‘We must fight them’: Trump declares war on Republican conservative purists
Civil conflict within his party could derail US President’s legislative agenda
US President Donald Trump on Thursday lashed out at Republican conservatives who helped torpedo health care legislation he backed, escalating a feud within his party that jeopardises the new administration’s legislative agenda.
Trump declared “we must fight them”, as he threatened to try to defeat members of the Freedom Caucus - a bloc of conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives - in next year’s congressional elections if they continued to defy him. He tweeted on Thursday:
House conservatives fought back.
“Most people don’t take well to being bullied,” said Representative Justin Amash, who compared Trump’s approach to what a child does when he wants to “get his way.”
Representative Raul Labrador, one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus, urged Trump in a tweet:
Trump’s deteriorating relationship with Republican House conservatives could make it harder for him to pass his legislative agenda, which includes rewriting the US tax code, revisiting a health care overhaul and funding construction of a wall along the US-Mexican border.