"Trump Hijacked Election": Panicked House Republicans

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, had President Donald Trump on the phone Sunday for final argument on behalf of anxious Republicans: Please, talk about the booming economy in the last hours before polling day.

But Trump, unsurprisingly, had another problem in mind. He's boasted to Ryan that his interest in immigration had set fire to the base, according to a source close to the call.

History continues below

Just two days before the Democrats take over the House, Republicans who are focused on their assembly are deeply concerned about Trump's obsession with immigration, which will exacerbate their losses. Many of these same Republicans praised Trump's initial talk on migrant caravans and border security two weeks ago, hoping that this would bring the GOP base back into some of the Republicans' risky districts.

But they are now worried that Trump will go too far – and that it may cost them a lot in key suburban areas of Illinois, Texas. Many were impressed by Trump's threats to unilaterally terminate citizenship, as well as in his recent racially colored publicity suggesting that immigrants are police killers. The president's drum, they say, engulfs a news that any outgoing president would not neglect: the economy has added a quarter of a million jobs last quarter and unemployment is less than 4%.

"Trump has hijacked the elections," said one of the Republic's leading aides, Republican of the House, who has focused on immigration. "This is not what we expected during the last weeks of the election."

The disagreement highlights the strategy of fighting the rope that stifles the GOP all year round: should Republicans give priority to Trump's sponsors or appeal to lower-ranking voters? The party has diverged according to the chamber: Republican members of the Senate seeking to increase their majorities in the Red and Rural States by overthrowing the Democrats in place have mostly welcomed Trump's red-meat approach; Republicans in the House whose survival depends on the suburbs were seized and tried to change the subject.

The different landscapes created two GOP campaign messages. Ryan, House Leader Kevin McCarthy, Whip Steve Scalise and the National Committee of the Republican Congress made their final argument about the economy, while the man in the gallery hinted a few days ago that the army could shoot migrants who throw stones.

Trump even publicly mocked GOP's suggestions that he would focus on the economy in recent days, although he did mention the latest jobs report during the weekend protests.

"We can talk about economics, but the fact is that we know how much we are progressing in the economy and that we need to solve the problems," Trump told a Florida event on Friday after criticizing the he did not know what he was saying. the biggest asset of the party.

He quickly addressed his topic of the day: "Democrats openly encourage millions of illegal aliens to break our laws, to violate our sovereignty, to cross our borders and to destroy our nation. In many ways. We can not let that happen. "

Increased worries foreshadow the blame game that will undoubtedly begin if Republicans lose the House on Tuesday. Trump made it clear that he would assume little or no responsibility, insisting in recent days that he "can not go anywhere" to save candidates in the House.

Indeed, some House Republicans say privately that they feel abandoned, as if Trump had abandoned them – the possible losers – in order to focus on the Senate. They feel that Trump's message to help Senate Republicans in the Red and Rural States poses a direct threat to the House of Commons GOP cause in the suburbs.

"His development of this message will cost us places," said one of the main makers of the House's GOP campaign. "The people we need to win in these dynamic districts that will determine the majority is not the base of Trump; it's suburban women or people who voted for [Hillary] Clinton or people who are not hard Trump voters. "

Harley Rouda, a Democratic candidate in Orange County, California, a former conservative stronghold known as the Reagan Country, said Trump's infamous immigration speech had deterred moderate voters. Rouda, who is now in a battle to defeat GOP representative Dana Rohrabacher, said: "We see these people entering our campaign."

"What we have seen with the moderate Republicans and independents, is a growing frustration with the President of the United States, pitting Americans against Americans – trying to divide us instead of uniting us," he said. he said Sunday at the headquarters of his campaign, Costa Mesa.

Southern California is far from an exception, according to several Republicans involved in the campaigns of the House. Trump's immigration rhetoric could be costly for two Republicans in suburban Texas, who have seen an improvement in poll numbers two weeks ago, but who are in trouble again: Pete Sessions and John Culberson . Representative Peter Roskam in Illinois also suffered, said the source, whose message from the Chicago area election campaign focused on the economy in the final days of the election.

Republicans in high-Hispanic districts are also on high alert: Republican David Valadao, from California's Central Valley, has long been favored for re-election. But there is a new fear that Trump's rhetoric about immigrants will motivate more Latin American voters to run against the outgoing president.

Ditto for Representative Jeff Denham, whose neighboring district, California, also has a significant Hispanic population.

"Talking about immigration, citizenship and caravan – it does not help Jeff Denham," said a GOP campaigner.

They are not all Republicans. Some conservatives and more moderate members hope that immigration will motivate their base. Trump's approval rating remains in the 40s, he notes, higher than the summer rating. In addition, according to a survey polled by the NBC / Wall Street Journal on Sunday by Congressional Democrats, it was significantly lower than that of the two-digit party.

Most Republican candidates in the Senate do not shrink from Trump's immigration messages. In Arizona, a border state where the more centrist balance sheet of immigration from the Democratic Republic of Kyrsten Sinema could help him take over a GOP-held siege on Tuesday, the Republicans read the Trump game book.

Governor Doug Ducey (R-Arizona), who is about to stand for re-election, said Trump's rhetoric increased "the intensity of convincing people to vote".

"The other side is angry, they have the energy, and they actually show signs of organization," said Ducey after joining Sinema's opponent, Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), At a rally at a breakfast with pancakes in rural Prescott. McSally said her closing message included an important speech on border security, although she abstained from fully subscribing to Trump's call to limit the constitutional guarantee of citizenship.

In a few rare cases, Republicans in the House felt the need to publicly reprimand Trump's hard speech. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a vulnerable Republican from Miami, has turned to television and Twitter in recent days to push back Trump's comments on immigration.

"Citizenship is legally protected by the Constitution, so no @realDonaldTrump you can not end it by executive order, "Curbelo tweeted just after Trump had launched the idea.

The White House has not responded to a request for comment on this story. But Republican National Committee President Ronna McDaniel defended Trump's controversial immigration ads at CBS's "Face the Nation" day.

"The advertisement highlights the fact that an individual has fallen through the cracks and killed cops. This should annoy all Americans and we must fix our immigration system. And the President is showing the way forward, "she said of GOP's concerns over Trump's rhetoric about immigration.

In particular, however, it is in the job number that McDaniel first cited why Republicans could keep the House.

"It's the results and we just saw it on Friday," she said. "The numbers are excellent."