The meetings this week between President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders might give the illusion of legislative progress, but it is merely rhetoric and more inaction in a far too "polarized" Congress, Republican strategist Ed Rollins said.
"There's just a real unwillingness at this point in time to deal," Rollins, who worked in President Ronald Reagan's administration, told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on 970 AM-N.Y.
"So, whatever the rhetoric is this last week, when it gets down to the trenches, it's just not going to happen."
Rollins does not blame President Trump for his attempt, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., offered mere lip service and no votes.
"There was not asking of votes: 'What are you going to do for me?'" Rollins told host John Catsimatidis. "It's nice rhetoric at this point in time, but in the end of the day, there's no votes coming over from the Democratic side for the president's programs."
President Trump, having seen Senate Republicans fail on healthcare by just one vote, needs a big legislative victory on tax reform, immigration, or a border wall in the coming weeks, but the ballyhooed meeting with Democrats got him no closer on any of it.
"I think he's frustrated," Rollins said of President Trump. "Obviously, there never has been anybody in modern history who is been elected with less experience with government."
Reaching across the aisle to Democrats still had to happen, even if they are not offering anything, because the GOP just cannot align and move in the president's direction, Rollins added.
"You would think most Republicans will want to be on the side of the president and do what he wants, but there's always a couple that aren't," he said, referring to the narrow 52-48 majority in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have failed to deliver for the president on the major legislation, too.
"They are not always in tune," Rollins said of GOP leadership. "They are not always going to click their heels and do exactly what the president wants and that frustrates him."
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