On Thursday evening, President Trump traveled to Baltimore — a city he’d recently disparaged as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live” — to give a pep talk to House Republicans. The lawmakers were gathered for their annual strategy retreat, the first since losing control of the House in the midterms, and high on the list of hot topics was how to reclaim the majority.
The president took the stage at 8 p.m. and delivered his usual meandering exercise in self-aggrandizement and fear-mongering — part script, part riff and all id. He alternated between boasting about his achievements — rolling back regulations, cutting taxes, appointing judges — and charging Democrats with plotting to destroy America. He warned that, among other outrages, Democrats want to seize everyone’s guns, outlaw cows, throw open the borders and protect MS-13 gang members looking to “slice up” young women. He groused about windmills, proclaimed his love of cowboy hats and indulged in an extended rant against energy-saving light bulbs. Trump’s America, he promised, would always be incandescent.
The president trolled his 2020 Democratic challengers, mocking Pete Buttigieg’s name and height, re-upping his “Pocahontas” slur and mimicking a doddering “Sleepy Joe.” He spent even more time reliving his 2016 victory, slipping into different voices for different characters, including Bill and Hillary Clinton. More than two and a half years into his presidency, Mr. Trump cannot kick the Hillary habit.
Wrapping up his 68-minute verbal odyssey, Mr. Trump left lawmakers with a simple message: “The best is yet to come.” But for the winning to continue, he stressed, “we have to stick together, like they do” — “they” being the Democrats. “They’ve got nothing else on us!”
It was hard to tell if this call for unity, a theme the president has touched on before, was more a warning or a plea.
Much has been made about how Mr. Trump has conquered the Republican Party, shrinking, purifying and remaking it in his own image. Yet he and his team still seem concerned that elements of the party establishment are poised to turn on him. (They’re not wrong.) To head off such a betrayal, Team Trump has been swallowing up the party’s electoral infrastructure and warning of the consequences of apostasy. “You have no choice but to vote for me,” he told a rally in New Hampshire last month, citing the booming economy. “Whether you love me or hate me, you’ve got to vote for me.”
This fits neatly with his narcissism, but also with his suspicion that people don’t really respect him and that so-called elites in particular would love to see him fail. (Again, not wrong.)
The shape of the Trump G.O.P. was on vivid display in this week’s special election for North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District. Reliably red for decades, the district went for Mr. Trump by nearly 12 points in 2016. But this year’s race between the Republican Dan Bishop and the Democrat Dan McCready stayed tight enough to scare the White House. Members of the president’s and vice president’s families headlined multiple fund-raisers for the Republican candidate, and Mr. Trump and Mike Pence campaigned with him on the eve of voting.
Mr. Bishop lashed himself to the president, vowing his allegiance, and eked out a two-point win. But, as a harbinger of 2020, the results gave both parties cause to worry. The Republican performed well in the more rural and exurban areas, while the Democrat did well in the suburban areas around Charlotte. It was a microcosm of the national sorting being driven by Mr. Trump and his culture-warring politics.
The president claimed the credit for Mr. Bishop’s success and for that of the Republican Greg Murphy, who won in North Carolina’s Third District. In his Thursday speech, Mr. Trump boasted that he’d rallied voters “like no one has ever seen.” He promised to do the same next year in dozens of House races. “I got a lot of energy!” he said.
Again and again, he hit the same note: Stick by me, and there will be so much winning.
Wary of intraparty drama that could complicate the president’s re-election, his campaign team has been working for months to smooth the way. In four states, Republicans are canceling their presidential primaries and caucuses. While not unprecedented, the move is seen as part of a broader attempt to choke off any primary challenges. Mr. Trump currently has three Republican challengers — all extreme long shots.
“Donald Trump is doing his best to make the Republican Party his own personal club,” complained one of the contenders, Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts. “It’s something a mob boss would do,” said another, former Representative Joe Walsh.
Every president appropriates his party’s election apparatus for his own ends, but the Trump team is absorbing the infrastructure entirely. In December, the campaign made public that it was formally merging key operations with the Republican National Committee to create a single entity, called Trump Victory. A primary goal, Politico reported at the time, was to limit staff overlap “and the kind of infighting that marked the 2016 relationship between the Trump campaign and the party.”
Advisers have also been working overtime to make sure there is no whiff of dissent at next summer’s nominating convention, as there was in 2016.
This streamlining comes with risks — at least for those not named Trump. This week, an investigation by ProPublica revealed that the R.N.C. has been withholding data from down-ballot candidates about how voters in particular states and districts view the president. Why? Party insiders suggested it was to prevent candidates in places where Mr. Trump isn’t especially popular from attempting to distance themselves from him or from leaking data that could embarrass him. This could complicate the strategies of Republicans running in tough swing districts.
Michael Steele, the R.N.C.’s former chairman and a Trump critic, told ProPublica the committee no longer asks candidates, “What do you need?" The question, he said, is, “Do you support Donald Trump?”
Though he dominates his party today, this question clearly continues to gnaw at the president.
