The Latest on President Donald Trump’s victory lap in working-class Youngstown, Ohio (all times local) :
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on President Donald Trump’s victory lap in working-class Youngstown, Ohio (all times local) :
9 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he is working with a pair of Republican senators to „create a new immigration system for America.“
Trump is endorsing legislation introduced by Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue that would put new limits on legal immigration. At a campaign-style rally Tuesday in Ohio, he said, „We want a merit-based system, one that protects our workers“ and one that „protects our economy.“
Trump is also trumpeting his administration’s tough approach to illegal immigration and illegal gangs.
Trump says that „people are screaming from their windows, ‚Thank you, thank you‘ “ to the border patrol and his Homeland Security secretary.
He’s also applauding what he says is a tougher approach to rooting out gangs. Trump says law enforcement is „not doing it in a politically correct fashion.“
He says: „our guys are rougher than their guys.“
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7: 40 p.m.
President Donald Trump is taking a victory lap in Ohio after the Senate voted to begin debating legislation aimed at dismantling former President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Trump says at a Youngstown, Ohio, rally that, with that vote, Republicans are now one „step closer to liberating our citizens from this Obamacare nightmare and delivering great health care for the American people.“
He asks, „You think that’s easy? That’s not easy.“
Trump has been interrupted several times by protesters, just like he often was during the campaign.
His enthusiastic crowd has been responding with chants of „Drain the swamp!“ and „CNN sucks!“
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7: 35 p.m.
First lady Melania Trump is introducing her husband at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio and telling the crowd that he’ll never back down.
Mrs. Trump tells a crowd of several thousand at the Covelli Centre that „Washington has fought“ her husband „every step of the way.“
But she says, „I know my husband, and he will never give up.“
Trump says as he kicks off his rally that he’s happy to be „back in the center of the American heartland, far away from the Washington swamp.“
He says he’s hoping to „cut through the fake news filter“ and speak „straight to the American people.“
Ohio helped deliver the presidency for Trump.
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5: 45 p.m.
Straight off a slim but symbolic health care victory in Washington, President Donald Trump is headed to Ohio for a victory lap with the very voters who helped put him in office.
Tuesday’s trip to Youngstown, a working-class enclave that has helped anchor Democrats in Ohio, will be a campaign stop for the president to loves to relive his once-unlikely Election Day win.
Trump has mainly sought to re-litigate his 2016 victory in friendly territory, escaping Washington to recharge with boisterous crowds that embrace his jabs at „fake news“ media, Democrats and even those Republicans whom Trump once vowed to defeat as part of his effort to „drain the swamp.“
Youngstown in particular gives Trump an opportunity to highlight the dynamics that confront the parties heading into 2018 midterm elections.
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