Trump’s Capitol Hill doubters unmoved after face-to-face meetings Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/donald-trump-capitol-hill-225262#ixzz4DmBgOjQ9 Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
But as details about the meetings leaked out, it became clear that the gatherings did little but paper over deep internal GOP divisions that show no signs of abating.
.. House members already wary of Trump were even more skeptical after seeing him in person, their concerns about his standing among Latinos and praise for Saddam Hussein undiminished. It was even worse with senators, as Trump seemed more intent at times on settling scores than mending fences, calling out his critics in front of the bulk of the Senate GOP Conference.
.. He called Trump’s attacks on fellow Republicans an example of “the bully side of him. Unnecessary red-on-red violence there.”
.. That “wasn’t what I saw. I didn’t hear the word ‘loser’ used,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) of a Washington Post account of Trump’s disses of Flake and Kirk.
.. Despite the insistence that everything was fine, all anyone was talking about on Capitol Hill after the meeting was Trump’s attempts to put his critics in their place, after being granted a golden opportunity to show the likes of Flake and Sasse an olive branch.
.. Trump’s praise for Saddam as an expert killer of terrorists, though, was hard for many Republicans to swallow, particularly veterans.
“Not helping me to get there,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, an Air Force veteran. “I have a hard time getting there because I’m an American before I’m a Republican.”
.. When one House Republican asked Trump if he understood that his comments about Hispanics were “not helpful,” he responded that “Hispanics love him,” according to moderate Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania.