House Republicans who once dreaded an election-day pummeling by Democrat Hillary Clinton were instead greeted on Capitol Hill Tuesday with dozens of signature red baseball caps bearing the “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan of president-elect Donald J. Trump, the GOP nominee whom few of them had been willing to embrace.
Until now.
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Trump’s win was not just an historic upset for the country, but also in the halls of Capitol Hill, where GOP leaders this year frequently denounced his proposals, support for his campaign ranged from nonexistent to tepid, and where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell once pledged to drop Trump like “a hot rock” if he became the nominee.
Now even the most reluctant Republicans, including McConnell, have eagerly boarded the Trump’s victory train.
“Speaker Ryan and I have had productive discussions with the president-elect last week and we’re both looking forward to working with him,” McConnell said Tuesday on the Senate floor.
Paul Ryan, who may have been spared a battle over his speakership thanks to Trump’s win, was more effusive in praising Trump after meeting privately with GOP lawmakers Tuesday morning, where GOP leaders handed out those red hats.
Reporters peppered Ryan with questions about Trump’s appointment of Breitbart executive Stephen Bannon to a senior advisor position, citing Breitbart headlines that could be offensive to Jews and women. Ryan, who had typically been quick to denounce Trump’s controversial moves, this time defended him.
“Donald Trump, is a multibillionaire successful businessman who has been so successful because he’s surrounded himself with good people,” Ryan said when asked about the Bannon appointment. “He is a man who has made great successes, created tens of thousands of jobs because he gets good advice from good people who are around him in his life. What’s wrong with that? That’s a good thing.”
For Ryan, Trump’s win has cleared a critical pathway for him to move his much-touted “Better Way” agenda. The six-part plan includes tax reform, long a goal of Ryan’s, as well as the ultimate GOP objective, repealing Obamacare.
For McConnell, a President Trump will ensure a conservative tilt to the Supreme Court, which had been McConnell’s top goal as majority leader.
Trump’s win has varied significance for the rank and file lawmakers now willing to support him. Rep. Morgan Griffith, a Republican who represents southwest Virginia, refused to back Trump in the primary.
But Griffith is fully behind him now, after 68 percent of Virginia’s 9th District voters gave Trump their vote.
Griffith said Trump’s message against current trade deals resonated with people in his district, which has hemorrhaged thousands of jobs due to government regulations that closed coal mines, and trade deals that shuttered textile factories and hindered tobacco trade.
“My district has been getting beaten up by this administration and prior administrations for failing to look out for the jobs of middle class workers out there,” Griffith said. “Trump comes along and says were are going to make things in America again and we are going to redo trade deals.”
Trump has calmed his GOP opponents by mostly dropping his divisive rhetoric and attacks that were an integral part of his campaign.
Rep. Charlie Dent, of Pennsylvania, is among the most moderate Republican lawmakers and had been a vocal Trump critic prior to the election, at one point calling on Trump to drop out. In October, Dent said the party should abandon Trump after an old video surfaced showing Trump making lewd comments about women.
On Tuesday, even Dent said he was willing to give Trump a chance.
“I think he has struck a better tone,” Dent said. “He was very gracious and magnanimous when he was elected and that tone and more calm language was reassuring. Let’s give him a little time here.”
