Harry Reid calls Trump worst president ever in NYT interview: 'Not even a close second'
In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times Magazine, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called President Donald Trump "without question the worst president we’ve ever had."
"We’ve had some bad ones, and there’s not even a close second to him," the Nevada Democrat told the Times in an article that covered Reid's time as Senate majority leader, his relationship with his Democratic successor, Chuck Schumer, and his view on Trump's former Cabinet members.
Reid, who now lives in the suburbs of Las Vegas, the Times reported, also called Trump "an interesting person" but stopped short of calling him immoral.
"He is not immoral but is amoral. Amoral is when you shoot someone in the head, it doesn’t make a difference. No conscience," Reid told the Times. He also described Trump not as someone with a pessimistic worldview but rather, "a person who is oblivious to the real world."
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Reid served as majority leader from 2007 to 2015, during which he was instrumental in passing former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act.
In the interview, Reid also defended on his decision to do away with filibusters in judicial appointments – a move that, as the Times notes, cleared the way for Republicans and Trump to land two conservatives justices on the Supreme Court.
"They can say what they want," Reid told the newspaper. "We had over 100 judges that we couldn’t get approved, so I had no choice. Either Obama’s presidency would be a joke or Obama’s presidency would be one of fruition."
Reid left the Senate after deciding not to seek re-election in the November 2016 elections. The decision came shortly after he was injured in an exercise accident. Then, in 2018, the Democrat had surgery to remove a tumor in his pancreas.
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His former chief off staff, David Krone, told the Times he thought the decision to leave Washington saved Reid.
"He wouldn’t be alive today if he had pancreatic cancer and he was still the Senate leader," Krone said. "He would not have made it."
Krone also said he thinks Reid misses his time as a legislator. Reid told the Times he still speaks with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi often.
"I love Nancy Pelosi. We did so many good things, and we still talk about that," Reid told the newspaper.
As for the Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, Reid was more reserved when speaking with the Times, saying they rarely speak.
"'My personal feeling should have nothing to do with it,' he said. But clearly Reid has more than a few of those personal feelings," Times reporter Mark Leibovich wrote. Leibovich reported that Reid has been critical of Schumer in private.
Reid also addressed others he worked with in the Senate, namely Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator and attorney general.
"Why in the hell didn’t Sessions leave?" he wondered, saying the same of former White House chief of staff John Kelly.
"I’d say, 'Go screw yourself.' I could not look my children in the eye," Reid told the Times.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harry Reid calls Trump worst president ever in NYT interview: 'Not even a close second'
