By Adam Cancryn, Sarah Ferris, CNN
(CNN) — House Republicans crowded into the Kennedy Center on Tuesday to hear President Donald Trump lay out his vision for the consequential midterm year ahead.
Instead, they got plenty of grievances — and little sense of a plan.
Trump, in a meandering speech that stretched for over an hour, recounted a range of personal slights, attacked lawmakers in both parties and complained repeatedly about not getting the credit he feels he’s owed for orchestrating “the most successful first year of any president in history.”
He celebrated the decision to take charge of Venezuela without offering details for how the administration will “run” the country long term, ordered lawmakers to “figure it out” when it comes to spikes in health care premiums, and never once uttered the word “affordability” despite widespread acknowledgement that control of Congress will hinge on the cost-of-living crisis.
Already, the White House’s fresh entanglement in Venezuela and talk of expanding its reach throughout the Western Hemisphere has threatened to complicate a promised pivot by Trump to core domestic priorities.
And while Trump insisted that the GOP could still pull off a stunning victory in November and overcome the historical trend of presidents losing seats in midterm elections, he indicated at times that he nevertheless fears voters will ultimately let him down.
“I wish you could explain to me what the hell’s going on with the mind of the public,” he said, later musing gloomily that “it’s almost like ‘What have you done lately’ is the way you have to run your life.”
The freewheeling address underscored the steep challenges facing House Republicans as they kicked off an all-day retreat aimed at coalescing behind their next legislative priorities and salvaging their midterm fortunes.
Notably, Trump reiterated his support for House Speaker Mike Johnson despite a rocky tenure in recent months, offering a sign of much-needed cohesion at the top for the GOP. But even so, the speech confirmed that Trump – after a year spent asserting his influence over the GOP-controlled Congress – would not soon be the one delivering them answers.
The president instead lamented the party’s struggle to gain traction with voters after a year filled with policy overhauls that have reshaped broad swaths of American life, blaming poor GOP messaging and an uncooperative mainstream press.
He urged Republicans to promote their sweeping tax and spending cuts law more enthusiastically and talk up the administration’s efforts to cut drug prices, insisting the pair of initiatives had given them “so much ammunition.”
“I think I gave you something,” Trump said, while acknowledging he hadn’t read anything off his teleprompter. “It’s a roadmap to victory. You have so many good nuggets, you have to use them.”
The one new pitch that Trump did make risks further complicating dynamics in the GOP: to be more flexible about the party’s insistence on a policy that prevents federal dollars from paying for abortions.
The so-called Hyde amendment has been a sticking point in negotiations over a health care compromise, but abandoning it would likely spark heavy blowback from anti-abortion groups and social conservatives. Trump also encouraged the GOP to embrace his 2024 campaign promise around in vitro fertilization, a move that could generate similar opposition from that faction.
Yet Trump has remained vague on how Republicans should seek to turn around voters’ opinions of the centerpiece tax-and-spending bill that united the GOP but that polling shows most Americans view negatively, or bolster awareness of his complicated drug price deals that have yet to make any sizable impact.
And perhaps most importantly for Republican lawmakers