President Trump said Sunday that the left’s “resist” campaign has backfired on Democrats by saddling them with a “terrible theme” that voters are rejecting.
“That’s a terrible word. Think of it. Their theme is ’resist.’ Their theme should be, ’Let’s get together. Envelop. Let’s get together,’ ” Mr. Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday on “Fox & Friends.” “But their theme is resist. It’s obstruction. And the problem is they’ve become obstructionist.”
“And the voters — I happen to like it from the standpoint of running for office, but I think it’s a terrible theme in terms of getting elected, and more importantly, I think it’s a terrible theme for the people of this country,” the Republican president said. “Resist. Obstruction. That’s not what [the people] want.”
The ongoing resistance effort, manifested in regular anti-Trump protests and town-hall eruptions, hasn’t resulted in Democratic wins. Democrats have lost four contested House special elections this year despite spending heavily to link GOP candidates to the Trump White House.
The only House special election won by Democrats this year was the June 7 race to succeed former California Rep. Xavier Becerra, now the state’s attorney general, in a contest that featured two Democrats.
Mr. Trump said the Democrats had only themselves to blame by pushing the “resist” theme and getting behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, whom he described as a “hopeless case” and a “highly overrated voice.”
“I actually think she’s a hopeless case. I call her Pocahontas, and that’s an insult to Pocahontas,” Mr. Trump said. “I actually think that she is just somebody that’s got a lot of hatred, a lot of anger.”
A progressive icon and a vocal opponent of the Trump administration, Ms. Warren is considered a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, but Mr. Trump said he thinks she actually hurt the Democrats in 2016.
“I watched her campaigning for Hillary [Clinton], and she was so angry,” Mr. Trump said. “Hillary would be sitting back, listening to her, trying to smile, but there were a lot of people in that audience that were going, ’Wow is this what we want? There’s a lot of anger there and hostility.’ “
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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