WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that Republicans have “so many good nuggets” to campaign on this year as he tries to maintain his slim edge in the House.
But the president’s nearly 90-minute address to House Republicans had little in the way of a new policy agenda or a new cohesive message to guide the year. Instead, he went from defending his actions during the Capitol riot five years ago to joking about being liberal to win transgender votes to making startling references to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s use of a wheelchair.
While promising political “munitions” to help Republicans, Trump pointed to 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 when you win the presidency, you lose the midterms,” Trump said in remarks at the Kennedy Center, the performance venue his allies recently renamed for him. “I wish you could explain to me what the hell is going on with the public mind.”
He warned that if Democrats regain control of Congress, “they will find a way to impeach me.”
Trump’s appearance at the GOP policy forum was meant to ensure House Republicans and the White House were aligned on their agenda ahead of the November midterms, which 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 activities and other issues are dramatically dividing the GOP as some Republicans become more comfortable crossing party lines to sidestep House Speaker Mike Johnson and side with Democratic proposals.
It all points to a difficult year ahead for the president and his party, especially as the slim House 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 revisiting past grievances during the appearance than articulating a broad strategy for the election year or offering details on how he’s addressing voters’ concerns about accessibility.
“We won every swing state. We won the popular vote by millions. We won everything,” Trump said, recounting the 2024 presidential election.
Trump weighed in on the unconstitutional pursuit of a third term as president and argued that it was never reported that he urged his supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically” on January 6, 2021, to the Capitol, where they rioted to try to overturn his election loss. He used his wife, first lady Melania Trump, to bash Roosevelt, the former Democratic president who used a wheelchair.
According to the president, Melania Trump thinks the dance she does at his rallies is not presidential.
“She actually said, ‘Can you imagine FDR dancing?’ She actually told me that,” Trump said. “And I said there’s a long history that maybe she doesn’t know about.”
Trump has at times tried to shore up the conference, saying 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 ousted president Nicolás Maduro — calling it “brilliant, tactical.” He talked about money coming into the US through tariffs and direct investment, and negotiations to lower drug prices.
“You have so many good nuggets. You have to use them. If you can sell them, we will win,” Trump said. He claimed that “we have had the most successful first year of any president in history, and it should be a positive one.”
House Republicans have rallied as they roll out their New Year’s agenda, with health care issues in particular driving the GOP into the midterm elections. Trump has declined to publicly advise GOP lawmakers on how they should handle this week’s vote — pushed by Democrats and a handful of Republicans who broke away from their party — to extend insurance subsidies that expired at the end of the year or how to deal with the next potential government shutdown just weeks away, all with narrower majorities.
“You can’t be tough when you have a majority of three, and now, unfortunately, a little less than that,” Trump said after paying tribute to LaMalfa, noting the challenges House Speaker Mike Johnson faces in keeping his ranks united.
The president also noted that Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., is recovering from a “bad” car accident, further reducing Johnson’s voting margins.
Votes on extending expired health insurance subsidies are expected as early as this week, and it’s unclear whether the president and the party will try to block passage. Trump urged Republicans to own health care, a policy Republicans have long fought over, and said the party should be “flexible” on abortion restrictions, which have been well-established federal policy.
“You have to be a little flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, Trump told Republicans. “You have to be a little flexible. You have to work something. You have to use ingenuity.” The Hyde Amendment is a decades-old policy that prohibits spending federal money 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 rally Republican lawmakers at a time when senior lawmakers have felt increasingly emboldened to buck the wishes of Trump and the leadership on issues such as the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files.
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AP correspondent Lisa Mascaro and Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.
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An earlier version of this story erroneously reported that Rep. Jim Baird represents Wisconsin. Baird represents Indiana in the US House.