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Home » Analysis & Comment » Opinion | Trump Has Tamed the G.O.P. (for Now)
Opinion | Trump Has Tamed the G.O.P. (for Now)
On Thursday evening, President Trump traveled to Baltimore — a city he’d recently disparaged as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live” — to give a pep talk to House Republicans. The lawmakers were gathered for their annual strategy retreat, the first since losing control of the House in the midterms, and high on the list of hot topics was how to reclaim the majority.
The president took the stage at 8 p.m. and delivered his usual meandering exercise in self-aggrandizement and fear-mongering — part script, part riff and all id. He alternated between boasting about his achievements — rolling back regulations, cutting taxes, appointing judges — and charging Democrats with plotting to destroy America. He warned that, among other outrages, Democrats want to seize everyone’s guns, outlaw cows, throw open the borders and protect MS-13 gang members looking to “slice up” young women. He groused about windmills, proclaimed his love of cowboy hats and indulged in an extended rant against energy-saving light bulbs. Trump’s America, he promised, would always be incandescent.
The president trolled his 2020 Democratic challengers, mocking Pete Buttigieg’s name and height, re-upping his “Pocahontas” slur and mimicking a doddering “Sleepy Joe.” He spent even more time reliving his 2016 victory, slipping into different voices for different characters, including Bill and Hillary Clinton. More than two and a half years into his presidency, Mr. Trump cannot kick the Hillary habit.
Wrapping up his 68-minute verbal odyssey, Mr. Trump left lawmakers with a simple message: “The best is yet to come.” But for the winning to continue, he stressed, “we have to stick together, like they do” — “they” being the Democrats. “They’ve got nothing else on us!”
It was hard to tell if this call for unity, a theme the president has touched on before, was more a warning or a plea.
Much has been made about how Mr. Trump has conquered the Republican Party, shrinking, purifying and remaking it in his own image. Yet he and his team still seem concerned that elements of the party establishment are poised to turn on him. (They’re not wrong.) To head off such a betrayal, Team Trump has been swallowing up the party’s electoral infrastructure and warning of the consequences of apostasy. “You have no choice but to vote for me,” he told a rally in New Hampshire last month, citing the booming economy. “Whether you love me or hate me, you’ve got to vote for me.”
This fits neatly with his narcissism, but also with his suspicion that people don’t really respect him and that so-called elites in particular would love to see him fail. (Again, not wrong.)
The shape of the Trump G.O.P. was on vivid display in this week’s special election for North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District. Reliably red for decades, the district went for Mr. Trump by nearly 12 points in 2016. But this year’s race between the Republican Dan Bishop and the Democrat Dan McCready stayed tight enough to scare the White House. Members of the president’s and vice president’s families headlined multiple fund-raisers for the Republican candidate, and Mr. Trump and Mike Pence campaigned with him on the eve of voting.
Mr. Bishop lashed himself to the president, vowing his allegiance, and eked out a two-point win. But, as a harbinger of 2020, the results gave both parties cause to worry. The Republican performed well in the more rural and exurban areas, while the Democrat did well in the suburban areas around Charlotte. It was a microcosm of the national sorting being driven by Mr. Trump and his culture-warring politics.
The president claimed the credit for Mr. Bishop’s success and for that of the Republican Greg Murphy, who won in North Carolina’s Third District. In his Thursday speech, Mr. Trump boasted that he’d rallied voters “like no one has ever seen.” He promised to do the same next year in dozens of House races. “I got a lot of energy!” he said.
Again and again, he hit the same note: Stick by me, and there will be so much winning.
Wary of intraparty drama that could complicate the president’s re-election, his campaign team has been working for months to smooth the way. In four states, Republicans are canceling their presidential primaries and caucuses. While not unprecedented, the move is seen as part of a broader attempt to choke off any primary challenges. Mr. Trump currently has three Republican challengers — all extreme long shots.
“Donald Trump is doing his best to make the Republican Party his own personal club,” complained one of the contenders, Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts. “It’s something a mob boss would do,” said another, former Representative Joe Walsh.
Every president appropriates his party’s election apparatus for his own ends, but the Trump team is absorbing the infrastructure entirely. In December, the campaign made public that it was formally merging key operations with the Republican National Committee to create a single entity, called Trump Victory. A primary goal, Politico reported at the time, was to limit staff overlap “and the kind of infighting that marked the 2016 relationship between the Trump campaign and the party.”
Advisers have also been working overtime to make sure there is no whiff of dissent at next summer’s nominating convention, as there was in 2016.
This streamlining comes with risks — at least for those not named Trump. This week, an investigation by ProPublica revealed that the R.N.C. has been withholding data from down-ballot candidates about how voters in particular states and districts view the president. Why? Party insiders suggested it was to prevent candidates in places where Mr. Trump isn’t especially popular from attempting to distance themselves from him or from leaking data that could embarrass him. This could complicate the strategies of Republicans running in tough swing districts.
Michael Steele, the R.N.C.’s former chairman and a Trump critic, told ProPublica the committee no longer asks candidates, “What do you need?" The question, he said, is, “Do you support Donald Trump?”
Though he dominates his party today, this question clearly continues to gnaw at the president.
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [email protected].
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.
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