In polarized Washington, a Democrat anchors bipartisan friendships in faith

[marylandblue]

35. Gil didn't answer this, but I think it's a good question, so I'll answer.

I think McConnell is not trustworthy, which has caused a lot of the dysfunction in the Senate. I think Lisa Murkowski is trustworthy. I think Richard Burr may be somewhat trustworthy. He has played the sort of games that Nunes did in the House.

But trustworthy aside, at some point in the future, McConnell will be gone, hopefully Democrats will be in charge again, and we will need to start repairing our country. The real damage Trump has done is destroy the norms that a functioning political system needs to operate. To undo the damage, we will need to re-establish the norms and that means reaching across the aisle.

I don't know if that will actually work, and I don't think we should compromise for compromise's sake, but we'd be better off if we could make it work. Personal relationships in Congress will help that. I am sure there are other personal relationships in Congress that aren't based on religion.

Coon's relationship with Trump is only tangentially about religion, because Trump really isn't religious. It seems more about Coon's friendly and open personality than religion. But it being Religion News, they had to play up the religious angle.