Trump Relies on Populist Language, but He Mostly Sides With Corporate Interests

And he will almost certainly take credit for legislation passed on Tuesday that would pay the health care costs of emergency workers who rushed to ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001, for the rest of their lives.

Within the White House, a small group of staff has begun talking about the need to come up with an agenda for 2021 that could be useful for the re-election; Mr. Trump, who has seen the criticism on television that he has no forward-looking message, is also mindful of it, people close to the discussion said.

A White House deputy press secretary, Hogan Gidley, noted that Democrats were not exactly looking for deals either.

“When the speaker and Senator Schumer refuse to even negotiate, it destroys any chance of repairing our infrastructure, reducing health care costs, or making lasting reforms to our failed immigration laws,” he said in a statement, referring to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. He insisted that Democratic leadership is “so beholden to radical ideologies, they would rather fail to deliver for the American people than allow the president to add more accomplishments to his record.”

Democrats, however, have suggested that Mr. Gidley’s criticism rings hollow, pointing out that Mr. Trump walked out of a meeting with Mr. Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi that was focused on infrastructure, and that the president has said he would not work with Democrats while he was being investigated by Congress.

Mr. Trump faces internal impediments, as well. His impulses are often shaped by news coverage, particularly on Fox News, and the views of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, whose members have no desire to find common cause with Democrats.

The president is also largely detached from the legislative process and has rarely been heard discussing what a second-term agenda could look like or how to tie it to his re-election bid. His few bipartisan accomplishments scarcely get mentioned. Mr. Trump, for example, rarely discusses the criminal justice overhaul that he signed into law after his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, made it a personal mission and argued to the president that it could help him with African-American voters.

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