Harry Reid on Trump 2020: ‘He’s Going to Be Hard to Beat’

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., listens during a media availability after the S
AP Photo/Molly Riley

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is highly critical of President Donald Trump on almost every issue but warns that it will not be easy to prevent his reelection in 2020.

A host with National Public Radio’s (NPR) Weekend Edition Sunday asked Reid, “How difficult do you think this race against President Trump is going to be?”

“I think that anyone who thinks it’s going to be a walk in the park is wrong,” Reid said. “No one should discount Donald Trump.”

“He’s spent a lifetime developing who he is and I wish he were somebody else, but he’s somebody that has been able to focus on race,” said Reid, who then said Trump has the wrong policies on the environment, the economy, and trade.

“So I think that his simplistic views on the world translate to people not wanting to focus real hard on what needs to be done to help this country,” Reid said. “So don’t discount him.”

“He’s going to be hard to beat,” Reid added.

Reid, 79, is battling cancer but told NPR that his prognosis is good and that he doesn’t miss being a senator.

“I believe in the Old Testament admonition that there’s a time for everything,” Reid said. “A time for planting, a time for reaping.”

“I just think that that was my time,” Reid said. “I enjoyed every minute of my 30 years in the Senate and my four years in the House.”

“But that was my time and now is not my time,” Reid said.

Follow Penny Starr on Twitter.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.