Article snippet: WASHINGTON — President Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, tried to convey a sense of harmony on Monday after months of bitter, private feuding that threatened to undermine their party’s legislative push in the coming weeks to enact a sweeping tax cut. In an impromptu, 45-minute Rose Garden news conference after the men met for lunch at the White House, Mr. Trump and Mr. McConnell both put on a display of awkward camaraderie, as the president went on volubly, fielding question after question as the senator fidgeted and spoke only occasionally. Through it all, they tried to wave aside reports of a disintegrating relationship that had included the president’s repeated use of tweets to publicly disparage Mr. McConnell’s legislative leadership. “We have been friends for a long time,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. McConnell as the veteran lawmaker stood awkwardly to his left. “We are probably now, I think, as least as far as I’m concerned, closer than ever before.” The expressions of friendship came at a time of deepening personal animosity and mistrust that had left Mr. Trump seething about the leader’s legislative failures and Mr. McConnell appalled by the president’s lack of policy understanding. After Mr. McConnell publicly questioned the president’s “excessive expectations,” Mr. Trump berated him during a phone call that devolved into a profane shouting match, according to a person with knowledge of the call. The feud peaked this weekend when Stephe... Link to the full article to read more