Vice President Pence did not flinch when a rank-and-file Republican asked how the Trump administration would build support for its aggressive agenda on Capitol Hill.
President Trump, Pence said, was \u201cabsolutely determined\u201d to sell his conservative agenda at rallies all across the country with \u201cthe exact same focus\u201d that Ronald Reagan did in his early days as president.
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be taking the message straight to the American people,\u201d Pence said.
The crowd of several hundred Republican lawmakers, assembled in Philadelphia in late January for a policy retreat, gave a rousing ovation as the vice president finished his remarks, according to a leaked audio tape of the private session.
[ Behind closed doors, Hill Republicans fret over how to repeal Obamacare ]
A little more than a week later, Republicans might want to reconsider that plan. Ever since his disciplined inaugural address on Jan. 20, Trump\u2019s public appearances have appeared to be ad-lib adventures \u2014 at times humorous, confusing and controversial.
Wednesday\u2019s event honoring Black History Month turned into a discussion of how Frederick Douglass, more than 120 years after his death, was getting \u201cmore and more\u201d attention. Later that day, a perfunctory call to the prime minister of Australia , a key Pacific ally, turned into an international incident when leaks revealed that Trump called a refu\u00adgee agreement between the two nations \u201cdumb\u201d and ended the discussion after 25 minutes rather than the planned hour.
[ In which Trump discovers some guy named Frederick Douglass ]
Then came the president\u2019s jokes about Arnold Schwarzenegger \u2019s TV ratings for Trump\u2019s old reality show, \u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d during the usually solemn National Prayer Breakfast.
This style is very much in line with Trump the candidate, and it\u2019s hard to argue with its political effectiveness, given that he won more than 300 electoral college votes in November. Some of Trump\u2019s most compelling moments as a candidate were at his trademark rallies , where he excited his base and generated cable TV headlines. Compared with much weightier issues \u2014 such as issuing an entry ban for people from seven majority-Muslim nations and announcing a Supreme Court pick \u2014 it\u2019s possible that these moments end up being judged as mere media distractions when the Trump history books are written.
But rallying his political base and forging consensus on legislation are two very different things. Trump\u2019s just-wing-it approach presents a real dilemma for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as they figure out how to deploy their party\u2019s leader in selling complex overhauls of the health-care industry and the tax code that Congress is expected to tackle this year.
Trump begins his presidency less popular than past presidents in their first year in office.
Barack Obama spent the first half of 2009 with more than 60 percent of Americans approving of his job performance, according to Gallup, and he hovered around 50 percent well into the spring of 2010. Throughout those first 15 months in office, Obama used his political capital in speeches and rallies around the country supporting the emerging Affordable Care Act.
Obama appeared at a town hall in Green Bay, Wis., in June 2009 and attended events in Cleveland in August 2009. He gave a nationally televised address to a joint meeting of Congress in September of that year. After the fact, Democrats fought over Obama\u2019s effectiveness and whether he should\u2019ve done more, particularly after they lost 63 House seats and the majority in the 2010 midterm elections. But Obama\u2019s work did shore up enough support to pass the ACA.
In 1981, Reagan was also popular, with about 60 percent of Americans approving of him, and a March 1981 assassination attempt created a groundswell of support. By early August 1981, Congress approved the new president\u2019s sweeping tax cut plan.
Pence, 57, retold the story of Reagan\u2019s early days to Republicans in Philadelphia. \u201cThere\u2019s some of us in the room with hair the same color as mine that remember the days of the 40th president, who went to the Congress with proposals and then went to the American people to sell the proposals. And I want to tell you the 45th president has the exact same focus,\u201d Pence said.
This year Ryan and McConnell will have to dedicate an enormous amount of time behind the scenes to helping craft legislation, coaxing wavering lawmakers and delving into the parliamentary path to winning approval.
That\u2019s where a president is supposed to come in, launching whistle-stop tours to sell his agenda to the public, particularly in the districts and states where wavering lawmakers need backup to vote yes.
It remains to be seen whether Trump can pull off such a feat.
His public approval is already down around 40 percent, give or take a few points, which is where Reagan and Obama eventually landed in their second year in office, after they had rung up big victories in Congress.
And Trump\u2019s style is unique. Events and speeches designed to push one idea often wander into other topics, drawing attention away from the central theme. Such a meandering style in service of a tax code overhaul may not exactly have the intended effect.
Trump gives the impression of being a leader who delegates to subordinates, so he\u2019s not likely to become a details person touting intricate portions of emerging legislation in his forays outside the Beltway.
The overall question might just be how popular \u2014 or unpopular \u2014 Trump is later this year as the real decisions are made inside the Capitol.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N. Y.) said the \u201cnumber one thing\u201d dictating the legislative agenda over the next two years \u2014 and the outcome of the 2018 midterm elections \u2014 is Trump\u2019s popularity.
\u201cSo part of my job is to make sure that we don\u2019t let Trump get away with stuff,\u201d he said in an interview last week.
[ Schumer\u2019s dilemma: Satisfying the base while protecting his minority ]
That\u2019s why Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), a second-term lawmaker who won reelection with nearly 75 percent of the vote, told Pence he was concerned for his fellow Republicans in swing seats. He said Trump\u2019s agenda \u201ccreates some exposure for some members and some risk,\u201d explaining that soldiers go into battle for \u201clove of country\u201d and because they trust the person at their side.
He asked a simple question: \u201cWill the administration have our back?\u201d
\u201cI promise you,\u201d Pence replied, \u201cthe president\u2019s going to be on the road in your states and in your districts. I\u2019m going to be on the road in your states and in your districts.\u201d
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\nSimilarity rank: 1.1\n<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 4.8<\/div>\n

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