Trump Sheds Bipartisan Tone, Returns to Blasting Dems
Presidents joins Republicans at retreat to talk DACA, infrastructure
It turns out the bipartisan message President Donald Trump struck in his State of the Union address had a shelf life of exactly 32 hours.
The president used part of his speech to a joint session of Congress to call on Republicans and Democrats to cooperate on issues like immigration reform and rebuilding the country’s aging infrastructure. He stuck to that script on Wednesday, taking no public shots at congressional Democrats even after they booed and hissed at parts of his address.
But that Trump was gone before 7 a.m. Thursday. The partisan streetfighter was back.
The president fired off several tweets ahead of his trip to West Virginia, where he will join congressional Republicans at their annual legislative retreat. And he used the morning missives to criticize Democrats.
Trump wrote that when he visits the Greenbrier resort in Lewisburg, he and GOP members “will be planning Infrastructure and discussing Immigration and DACA,” he wrote, adding passing those bills is “not easy when we have no support from the Democrats. NOT ONE DEM VOTED FOR OUR TAX CUT BILL! Need more Republicans in ‘18.”
Heading to beautiful West Virginia to be with great members of the Republican Party. Will be planning Infrastructure and discussing Immigration and DACA, not easy when we have no support from the Democrats. NOT ONE DEM VOTED FOR OUR TAX CUT BILL! Need more Republicans in ‘18.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2018
In a second tweet, the president lashed out at Democrats again, writing that a March 5 deadline he gave Congress to legalize the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program is “rapidly approaching,” adding “Democrats are doing nothing about DACA.”
“They Resist, Blame, Complain and Obstruct — and do nothing,” Trump tweeted, urging his followers to “Start pushing Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to work out a DACA fix, NOW!”
March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Democrats are doing nothing about DACA. They Resist, Blame, Complain and Obstruct – and do nothing. Start pushing Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to work out a DACA fix, NOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2018
And after fact-checkers spent much of Wednesday picking apart claims made in his first official State of the Union speech, Trump made another questionable one on Thursday morning — about the size of the audience that watched the prime-time address.
The president put the audience size at 45.6 million people, calling it “the highest number in history.”
Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history. @FoxNews beat every other Network, for the first time ever, with 11.7 million people tuning in. Delivered from the heart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2018
For at least one Democratic member, the tweet conjured memories of the White House’s claims that Trump’s inauguration crowd was much larger than it appeared.
Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr., a Virginia Democrat, used his own tweet minutes later to call it a “ridiculous thing to lie about.” He noted that three presidents — Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — all had larger viewerships for one of their annual addresses.
Just like Trump’s “largest Inauguration crowds ever.”
Viewership numbers for the first State of the Union by:
Obama: 48 million
George W. Bush: 51.8 million
Clinton: 45.8 millionA ridiculous thing to lie about. https://t.co/n6QrpaQR9r
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) February 1, 2018