President Donald Trump shakes hands with newly minted Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew at the White House on December 19, 2019. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a Democrat-turned-Republican from New Jersey, appeared with President Trump on Thursday to announce his party switch.

President Trump made the "very exciting announcement," calling it "a big deal." Trump added that Van Drew is "very smart" because he knows Republicans are "not going to be the minority for long."

Van Drew invoked party bosses, God and Ronald Reagan as he described his political evolution.

"I have been a Democrat for a lot of years," Van Drew said. But at a recent meeting with a "local county chairman in the Democratic Party," Van Drew said he was ordered to vote for Trump's impeachment -- or else.

Van Drew said the official told him, "I will do everything to destroy you."

("A wise guy," Trump interjected.)

Van Drew said the threat "kind of hurt," given everything he's done for his constituents over the years.

"And it kind of made me think a little bit -- is this what I really want to do? Because there were other times in my life when I thought about this," he said.

'In God We Trust'

Van Drew said he thought about switching parties when he was serving in the New Jersey Senate.

"I've always wanted to mention this," he said.

But I did two bills, and one of them--it's unusual for New Jersey--would allow, in any public or private building, to have 'In God We Trust' on the wall. And the second one was that you could fly the American flag wherever you wanted to, however you wanted to, as long as it was respectful. And I thought these were wonderful bills. I mean, I thought everybody was going to be, this is just a great thing. And I had some very progressive--and not all Democrats, but these were really progressive Democrats that came to me and said we're really disgusted with you. And I said, why? Making such a big deal about the flag. The flag is just not that big a deal. 'In God We Trust' is not that big a deal, and you shouldn't even mention his name. And I was shocked. I was shocked.

("That's a very Republican thing, by the way," Trump chimed in.)

"And I--I think most folks should be okay with it," Van Drew said.

("Yep, the whole country should be okay with it," Trump added.)

Van Drew said he's been offended by liberals who deny American exceptionalism:

"I don't want anybody to ever tell me that there isn't American exceptionalism. I don't want anybody to ever say that this is the same as every other country in the world, because it is not. It is not...And again, from certain groups of people that represented certain parts of the Party, I was criticized. And they said this country is the same as every other country and there is no such thing as American exceptionalism."

Making his final point, Van Drew said Ronald Reagan is "one of my heroes."

"And when he said, 'I didn't leave my party, my party left me.' And I'm saying the same thing."

Van Drew was lavish in his praise of Trump and his scorn for the far-left agenda:

"I'm a capitalist. Socialism, in my opinion, has no place in the United States of America. I think everyone should know that," Van Drew said.

"The new Green Deal is something that we should never, ever even think about doing. I don't even know how anybody could bring that up. We can have a strong and good environment and we can have a good economy at the same time.



"And that's something that I think Republicanism represents; lower taxes, balancing the budget, honoring our police, our fire, our rescue, our veterans, our soldiers, these men and women."

Van Drew told President Trump, "You have my undying support."





