President Donald Trump returned to Missouri on Wednesday in a bid to push the Republican tax plan across the finish line, calling an upcoming Senate vote a ‘moment of truth’ for the nation – and blasting a sitting Democratic senator for resisting.
‘Your current senator does not want to see a tax cut. That’s not good,’ Trump said as he took the stage in a St. Louis suburb, jabbing Sen. Claire McCaskill. He introduced Republican state Attorney General Josh Hawley as ‘our next senator.’
A White House official told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that Trump would ‘stay on message’ during his speech, resisting the temptation to blast Democrats as obstructionists.
‘It’ll be a disciplined speech,’ the official said. ‘No nonsense, no drama.’
Trump couldn’t resist, however, at one point needling ‘the fake news’ – journalists at the back of the room – and taking a shot at Hillary Clinton.
Saying that he wasn’t bothered if the new tax proposal hurt him financially, the billionaire president shrugged off the possibility of taking a hit to his wallet.
‘Hey look, I’m president. I don’t care anymore,’ he said, drawing applause and laughter. ‘Some of my wealthy friends care. Me, I don’t care. This is a higher calling, don’t you think?’
‘As Hillary said, “What difference does it make?”‘ he quipped.
That was a swipe at his former campaign rival over the most memorable line from her Senate testimony about the 2012 terror attack on a State Department compound in Benghazi, Libya.
And the president yukked it up upon his entrance, seeing a ‘Merry Christmas’ sign on stage along with a quartet of Christmas trees.
‘I told you that we would be saying Merry Christmas again!’ he exclaimed, reprising his campaign promise to do away with ‘Happy Holidays’ as the nation’s default December greeting.
‘Trump on Wednesday said the Republican plan would be the biggest tax cut in the history of our country, bigger than Reagan.’
‘America’s tax code is a total dysfunctional mess,’ he said, calling it a ‘self-inflicted’ wound on the body politic.
Tensions among Republicans in Congress are running high as the president struggles to negotiate with them over a spending bill that must be passed before tax cuts can be tackled.
Wednesday’s visit is his first to the Show-Me State since the end of August, when he appeared in Springfield to launch his tax relief push.
Trump also called out McCaskill, a top Republican target in next year’s midterm elections, by name during that speech.
She voted against the tax-cut plan in a Senate Finance Committee vote this month.
‘We must lower our taxes – and your senator, Claire McCaskill, she must do this for you,’ the president said August 30. ‘And if she doesn’t do it for you, you have got to vote her out of office.’
Trump on Wednesday talked about lowering middle-class economic burdens and growing the economy.
‘Look what’s happening with our markets. People get it,’ he said to applause from about 1,000 people in the town of St. Charles.
‘Our focus is on helping the folks who work in the mailrooms and machine shops of America – the plumbers and the carpenters, the cops and the teachers, the truck drivers and the pipe fitters – the people who like me best.’
‘Those are the people I grew up with. Those are the people I worked on construction sites with.’
Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that his tax cut plan will ‘shift our economy into high gear’
‘It is not enough for the middle class to keep getting by; we want them to start getting ahead,’ he said.
‘We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to restore American prosperity and reclaim America’s destiny. … But in order to achieve this bright and glowing future, the Senate must pass tax cuts and bring Main Street roaring back to life,’ he said.
‘This is our chance to free our economy and our workers from the terrible tax burden in Washington. … Now comes the moment of truth.’
Trump tweeted his enthusiasm on Wednesday morning.
‘Stock market at a new high, unemployment at a low. We are winning and TAX CUTS will shift our economy into high gear!’ he wrote.
While the White House says the tax plan will be a boon to middle-income families, helping small business owners and workers, sparking economic growth and simplifying the tax code, critics say both House and Senate versions will disproportionately help the wealthy and corporations.
‘This week’s vote can be the beginning of the next great chapter for the American Worker.’
About two dozen mostly black protesters gathered outside more than two hours ahead of Trump’s arrival on Wednesday, chanting slogans at a smaller group of Trump supporters hoisting American flags.
Police kept them corralled away from the line of cars entering on the opposite side of the building.
‘No Trump! No KKK! No fascist U.S.A.,’ two dozen mostly African-American demonstrators yelled, coming nose-to-nose with the pro-Trump group.
Police didn’t report any physical altercations or arrests.
The anti-Trump activists waved signs including one that read: ‘Tinkle tinkle little czar; Putin put you where you are.’
It was held by a woman sporting a ‘p***y hat’ from the January Women’s March in Washington.
The White House is in full-court-press mode, promoting its tax-cut message to reporters on Wednesday even aboard Air Force One.
‘We see a lot of momentum behind this bill,’ deputy press secretary Raj Shah said en route to Missouri, even as a half-dozen Republican senators express doubts about supporting it.
‘We have passage out of the Judiciary Committee, passage out of the Budget Committee, we’re looking forward to a vote later this week that we fully expect to pass, and we’re looking forward to finally get tax cuts passage by Christmas.’
Shah said the president’s preferred bill ‘provides significant middle class tax relief. It provides tax relief in the form of the child tax credit.’
‘We believe it’s a huge boon for the middle class,’ he added.
Wednesday’s trip came a day after the Senate Finance Committee advanced a sweeping tax package to the full Senate, handing Republican leaders a victory as they try to pass the nation’s first tax overhaul in 31 years.
But the bill still faces hurdles in the Senate with at least six senators raising sometimes contradicting concerns.