Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of Washington Secrets. Sometimes Donald Trump just can’t get out of his own way, particularly if there is a chance to get a laugh out of a rally crowd, which is what happened in Texas last night. Plus, we look at the MAGA Right’s read on the Brazilian election, and why Mike Waltz is taking no nonsense.
If the midterm elections are shaping up to be the affordability election, then Donald Trump had an ace up his sleeve: a Trump dividend of $5,000 for voters if Republicans hold both houses of Congress.
Until, that is, he mined it for laughs.
During a rally in Texas on Thursday night, he told supporters that the only catch is that they must spend it in the U.S. Perhaps they could even be his guest at Mar-a-Lago, his exclusive Florida club.
“The problem is that for $5,000, the most you’ll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert,” he continued. “I’m not even sure you could buy that. No, don’t go there. That’s not a good place if you’re price conscious.”
The crowd in Corpus Christi loved it. His allies trying to win seats around the country did not.
“He just can’t get out of his own way at times,” said one former official, “particularly if he can get a reaction out of a rally crowd.”
Cost of living is the top issue for voters this time around. And Republicans had found a useful messaging tool this week in the shape of former President Barack Obama’s comments about one of the nation’s favorite restaurant chains.
“What’s with the gold?” Obama asked, accusing the president of focusing more on home decor than on the problems facing American families. “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
MAGAworld let the comparison with a war criminal slide, but said the reference to Cheesecake Factory was a reminder that Democrats were out-of-touch elitists.
So the president’s campaign-trail reminder that he owns a club with a joining fee way out of reach for most people (reportedly a cool $1 million) was seized on by opponents.
“Working people are struggling to make rent and pay for groceries, and President Trump wants to sell you a $5,000 hamburger at his private golf club,” posted AFL-CIO, America’s largest federation of labor unions, before adding that fries and drink would cost extra.
Trump rose to power in 2016 with a message that he would best represent the interests of a forgotten America, people who had been left behind by a coastal elite and international trade.
This time around, he has frustrated some of his advisers by undermining his own messaging at times.
Last year, he repeatedly dismissed the idea of “affordability” as a hoax, put about by Democrats to undermine his successes.
At the start of the year, he expressed frustration that his administration’s economic message was “not getting across” to voters, and then said he would deliver his own remarks on affordability at Davos, the annual gathering of the billionaire class.
In May, as his war on Iran was driving up gas prices, he told reporters that the impact on American pocketbooks was not motivating him to make a deal, “not even a little bit.”
And he continues to tell rally crowds to accept higher gas prices in return for security.
“Remember, with the war, it’s just artificial, it’s a little bit high, it’s a small price to pay,” he said during an event in Nebraska. “It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, for keeping our country safe.”
We will find out in a week whether voters think about a safer world and a nuclear-free Iran when they see gas prices averaging $4.27 a gallon, and whether they find jokes about the luxury burgers at Mar-a-Lago funny.
You are reading Washington Secrets, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, who you can reach at [email protected] with your comments, story tips, and suggestions.
Lessons from overseas
Last week, it was protests in France. This week it is Brazil.
Republicans see crises around the world as models for what could come next in the U.S.
As defeated presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro and his family arrived in Miami from Brazil on Wednesday morning, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon riffed on the aftermath of the nation’s elections, where the Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into JD Vance’s fundraising network and where Bolsonaro was ordered to surrender his passports.
He claimed the episode revealed the universal playbook of the Left.
“The game plan’s always the same, and you see it here in the United States right now,” he said. “You’re seeing it here live and in person, and that’s why I think to highlight the fact that it’s taking brave men and women who were driven out of their country to stand and say we’re not going to tolerate this, we’re going to fight back, and eventually we’re going to take down this regime, and we’re going to restore freedom to the people of Brazil is, I think, awe-inspiring and very inspirational.”
For the Bannonite Right, the lesson is clear. Expect a new round of lawfare after the midterm elections.
Quote of the day
There were rather undiplomatic scenes at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, when U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz got into a shouting match with Cuba‘s foreign minister. It came while Waltz was detailing wealth stolen by the island’s communist regime and a list of people it had persecuted.
The Cuban delegation banged on a table while Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla approached the podium and accused Waltz of lying. The American ambassador shouted back:
“Mr. President, this individual needs to back away from this podium. He’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America like he tries to intimidate political prisoners…
“And I’m the representative of the United States of America. Back up. Back up, ambassador. Back away. This isn’t Havana. You’re not going to intimidate me. Do you understand who you’re dealing with? This is America. Back up.”
Lunchtime reading
Traveling Route 66 in the age of data centers: If the road was a “blank canvas to draw a 20th-century national identity, filled with dreams of cars and cities, hope and forward movement,” then what does it say about the nation now?
What is the Cook Political Report, and why is Washington so obsessed with it? “Come late October, Cook’s ratings — which sort races into “Solid,” “Likely,” “Lean” or “Toss Up” categories — assume a mystical, even quasi-prophetic status in Washington.”