President Donald Trump is preparing to take his show on the road after a shock-and-awe flurry of
Yet while Trump's long-planned fire and fury start to his second term is entirely
Trump's third day in office will be capped by an Oval Office interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, set to air Wednesday night during Asia market hours. Trump is also expected to meet today with a group of centrist House Republicans, according to a Semafor
Trump met Tuesday with House and Senate Republican leaders to chart a path forward on his priorities, but those talks ended without a deal on how to advance Trump's signature tax plan, as well as on other key policy priorities like immigration and energy.
Senate Republicans would like to do a large bill on immigration and energy first to deliver a quick win for the president and then tackle tax reform in a second bill, whereas House Republicans would prefer to do one large bill that ties together all of Trump's priorities to help ensure passage through Congress.
Congressional Republicans have struggled with unity in recent years, especially in the House. It took 15 votes for Kevin McCarthy to become speaker in 2023, and he lasted just 10 months in the job before being ousted. GOP lawmakers eventually settled on Mike Johnson to take over, and he's led an uneasy majority since then. Earlier this month, Johnson required Trump's own last-minute intervention to flip a couple of votes in order to keep the top job.
Hannity, in a Tuesday evening program at the Capitol with House GOP leaders and lawmakers, repeatedly pressed them to get on board with Trump's full agenda, urging unanimity while reminding repeatedly that no one member can get everything they want.
Johnson told Hannity on Tuesday that a bill to move Trump's tax agenda, extending cuts from his first term and enacting promises made during his campaign, could be done by April and would be passed by the Memorial Day holiday near the end of May at the latest.
"We've had a lot of member briefings, but we've also been talking about this with President Trump," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters after his meeting with the president on Tuesday.
"When you look at what gives us the best path to success, to secure the border, lower energy costs, save the tax policies, stave off the tax increase — all of those things we want to do, what builds the best path?" Scalise said. "The one area we're not in disagreement on is what will be in an overall package. We're all talking about the same things."
Yet for all the optimistic talk on passing Trump's legislative agenda, there's no agreement yet on how to do it.
Complicating matters further, Republicans in recent years needed to rely on Democratic votes for even the most basic legislative must-dos, like funding the government or lifting the debt ceiling. House Republicans can only afford to lose one vote and still be able to pass bills without needing to go to Democrats for help. In the Senate, they can afford just three defections.
"We're gonna get the job done, at the end of the day," Representative Tom Emmer, the Minnesota Republican whose job as majority whip is to corral House GOP votes for the bills that will enact Trump's agenda, told Hannity. "Failure is not an option."
Fire funding
Meanwhile, preparations are underway for a trip to North Carolina and Los Angeles, the latter of which will give Trump a chance to spar on Democratic turf with the biggest political foil of his first days back in office, California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Trump is slated to visit North Carolina on Friday to see the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and then California to view the devastation wrought by wildfires in Los Angeles. Trump and Newsom have sparred repeatedly over the handling of fires in California, including over water usage, preparation, and the state's response.
In his inaugural address, Trump said fires have burned in Los Angeles "without even a token of defense." Newsom shot back that Trump's rhetoric was both "nonsense" and "insulting," in a statement late Tuesday that interspersed those words with photos of firefighters tackling the blazes.
"I look forward to President Trump's visit to Los Angeles and his mobilization of the full weight of the federal government to help our fellow Americans recover and rebuild."
Newsom has also sparred with conservatives in Congress over whether federal aid to California should come without conditions — his insistence — or with conditions including requiring changes to water policy and fire mitigation strategies in the state, as Republicans including Johnson have suggested.
"We're going to take care of Los Angeles," Trump said to reporters on Tuesday at the White House. "I'm going to North Carolina, which has been abandoned by the Democrats. And I'm going to North Carolina, very importantly, first, I'll be there on Friday."
Trump will also go to Nevada, a swing-state he won in the 2024 presidential election, to "thank them" for their support.
The trip will cap off a busy week for Trump, who advisers and allies say returned to power with a strong sense of the way he wanted to approach a second term. Trump is trying to demonstrate his effectiveness as a leader and draw a contrast with the former President Joe Biden, who typically did one or two public events each day in office. Many of Trump's aides would like his legacy to rival that of the late President Ronald Reagan.
The Trump team always intended to move at a dizzying pace during its first two years in office, while Republicans control the White House, Senate and House. They say they are emboldened and confident after winning all seven swing states in the 2024 election and expanding the Republican Party to include greater numbers of young men, Black men and Hispanics.
To reporters, Trump has said he may impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as February 1. "We're talking about a tariff of 10% on China, based on the fact that they're sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada," Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Trump's comments, made in White House events that turned into impromptu press conferences, scrambled currency markets. China's onshore yuan dropped by the most in three weeks on his tariff threat reiteration. A day earlier, Trump's 25% threat had sent the Canadian dollar to its weakest levels in nearly five years.
Even if Trump's second-term is off to an impactful start, warning signs loom for his presidency. The nation's stubborn inflation will be hard to tame, despite his recent order to federal agencies to study the issue of bringing down costs for consumers.
Peace in the Middle East may prove fragile, despite the agreed-upon six week cease fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, while Russia continues to bombard Ukraine's cities nightly, with little sign yet of public movement by Russia's leadership toward the truce talks Trump says are essential.
Trump indicated he plans to speak soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and suggested Tuesday he could impose more sanctions on Russia if Putin doesn't come to the table for talks on Ukraine.
Putin told China's leader Xi Jinping, during their 95-minute video call Tuesday, that he was ready for dialogue with the U.S. on Ukraine, Interfax reported, but that Trump's representatives hadn't yet contacted the Kremlin over possible talks.
