After suffering its first legislative blow at the hands of the Washington establishment, the White House regrouped over the weekend with senior aides strategizing on ways to score their boss a few wins and reassessing future friends and foes.

Instead of dwelling on the humbling Obamacare repeal defeat, President Donald Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon told POLITICO there would be "action, action, action" this week coming from the White House. Expect executive orders this week on trade, energy and environmental regulations, he said in a text message.


Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt said on ABC's "This Week" that Trump will sign an executive order this week rolling back President Obama's Clean Power Plan — an "Energy Independence Executive Order” designed to reduce regulations on domestic energy resources. The White House also confirmed that it would announce the creation of the Office of American Innovation on Monday, led by Jared Kushner.

All of that would help put the weekend of bitter recriminations behind them. The president took a step in that direction by calling House Speaker Paul Ryan on Sunday to reaffirm his commitment to their partnership. Ryan has indicated he is ready to move on to the next item on the ambitious GOP agenda — despite Trump’s tweet this weekend appearing to endorse Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro's take-down of Ryan.

Some in Republican leadership even saw a silver lining in Trump's defeat — he may have figured out who he can work with on the Hill.

They're hoping that Trump has realized out it's useless dealing with the House Freedom Caucus that they believe moved the goalpost on the health care bill many times without ever committing to the vote.

One senior administration official says the White House now has their eyes on courting moderate Democrats. That official said they plan to reach out to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and other rank-and-file Democrats who they think will be amenable to infrastructure spending and tax reform. The White House has already made contact with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Chief of Staff Reince Priebus appeared to telegraph that approach Sunday by repeatedly saying on Fox News Sunday that they need to reach out to moderate Democrats.

"The last 48 hours were about letting the dust settle, and the next week will be about talking to Democrats," said another senior administration official who was involved in pushing the health care bill on the Hill.

One senior GOP Hill source surmised that the messaging campaign from the White House about the potential courtship of Democrats is designed to make the House Freedom Caucus feel irrelevant in the fights ahead — a risky tactic since the president will likely need the House Freedom Caucus for the next flash points on the legislative agenda — the debt ceiling and the budget in April.

"He's not only risking alienating them [the Freedom Caucus] but conservatives as a whole," said a senior GOP Hill adviser. "People were always suspicious of his conservative credentials, but they supported the candidacy. He's running the risk of turning off conservatives and he still has to deal with the debt ceiling fight and everything else. He walked into Speaker Ryan's trap of calling out the Freedom Caucus."

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

On Sunday, Trump blasted both the House Freedom Caucus and Democrats in a single tweet. "Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!" Trump tweeted.

Trump will likely have to wait more than a week for his next big win — assuming Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is confirmed in the face of Democratic Senate vows to block his nomination.

Until then, the White House appears to be ready to take on a more active role in tax reform than it did on the health care bill. According to a House leadership aide, when Ryan came to the White House on Thursday to deliver the bad news to Trump on the vote count, the president’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin were eager to talk about tax reform.

While Trump laid his salesmanship on thick in the final week before the health care vote by courting the different GOP factions, some believe that he needs to sustain that work well in advance of the push for tax reform.

"To be his own best advocate, the President needs to know the Republican conference much better — invite members to the White House socially, invite them on Air Force One and to a golf outing," said Doug Heye, who served as an aide to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. "This effort can pay dividends the next time the White House wants to influence votes on the Hill."

Other have suggested that Trump should go even further and spend more time on the road selling his message, to add to his leverage when he's trying to twist arms on Capitol Hill.

"He spends everyday meeting with interest groups in the White House, I think going out and meeting with average Americans wouldn't hurt," said Alex Conant, Sen. Marco Rubio's former communications director, noting hat Trump's average of one rally outside of D.C. per week isn't enough with his slipping approval ratings. "They need to develop a strategy, where they agree that 37 percent is unacceptable for a president's approval rating after two months on the job."