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Trump Looks to Build on Tax Victory Despite Weak Polls |
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Looking ahead to his second year in office, President Trump is hoping to build on his congressional victory last month on tax cut.
"It’s gonna be tough to beat the year we just left because what we had last year was something very special, especially to cap it off with the tremendous tax cuts and tax reform."
The White House got off to a rocky start with publication of a controversial book, highly critical of Trump’s presidential style that raised questions about his fitness for office, especially among Democrats, like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
"I didn’t think President Trump was the right person to be president.
I didn’t think he had the judgment or disposition to do a good job and this just confirms my concerns."
Trump and his aides slammed the book as mostly fiction.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
"Again, there are numerous mistakes, but I’m not gonna waste my time or the country’s time going page by page talking about a book that’s complete fantasy."
The furor over the book and resulting rupture between Trump and former strategist Steve Bannon have once again sharpened the political divide over the president, says John Hudak.
"Well, I think what the book will do is fit into pre-existing notions for some people that the president is mentally unstable or is having challenges with decline.
But for the president’s supporters this book is going to be seen as a fabrication and as something not to be taken seriously."
Despite the victory on taxes, Trump remains historically unpopular for a first-year president, and must now prepare for what could be a wave of Democratic victories in the November congressional election, says Molly Reynolds.
"I think Republicans will have to confront the fact that there is more enthusiasm on the Democratic side than perhaps there is on the Republican side, in part because President Trump is and remains quite unpopular."
2018 is shaping up as a consequential year for the White House with a major fight growing over party control of Congress that could have a profound impact on the Trump presidency.
Jim Malone, VOA News, Washington |
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