Sen. Rob Portman: Republican divide is 'not a policy debate,' but 'a personality issue'

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, joined "Your World" Wednesday to discuss the state of the Republican Party after former President Donald Trump fired off a cease-and-desist letter to the Republican National Committee to quit using his name on behalf of candidates that he said are "RINOS."

PORTMAN: People will use his name in their solicitations and I'm sure many will. He is very popular among the Republican base ... As a party, we have to get back to the policy, the issues where the American people generally agree with us. This is where the Republicans did well in 2020, except at the top.

NEIL CAVUTO: But you're not on the same page, right? These battles between you and the former president keep happening. And given the enmity between Trump and [the] Senate [Republican] leader, you have to wonder whether Mitch McConnell is in a separate universe and Trump's backers are in a separate universe from him. I'm wondering, where is this going? Are you worried about it?

PORTMAN: With all due respect, I disagree with you that it's about policy. Mitch McConnell and President [Trump] differed very little on policy. It's not a policy debate. This is a personality issue. 

CAVUTO: Do you think it's hurting your party?

PORTMAN: It has the potential to hurt the party. It's already making it more divided. But let's get back to the policies. That's where we agree, that’s where the American people want us to focus. Our job as a party is to help organize the democracy around certain ideas. You have organizers on the left and the right of our democracy. We're the ones that should be saying the deficit does matter. Tax reform is important to drive jobs and tax cuts hurt jobs. We're the ones that say energy independence is a good thing, not a bad thing.

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