DORAL, Fla. — President Donald Trump met Monday with House Republican lawmakers at his South Florida golf club.
They’re discussing the GOP’s strategy heading into the critically important midterm elections, where Republicans will look to hold onto power in both chambers.
Analysts say the party is facing serious headwinds toward that goal. Some of the issues on the table include the widening conflict in the Middle East, the nation’s deepening affordability issues — from grocery prices, to housing costs, to healthcare — and the Trump administration’s approach to immigration.
The policy retreat is a way for GOP congressional members to lock in on their messaging and agenda ahead of the midterms.
It comes at a time when recent polling has found the majority of Americans oppose military action in Iran and a recent Gallup survey found poor government leadership remains a top concern for Americans, followed by the economy and inflation.
The Economist found that Trump’s approval continues to nosedive, and a recent Fox News poll revealed that disapproval of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is on the rise, with nearly half of voters wanting Congress to reduce the agency’s funding.
The issue of U.S. Department of Homeland Security oversight is underpinning the latest partial government shutdown. An NBC News national poll released Sunday found the majority of registered voters disapprove of the President’s handling of immigration, tariffs, the cost of living and the conflict in Iran.
There are also the U.S. intervention in Venezuela and talks underway with Cuba. Some analysts are pondering how many conflicts the country can juggle and sustain at one time. U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Florida, told Local 10’s Christina Vazquez on Friday that, in his view, “Iran is a more difficult nut to crack.”
“But I believe that it’s all part of one major strategy. It’s not just been Venezuela by itself, Cuba by itself, Iran by itself,” he said. “It’s really all part of a global strategy that the President is embarking on. It’s a broad-based strategy to change, kind of change the current world order, OK, and make it much more friendly to the United States so we are not constantly being badgered by these nations that are harboring our great adversaries.”
Trump was expected to lay out his policy objectives and desired talking points during remarks later on Monday.
He commented on Iran and Venezuela operations in remarks Monday evening. He promised military escorts, if needed, for oil shipments in the Persian Gulf.
“It affects other countries much more than it does the United States. It doesn’t really affect us. We have so much oil. We have tremendous oil and gas, much more than we need,” Trump said. “We have Venezuela now as our new partner, great partner. They’ve worked out so wonderful. We’re working with the administration, the president, and it’s a massive source of oil, gas, everything.”
Trump said he also had a “very good call” with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said the two discussed Ukraine.
“Look, there’s tremendous hatred between President Putin and President (Volodymyr) Zelensky, they can’t seem to get it together. But I think it was a positive call on that subject,” he said. “And we obviously talked, then, about the Middle East and he wants to be helpful. I said, ‘You could be more helpful by getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with. That would be more helpful.’ But we had a very good talk. And he wants to be very constructive.”
Trump also praised Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“I think he’s going to go down as the greatest secretary of state in history,” he said.
Monday’s meeting comes after the Democrats held their members’ issues conference in Virginia in late February.
They hammered Trump on affordability.
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