President Trump worked the phones and welcomed Republicans to the White House to cajole them into supporting his megabill. They left with signed merchandise and photos of the Oval Office.
A conga line of angsty Republican lawmakers filed through the West Wing on Wednesday, hemming and hawing about the big domestic policy bill that President Trump wants them to pass by Friday. They walked out with signed merchandise, photos in the Oval Office and, by some accounts, a newfound appreciation for the bill — targets all of a blunt-force charm offensive waged with precision by the president.
One White House official said Mr. Trump had a line he used on many of his phone calls and meetings with wobbly Republicans: “Don’t give the Democrats a win. Don’t play into their hands.” He got the Senate to pass a version of the bill on Tuesday. So Wednesday was spent cajoling, wheedling and coaxing Republican members of the House.
It’s not as though there were just a few holdouts. He needed to convince different kinds of factions with all sorts of demands, fiscal hawks and moderates alike. By the day’s end, it was still unclear whether the bill was going to make it through, but there was some evidence that his methods were proving effective.
A clique of House Freedom Caucus members walked out of the White House in the early afternoon, their attitudes seemingly adjusted. Representative Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee, was one of them. He posted a video on social media gushing about the two-hour experience he’d just had with his president.
“The president was wonderful, as always,” Mr. Burchett said in the video. “Informative, funny, he told me he likes seeing me on TV, which was kind of cool.” Representative Byron Donalds, Republican of Florida, is shown in the video, too. “Did you show them what he signed for you?” Mr. Donalds asks Mr. Burchett. “Yeah, he signed a bunch of stuff,” Mr. Burchett said. “It’s cool.”
Mr. Burchett told The New York Times later on that his name had been misspelled on the placard placed in front of his chair for the Cabinet Room meeting (it was missing an “r”) so the president scribbled in the letter, signed both sides of the card and gave it to him as a souvenir. Mr. Burchett said the president also loaded up the son of Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas, with souvenirs.
