Fellow Fridays: Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott

Fellow Fridays is a series of profiles of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s roster of nine Senior Fellows. This week, we are sharing five pieces of advice from fellow and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott. He co-chairs BPC’s Commission on Political Reform and Energy Project.

#1: Most of the time, what you get from government is what you put into government and who you elect.

#2: I’m still philosophically very conservative, but I’m also a pragmatist. I’m also a little bit of a populist, I confess. But more than anything else, I’m an optimist. I believe that you can get things done in America [and] that you can get things done in the Senate.

#3: That’s the journey to being a leader. You learn the rules, you go through the process, and then one day you wake up and say, look, I’m here to try to make a difference, and therefore, I’m going to find a way to work with the other side.

#4: I remember, when it was all over, we met in the center aisle and shook hands and said we fulfilled what the Constitution required. We did our job. Both of us were criticized along the way, but the next week, we [were] back in business.

#5: We need women and men that will say “we’re going to deal with it.”