Harry Reid tears into Trump, Senate GOP: Theyre acolytes for Trump

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/379887-harry-reid-tears-into-trump-senate-gop-theyre-acolytes-for-trump


Harry Reid tears into Trump, Senate GOP: They’re ‘acolytes for Trump’
By Max Greenwood - 03/23/18 07:18 AM EDT


Former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is taking aim at his GOP colleagues, telling The New York Times that Senate Republicans "have become acolytes" for President Trump.

"No one says anything," Reid told the Times. "They have become acolytes for Trump. Can you imagine if Obama had done any of this stuff?"

In a wide-ranging interview, Reid described his growing fatigue with Washington, and offered biting criticism of Trump and Republican lawmakers who he said have failed to stand up to the president.

"I can’t fathom the Republicans doing what they do – nothing, nothing, it doesn’t matter what he does," Reid said.

"Why would they be afraid of him? It should be just the opposite. I don’t expect them to be nit-picking him on every little thing he does wrong. But shouldn’t somebody be saying something about something?"

Reid, who retired in 2017 after more than three decades in Congress, often traded barbs with Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. At one point that year, Trump appeared to mock an injury Reid had sustained in 2015 that cost him his sight in his right eye.

"I may not be able to see out of my right eye, but with my good eye, I can see that Trump is a man who inherited his money and spent his entire life pretending like he earned it," Reid said at the time.

Since his retirement more than a year ago, Reid has remained relatively silent. But he told the Times that he's preparing to leave the nation's capital, and that he does not intend to visit often.

"I don’t want to be here," Reid said. "My life’s not the Senate anymore."