McConnell bashes Reid’s ‘inappropriate’ rhetoric

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) bashed his Democratic counterpart, Harry Reid, in an interview set to air this weekend, criticizing the Nevada Democrat for unfairly linking him to Donald Trump’s “inflammatory rhetoric.” 

{mosads}”I think his public rhetoric is frankly very inappropriate,” McConnell said of Reid during an interview with Sen. Lamar Alexander for CSPAN2’s BookTV, as the pair discussed the majority leader’s new book, “The Long Game: A Memoir.” 

When asked for an example, McConnell pointed to Reid’s recent comments on the floor conflating him with Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

“He took all of Donald Trump’s most outrageous comments and attributed that to me. But I don’t do that to him,” McConnell said. 

He specifically panned Reid’s “inflammatory rhetoric,” noting that he called Alan Greenspan a “political hack” and President George W. Bush a “loser” during his term in the Oval Office. 

The full interview will air in two parts on CSPAN2, on June 4 and June 5 at 10 p.m. 

McConnell and Reid, the Senate minority leader, have had a rocky relationship during their time as the top dogs of their parties in the Senate. Late last year, Reid declared in a floor speech that the two are in fact friends, despite swirling rumors of a souring. 

The Republican leader also criticized President Obama in the interview, arguing he should “spend less time trying to acquaint whoever he’s talking to at the moment with his brilliance and more time listening.” He went on to contrast his style with that of Vice President Joe Biden, arguing that he’d rather negotiate with him instead of the president.