Trump to House Republicans: ‘Say great things . . . We love Trump.’
Donald Trump asked House Republicans Thursday to only “say great things” about him in an effort to project a unified front in the presidential election.
Republican members of Congress repeatedly pressed Trump during their hour-long closed-door meeting to reassure them he would work with them constructively and respect their agenda if elected. Trump promised that he would and also repeatedly urged them to exit the meeting and tell the media outside that everything was perfect inside the Republican Party.
“It would great if you could say we had an unbelievable meeting. ‘Trump loves us. We love Trump.’ It’s going to be so good. Okay?” Trump said, according to a detailed account from a person who attended the meeting. “Honestly, if we could say it is great, we have a unified party, I’ll tell you what, you are going to see a difference immediately. That’s what I’m going to say.”
Trump told the Republican lawmakers he loved them all and that they agreed on 99 percent of the issues. Trump said he assured House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) that he would never let him down. He then repeated his call for the members of Congress to praise him and project unity, even if they still had lingering reservations about him as their candidate.
“If when we leave we could just go out and say, ‘We love Trump, he’s going to be great.’ I love you, we’re doing great. As a team, we can’t be beaten,” Trump said. “Say great things, because anything you say that’s even a little — well you know, they magnify it. Just say it’s great. You gotta say great things. Any little negativity that you have, they are going to blow it up twentyfold. You’ve got to be positive.”
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The meeting was not entirely smooth. Trump appeared not to be familiar with Article 1 of the Constitution, which specifies the powers given to Congress. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) asked Trump what his understanding was of Article 1, given congressional concerns about the balance of power.
“I am a constitutionalist. I am going to abide by the Constitution whether it’s number 1, number 2, number 12, number 9,” Trump responded. “I am a constitutionalist. I’m going to abide by the Constitution . . . It’s so important, and we’re getting away from it. And let me tell you, we have gotten so far away from it, we’re not going to have a country anymore.”
The Constitution has only seven articles. Trump did not speak about Article 1 specifically.
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