Prez continues to play to base, not D.C. establishment
President Trump continued to rip into the Washington state federal judge who stayed his controversial immigration order yesterday — capping an onbrand first two weeks for Trump that saw him win over conservatives with his Supreme Court pick and satisfy them he’ll be a president of action.
While discomfiting the GOP establishment with controversial remarks, Trump has been playing to his base and “living up to his billing” as a disrupter who brings issues to a head swiftly and won’t back down in the face of criticism, GOP strategist Patrick Griffin said.
“Anybody that expected a smooth two weeks, I don’t think fully understood what a mess this country has been in,” Griffin said. “This is upsetting of the apple cart by turning it over, tossing the apples all over the streets. That’s the way he’s chosen to do this, and we’ll see where it goes in the next few weeks.”
Trump continued his targeting of U.S. District Judge James Robart of Washington state, who struck down his temporary travel ban on immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
“Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!” the president tweeted, adding his administration has “instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!”
A reply from the Trump administration is due today on a decision by a San Francisco federal appeals court, issued early yesterday, that rejected the government’s request to immediately restore the travel ban.
One of several GOP leaders to hit Trump’s remarks over the weekend, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “I think it is best not to single out judges for criticism.”
But Vice President Mike Pence, in an interview on Fox News yesterday, predicted the White House will prevail.
“We are going to win the arguments because we’re going to take the steps necessary to protect the country, which the president of the United States has the authority to do,” Pence said.
Trump told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly the travel ban went “very smooth.”
“We had 109 people out of hundreds of thousands of travelers, and all we did was vet those people very, very carefully,” he said.
Griffin said Trump won conservative cred with his selection of Neil Gorsuch as Supreme Court nominee, calling it the “litmus test of litmus tests” and a pick “that the Democrats have been completely neutralized on.”
Gene Chandler, deputy speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, said conservatives were invigorated by a Supreme Court nominee who will oppose legislating from the bench, and they now believe Trump will follow through on his word.
“If it does have to come to an occasion where he draws a line in the sand, I believe he’s going to enforce that,” Chandler said of Trump.
Trump threw more red meat to conservatives in his O’Reilly interview last night, predicting Americans will see a tax cut “I think before the end of the year,” and “a wonderful plan” to replace Obamacare by the middle of next year.