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Trump Tries to Rally House GOP 01/07 06:19
President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that Republicans have "so many good
nuggets" to campaign on this year as they try to hold onto their razor-thin
margin in the House.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that Republicans
have "so many good nuggets" to campaign on this year as they try to hold onto
their razor-thin margin in the House.
But the president's nearly 90-minute speech before House Republicans had
little in the way of a fresh policy agenda or a cohesive new message to guide
the year. Instead, he meandered from defending his actions during the Capitol
riot five years ago to joking about being liberal-minded to win the votes of
transgender people to making head-scratching references to Franklin Delano
Roosevelt's use of a wheelchair.
As he promised political "ammunition" to help Republicans, Trump emphasized
the success of his 2024 presidential campaign, reminding the audience that he
carried every swing state as he pondered why voters tend to turn against the
party in power during midterm elections.
"They say that when you win the presidency, you lose the midterms," Trump
said in remarks at the Kennedy Center, the performing arts venue that his
allies recently renamed for him. "I wish you could explain to me what the hell
is going on with the mind of the public."
He warned that if Democrats regain control of Congress, "they'll find a way
to impeach me."
Trump's appearance at the GOP's policy forum was meant to ensure House
Republicans and the White House were aligned on their agenda ahead of the
November midterms that will determine control of Congress and the course of
Trump's final two years in office. Rising health care costs, Trump's expansive
foreign policy pursuits and other issues are dramatically splitting the GOP, as
some Republicans become more comfortable crossing party lines to bypass House
Speaker Mike Johnson and join proposals from Democrats.
It all points to a difficult year ahead for the president and his party,
especially as the House's slim majority narrowed Tuesday with the sudden death
of California Rep. Doug LaMalfa, which was announced to lawmakers as they
traveled to the performing arts center, and the resignation of former Georgia
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, which took effect at midnight.
But Trump spent more time rehashing past grievances during the appearance
than articulating a broad election-year strategy or offering specifics on how
he's addressing affordability concerns of voters.
"We won every swing state. We won the popular vote by millions. We won
everything," Trump said, recounting the 2024 presidential election.
Trump mused about unconstitutionally seeking a third term as president and
claimed it was never reported that he urged his supporters to walk "peacefully
and patriotically" on Jan. 6, 2021, to the Capitol, where they rioted to try to
overturn his election loss. He used his wife, first lady Melania Trump, to poke
at Roosevelt, the former Democratic president who used a wheelchair.
According to the president, Melania Trump thinks the dancing he does at his
rallies is not presidential.
"She actually said, 'Could you imagine FDR dancing?' She actually said that
to me," Trump said. "And I said there's a long history that perhaps she doesn't
know."
Trump did try to rally the conference at times, asserting that his first
year back in office was so successful that Republicans should win in November
on that basis alone. He briefly touched on Venezuela and the dramatic capture
of deposed president Nicols Maduro -- calling it "brilliant, tactically." He
talked about money coming into the U.S. through tariffs and direct investment,
and negotiations to bring down drug prices.
"You have so many good nuggets. You have to use them. If you can sell them,
we're going to win," Trump said. He claimed that "we've had the most successful
first year of any president in history and it should be a positive."
House Republicans convened as they launch their new year agenda, with health
care issues in particular dogging the GOP heading into the midterm elections.
Trump declined to publicly counsel GOP lawmakers on how they should handle this
week's vote -- pushed by Democrats and a handful of Republicans who broke from
their party -- to extend insurance subsidies that expired at year's end, or on
how to deal with the next potential government shutdown just weeks away, all
with a narrower majority.
"You can't be tough when you have a majority of three, and now, sadly, a
little bit less than that," Trump said after paying tribute to LaMalfa, noting
the challenges House Speaker Mike Johnson faces in keeping their ranks unified.
The president also noted that Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., was recovering after a
"bad" car accident, further slimming Johnson's vote margins.
Votes on extending expired health insurance subsidies are expected as soon
as this week, and it's unclear whether the president and the party will try to
block passage. Trump urged Republicans to own the issue of health care, a
policy that Republicans have long struggled on, and said the party should be
"flexible" on abortion restrictions that have been well-established federal
policy.
"You have to be a little flexible" on the Hyde Amendment, Trump told House
Republicans. "You gotta be a little flexible. You gotta work something. You
gotta use ingenuity." The Hyde Amendment is a decades-old policy that bars
federal money from being spent on abortion services.
GOP lawmakers were hosting a daylong policy forum at the Kennedy Center,
where the board, stocked by Trump with loyalists, recently voted to rename it
the Trump Kennedy Center. The move is being challenged in court. Trump and
Johnson are trying to corral Republican lawmakers at a time when rank-and-file
lawmakers have felt increasingly emboldened enough to buck Trump and the
leadership's wishes on issues such as the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
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