President Trump has pinned the blame for his stalled agenda on Congress, chastising lawmakers of both parties who stand in his way and urging the Republican-run Senate to abolish filibuster rules in order to ram though bills for a border wall, tax cuts and a replacement of Obamacare.
Relishing his status as an outsider occupying the White House, Mr. Trump dug in as a nemesis of the Washington establishment in a rally speech in Phoenix Tuesday night. He waged verbal warfare on his political enemies, the news media and even his erstwhile allies on Capitol Hill.
The tension was so great that the White House felt obliged Wednesday to affirm Mr. Trump had a good working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican.
“President Donald J. Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell remain united on many shared priorities, including middle class tax relief, strengthening the military, constructing a southern border wall, and other important issues,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
She said previously scheduled meetings after the August recess were still on.
Earlier on Wednesday, however, Mr. Trump had doubled down on his demand for an end to Senate filibuster rules that require 60 votes to advance most legislation, saying that sooner or later Democrats will do it to pass their bills when they are in charge.
“If Republican Senate doesn’t get rid of the Filibuster Rule & go to a simple majority, which the Dems would do, they are just wasting time!” tweeted Mr. Trump.
The president has repeatedly scoffed at the filibuster rule as his agenda bogged down in the Senate. However, the move is opposed by Mr. McConnell and most lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The change would dramatically alter the tradition and deliberative nature of the upper chamber and make it resemble the more impetuous majority-ruled House.
Mr. Trump also took another jab at Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican and outspoken critic of the president. Mr. Trump had blasted him — although not by name — at the Phoenix rally.
“Phoenix crowd last night was amazing — a packed house. I love the Great State of Arizona. Not a fan of Jeff Flake, weak on crime & border!” he wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Trump has encouraged a primary challenge to Mr. Flake in the midterm election next year, which is an unprecedented move by a president against one of his party’s incumbent senators.
At the rally Mr. Trump taunted — also not by name — Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who cast the decisive no vote that sunk the Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill last month. But he called out Mr. McConnell for not doing enough to pass the legislative agenda.
“We were one vote away. Think of it — seven years. One vote away from repeal,” he said, holding up his index finger. “One vote. Speak to your senator. Please, speak to your senator.”
The more-than-hourlong rally speech electrified the thousands of Trump supporters packed in the Phoenix Convention Center. But it unnerved some of the president’s political allies, likely intensifying an already strained relationship with Capitol Hill Republicans.
“It’s hard to see the endgame scenario here,” said GOP strategist Douglas Heye, who previously served as a top aide to House Republican leadership.
“By attacking some of the senators he needs to pass his agenda, Trump is making his own success that much harder. Going into what will surely be a difficult September, perhaps talking up tax reform is a better strategy than talking down people who might support tax reform,” he said.
Still, Mr. Trump identified Congress with its obstructionist Democrats and timid Republicans as the cause of frustration for both himself and American voters eager for action.
“I have a message for Congress tonight: Your job is to represent American families, American people, American workers. That’s your job,” Mr. Trump told the roaring crowd.
Mr. Trump spent the most time and the most energy on haranguing what he called the “dishonest media.”
The president has suffered ongoing criticism for saying there was “blame on both sides” after deadly violence at a white nationalist demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“It’s time to expose the crooked media deceptions and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting division,” he said. “And yes, by the way, they are trying to take away our history and our heritage. You see that.”
The president read through his statements issued soon after white nationalist protesters and counterprotesters clashed at an Aug. 12 demonstration in Charlottesville, where the city planned to remove a Confederate statue from a public park.
A car sped into a crowd of counterprotesters and killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured 19 others.
The president noted that his first statement included condemnation of all racial hatred and a plea for Americans to show “true affection for each other.”
“I said for all of us, all of us,” Mr. Trump told the rally. “But they don’t report it. They let it go.”
He singled out The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN as examples of news organizations that are out to get him.
Mr. Trump was scolded in the news media for his immediate response to the violence because he said there is “blame on both sides.” The president later specifically condemned neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and white nationalists that participated in the demonstration.
The president mocked the news media for complaining that his condemnation didn’t come soon enough.
“‘It should have been sooner. He’s a racist,’” Mr. Trump said, mimicking a news anchor. “These are truly dishonest people.”
After the speech aired live on CNN, anchor Don Lemon was stunned.
“Well, what do you say to that?” he said. “I am just going to speak from the heart here. What we have witnessed was a total eclipse of the facts.”
He noted that Mr. Trump left out his comments about “both sides” when recounting his statements about the violence.
“He’s unhinged,” Mr. Lemon said. “It’s embarrassing — and I don’t mean for us, the media, because he went after us, but for the country. This is who we elected president of the United States? A man who is so petty he goes after people who he deems to be his enemy, like an imaginary friend of a 6-year-old?”
While Mr. Trump called for action on his agenda, he did not devote a great deal of time to promoting tax reform. That’s the next big job facing Congress when lawmakers return in September.
The president raised doubts about renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement after the first round of U.S. talks with Mexico and Canada opened this week.
“Personally, I don’t think we can make a deal, because we have been so badly taken advantage of,” he said. “They have made such great deals, both of the countries — but, in particular, Mexico — that I don’t think we can make a deal. So I think we’ll end up probably terminating NAFTA at some point.”
Mr. Trump made pulling out of NAFTA a dominant theme on the campaign trail. He blamed the deal for jobs moving across the border and for the rapid decline of U.S. manufacturing. Upon taking office, he agreed to try renegotiation before exiting the deal.
The pullout would have negative consequences for U.S. businesses that rely on cross-border trade, especially border states, and it likely will impact consumers by driving up prices or reduce supply for some products.
“I told you from the first day, we will renegotiate NAFTA or we will terminate NAFTA,” said Mr. Trump. “I personally don’t think you can make a deal without a termination, but we’re going to see what happens, OK? You’re in good hands, I can tell you.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.