Near the end of President Donald Trump\u2019s rocky first year in office, White House aides view imminent victory on a tax overhaul as a starting point to strengthen his weak approval ratings ahead of key congressional elections next November.<\/p>\n
Some Republicans said any effort at a political turnaround must include reining in Trump\u2019s habit of lashing out at critics on Twitter.<\/p>\n
White House aides said they recognized that Trump\u2019s poll numbers needed to start rising to limit the damage in 2018 elections in which his fellow Republicans\u2019 continued control of Congress will be at stake.<\/p>\n
A Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives and Senate could jeopardize Trump\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to grow, we have to move up, and I think having more successes like the tax vote will be important to us,\u201d said a senior White House official.<\/p>\n
Administration officials said Trump would seek to use momentum generated from the biggest tax rewrite in 30 years to help propel other legislative priorities, including an infrastructure program and welfare reform.<\/p>\n
Final passage of the Republican tax bill is expected on Wednesday in what would be Trump\u2019s first major legislative victory since taking office in January.<\/p>\n
But the tax bill carries risks. Republicans insist it will boost the economy and job growth. Democrats condemn it as a giveaway to corporations and the rich. In a Reuters\/Ipsos poll, some 52 percent of adults said they opposed the tax plan, while 27 percent supported it.<\/p>\n
Unless Trump practices greater discipline, some Republican strategists see disaster looming in the congressional elections, in which a third of the 100-member Senate and all 435 seats in the House will be up for grabs.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop tweeting and start the new year with a new level of message discipline. Just try it. It\u2019ll work. And you\u2019ll get those poll numbers back up,\u201d said Republican strategist Scott Reed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got to focus on that job approval number because it\u2019s a historic death watch for midterm elections. The record is strong. His discipline is key for year two,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n
Trump has repeatedly caused controversy with early morning tweets, particularly those aimed at individuals. He raised hackles recently when he tweeted that Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand \u201cwould do anything\u201d for campaign donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are definitely moments that we\u2019d all like to see stop,\u201d one senior aide said. \u201cSome of the early morning stuff has not been helpful over the last few weeks.\u201d There has been some talk in the White House and among Trump\u2019s outside advisers about hiring a senior political adviser akin to former President Barack Obama\u2019s political aide David Axelrod or former President George W. Bush\u2019s adviser Karl Rove.<\/p>\n
The White House political director, Bill Stepien, is seen as a more data-driven adviser. Trump, who sees himself as his own strategist, does not have anyone steeped in politics like his former White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, or former chief strategist Steve Bannon.<\/p>\n
Aides said there was some discussion of getting Trump into events with smaller settings in order to show a more personal side of the president. His standard appearance is to go to an event, deliver a speech to a big crowd and leave.<\/p>\n
Trump is up against a historical trend in which the party that holds the White House typically loses seats in the first congressional elections after a president\u2019s initial two years in office.<\/p>\n
Democratic President Bill Clinton had a 46 percent approval rating in November 1994 and his party still lost 54 seats in the House and eight in the Senate. Trump was at 41 percent in a mid-December poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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