WASHINGTON — Donald Trump “did a great job” in his meetings with GOP senators and House members Thursday and is putting together a strong general election strategy, House Speaker Paul Ryan said.
“We had a very good exchange on lots of ideas and policy issues,” Ryan said at a press conference after the closed-door GOP meetings. “It’s very clear that he is working on putting together a strong general election campaign.”
The meetings, 11 days before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, appeared to be an effort to get rank-and-file lawmakers to rally behind their presumptive presidential nominee despite reservations about some of his more controversial statements.
Trump first met with House GOP members at the Republican National Committee headquarters a few blocks from the Capitol. He then moved to nearby National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters, meeting with most of the GOP senators.
Trump has been criticized for his praise for the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
“He was a bad guy — really bad guy. But you know what? He did well. He killed terrorists,” said Trump at a rally in North Carolina Tuesday. “He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights. They didn’t talk. They were terrorists. Over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism.”
Ryan defended Trump, saying politicians “get taken out of context all the time. And I think his point was to put it in a context so people understood the context in which he was speaking about getting tough on terrorism. I think that’s basically what it was. And he used colorful language to do that.”
Paul Ryan speaks at the House press conference Thursday. (Xuanyan Ouyang/Medill)
The House speaker also said as president, Trump would know how to handle classified information properly, taking a swipe at Hillary Clinton’s email server controversy.
“I really believe that if we have someone who has so recklessly mishandled sensitive classified information, I think we should think this through,” said Ryan. “She has just been proven to be dishonest about what she said she did and has been proven to mishandle it very recklessly.”
While Trump was meeting with the GOP senators, a few protesters were chanting, “Donald Trump, go away, racist, sexist, antigay.”
People gather before Trump arrives to protest against his controversial statements. (Xuanyan Ouyang/Medill)
The protesters were members of American Bridge 21st Century, an organization supported by Democrats to “hold Republicans accountable” as stated by the representative, criticized Trump is “divisive” and “dangerous”.
“It’s interesting that some of these senators have moved towards saying that they support but they don’t endorse Donald Trump,” said organization spokeswoman Katie Lewallen.
“I think their silence, whenever he is out there saying awful and hateful things, complementing Saddam Hussein, their silence is actually complying with Donald Trump. This whole thing today is supposed to be party unity. They are the party of Trump,” she said.
On the other side of Washington, individuals from United Food and Commercial Workers union, protested outside the Trump International Hotel, which is expected to open in September. They are opposing Walmart’s support to fund the Republican National Convention where Trump is the presumptive nominee.
Walmart’s contributions to the RNC triggers protesters to take the streets of Washington. (Shanshan Wang/Medill)
“I feel like most and all of Republicans should not associate themselves with Donald Trump because of all the awful things he’s saying,” said protester James Kaufman.
Another union members, Adela Hadzic, called Trump “fundamentally dangerous.”
“I don’t think he has any clue about actual foreign policy or strategy to fight and combat terrorism,” she said . “Maybe saying things in a colorful language might mean that he (doesn’t know) what he is talking about.”