President Donald Trump met with House Republicans at the Kennedy Center as they prepared for an election-year agenda and faced renewed pressure with their majority thinning ahead of November midterms, according to the Associated Press. Trump, speaking for nearly 90 minutes, framed his remarks as a bid to keep the White House and House GOP aligned, while he largely leaned on past arguments about his political success rather than laying out a detailed new policy program.
Trump insisted that Republicans had “so many good nuggets” to campaign on this year, and he urged lawmakers to use the material in a way that could translate into electoral gains. “You have so many good nuggets. You have to use them. If you can sell them, we’re going to win,” Trump said, according to AP. He also argued that Republicans should be able to build on his 2024 presidential campaign and his first year back in office, telling lawmakers, “We won every swing state. We won the popular vote by millions. We won everything.”
In remarks at the Kennedy Center, Trump added that voters tend to punish the party in power during midterm elections, saying, “They say that when you win the presidency, you lose the midterms.” He also warned that if Democrats regain control of Congress, “they’ll find a way to impeach me,” as he positioned the midterm fight around a threat of impeachment.
The appearance came as House Republicans prepared for votes they are expected to face soon, including health care and a possible government shutdown. AP reported that Trump declined to publicly counsel House Republicans on how they should handle a vote to extend expired insurance subsidies and also declined to publicly counsel on how to deal with the next potential government shutdown just weeks away, with the margin in the chamber already tight.
The gathering also unfolded amid changes that AP said narrowed the GOP’s already-slim margin on Tuesday. The sudden death of California Rep. Doug LaMalfa was announced to lawmakers as they were traveling to the performing arts center, AP reported, and AP also said former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation took effect at midnight. Trump, speaking after paying tribute to LaMalfa, told lawmakers that the slim margin is complicating Speaker Mike Johnson’s efforts to keep ranks unified, saying, “You can’t be tough when you have a majority of three, and now, sadly, a little bit less than that.”
Trump said Rep. Jim Baird was recovering after a “bad” car accident, AP reported, which it said would further slim Johnson’s vote margins. AP also reported that the conference’s health-care concerns heading into the midterm elections were dogging the GOP as lawmakers prepared to launch their new year agenda.
While AP said Trump did not provide the clearest direction on how Republicans should handle this week’s insurance-subsidy vote, Trump urged lawmakers to own health care as an issue. He also urged Republicans to be “flexible” on abortion restrictions that are established federal policy, AP reported. “You have to be a little flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, Trump said, according to AP, adding, “You gotta be a little flexible. You gotta work something. You gotta use ingenuity.”
The forum at the Kennedy Center was part of an agenda-setting day for House Republicans, AP reported. AP said the board, stocked by Trump with loyalists, voted to rename the venue the Trump Kennedy Center, and that the move is being challenged in court. AP also said Trump and Johnson were trying to corral Republican lawmakers as rank-and-file members have felt increasingly emboldened to buck Trump and leadership wishes on issues including the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
AP included a correction with the report, saying an earlier version mistakenly reported that Rep. Jim Baird represents Wisconsin; Baird, AP said, represents Indiana.
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