Trump not only wants NRA consent for appointees but other special interest approval as well

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Trump supports McConnell call for NRA approval of SCOTUS nominee

 “Special Interests must have a say”

Following up on his recent endorsement by the National Rifle Association, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump said he would support Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's demand that any new nominee for the Supreme Court have the approval of the National Rifle Association (NRA).

McConnell, who made his views public on Fox News in March, said at the time that while he recognized the Constitution states "[The President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the supreme Court," he now feels that it is high time that the consent part of the wording be amended to include the “consent of those who know best.”

At the time, McConnell said, “The unprecedented politicizing of the appointment of a Supreme Court justice, and the fact that both the president and the makeup of the Senate can change after every election cycle, makes it impossible for us to get the appointments we want. So, it is clear to me that we need to include the will of the people, but more specifically, the people who know best because of their special interests, to provide consent for these nominations.”

McConnell went on to say that he intends to introduce legislation that will ensure that this consent is institutionalized.

A spokesman for Mr. Trump, Todd Toady, said that as president, Mr. Trump would request that McConnell's bill specify which groups should be chosen for this new consent role and that the new rule should not be limited to the Supreme Court, but also to other key appointments as well, including Cabinet appointees.

According to Toady, “President Trump will not only be enlisting the NRA for this critically important function but also, depending on the appointment, groups including the Pro-Life Action League, the American Petroleum Institute, the Charles Koch Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), the No ID No Vote Society (NIDNVS) and the Climate Change is a Hoax Committee (CCHC), among others.”