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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