Harry Reid reconsiders Trump: ‘He’s not as bad as I thought’
Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has been anything but friendly to President-elect Donald Trump, but life — and perspective — changes fast in Washington, D.C., and now the liberal lawmaker appears to be willing to give the billionaire businessman a chance.
“I have to say this: He’s not as bad as I thought he would be,” Reid said during an interview with NPR posted Thursday.
As for why he’s suddenly sharing a rosier perspective about the president-elect, Reid pointed to Trump’s apparent shift on President Barack Obama’s DREAMers executive order, which Trump originally promised to repeal:
We heard from Trump that one of the first things he was going to do is repeal [the DREAMers] executive order.In an interview he had with Time magazine in the last day or two, he said, “Nah, I’m not going to do that.” Those young people deserve to stay here. He’s not going to prosecute Hillary Clinton criminally, as he said he would do. Obviously he didn’t believe in all of the stuff he said, which is a step in the right direction.
Reid told the NPR reporter that he hopes Trump will be a successful president, adding, “It’s not as if Donald Trump and I have been enemies our whole lives.”
“You know, he’s done fundraisers for me,” he continued. “When I was elected last time he sent me a letter saying, ‘You’re awesome.’ … It’s not as if I have hate in my soul for Donald Trump. I hope, beyond all, that he does well. It’s important to the stability of this great nation we have.”
Reid’s praise for Trump is most certainly a bitter pill to swallow.
In May, the Nevada senator said he’s “never ever seen a more flawed candidate” than Trump, and in July, he called the real estate mogul “dangerous.” In September, Reid tweeted that Trump is “a racist” and called the Republican “a human leech.” And in October, he called Trump a “billion-dollar loser.” Those are just some of the insults.
During the same interview, Reid expressed disappointment that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, despite winning the popular vote by a sizable margin, failed to secure enough electoral votes to become president. He did, however, say it makes it “a little easier” for him to leave knowing that Democrats failed to win back control of the Senate.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting. Your comments are needed for helping to improve the discussion.