recruiting opponents, we’re maxing out to their campaigns, and we’re funding super PACs to defeat all of you,’ Ayers advised.
He suggested that if a few problematic Republican members of Congress were removed, then Trump and Pence might be able to get the agenda through.
‘Just imagine the possibilities of what can happen if our entire party unifies behind him? If – and this sounds crass – we can purge the handful of people who continue to work to defeat him,’ Ayers said.