White House Trump warns House Dems against 'war-like' posture in boastful, bitter remarks The president on Wednesday said he is prepared to work with Democrats as they take control of the House. He also threatened them.

President Donald Trump was at turns triumphal, resentful, conciliatory and combative in a Wednesday post-election press conference that exceeded even his usual freewheeling standards.

Rather than concede that a Democratic House could cost him dearly, Trump cast himself as the previous night’s big winner.


“I thought it was a very close to complete victory,” Trump told reporters, saying that his party had “defied history” by picking up Senate seats.

And amid mockery of GOP candidates who lost after refusing to embrace him on the stump and unusually barbed exchanges with reporters, the president sought to frame the politics of divided government to his advantage, setting up Democrats as an obstructionist party motivated by a zeal to bring down his presidency.

In sprawling remarks that lasted for well over an hour, during which the president gave no hint of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ imminent resignation, Trump said he is open to working with congressional Democrats “to continue delivering for the American people,” citing infrastructure, trade, immigration and the economy as possible areas of cooperation. “[T]here could be a “beautiful bipartisan type of situation,” Trump insisted.

Trump even endorsed Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for House Speaker, hours after tweeting that he might urge Republicans to support her if she faces an internal Democratic challenge.

“Now, we have a much easier path because the Democrats will come to us with a plan for infrastructure, a plan for healthcare, and we’ll negotiate,” Trump said.

But he quickly warned that cooperation would be impossible if House Democrats seek to paralyze the White House with a blitz of congressional probes and subpoenas.

“If they do that, then it’s just a war-like posture,” he said, repeating a remarkable warning that he first made on Twitter earlier in the day that he might seek investigations of Democrats themselves.

Trump insisted that cooperation on policy cannot be done “simultaneously” with vigorous investigations. “Somebody says, ‘Oh, you can do ‘em both.’ No, you can’t,” he said. “Because if they’re doing that, we’re not doing the other, just so you understand. So we won’t be doing that.”

The message seemed to preview White House plans to use Democrats as a handy foil for Trump as he positions himself for his 2020 re-election campaign.

One former White House staffer laughed hysterically Wednesday morning when asked about Trump’s pro-Pelosi comment, suggesting his calls for bipartisanship are pretend.

“He’s totally trolling,” this person said, adding that Trump is “on war footing” now that election night has passed and he’s faced with the reality of a Democratic House majority “that was elected solely to pare down his presidency.

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A feisty Trump — who declared that the midterm elections were a referendum on his own presidency — refused to acknowledge that he suffered any losses on Tuesday night, and showed no signs of the self-reflection expressed by predecessors who endured midterm losses.

Trump dispatched his top aides to the morning shows to boast that he had “made history” due to his marathon campaigning for GOP candidates.

Trump’s war-footing also extended to his fellow Republicans and the media on Wednesday.

He named and shamed GOP House candidates who refused to embrace him, sending a not-so-subtle warning that fellow Republicans who cross him will suffer consequences, even while cheekily saying he didn’t hold their disloyalty against them.

"Mia Love. I saw Mia Love, and she would call me all the time to help her with a hostage situation, being held hostage in Venezuela," the president said, referring to the recent release of Utahn Josh Holt. "But Mia Love gave me no love. And she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia."

The president also called out several other Republicans who went down after declining to say clearly that they backed him: Republicans Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Mike Coffman of Colorado, Barbara Comstock of Virginia, Peter Roskam of Illinois, Erik Paulsen of Minnesota, Bob Hugin of New Jersey and John Faso of New York also got called out.

Trump engaged in more direct confrontations with the media, tussling with CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta at the news conference, calling him a "rude, terrible person" after he asked during the news conference about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

"You are a very rude person," Trump told Acosta, who had talked over the president. "The way you treat Sarah Huckabee is horrible, and the way you treat other people is horrible. You shouldn't treat people that way."

As Acosta attempted to ask follow-up questions, a White House aide attempted to pull the microphone away from him, and a tense situation ensued.

"I'll tell you what, CNN should be ashamed of itself, having you working for them," Trump said to Acosta.

A former White House official said Trump supporters will delight in the clash between Trump and Acosta. "It was brilliant," the former official said.

Trump also accused PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor of submitting a “racist question” after she asked him whether his recent declaration that he is a “nationalist” might have been welcomed by white nationalists.

“I don’t know why you’d say that,” he shot back, describing Alcindor’s question as “so insulting.” Trump said the term “nationalist” was simply a distinct way to differentiate himself from “globalists,” and carried zero racist overtones.

But the president faced a second question moments later about reports that he used racist language on the set of “The Apprentice,” where he allegedly referred to African-American rapper Lil Jon, then a contestant on the show, as “Uncle Tom,” in addition to using the n-word.

“I don’t know Lil Jon,” Trump told Yahoo! News’ Hunter Walker, prompting Twitter to light up with old photos of the two men smiling as they posed together at a red carpet premiere.

Trump’s intense performance came after Democrats had flipped 28 House seats — enough to take back control of the House — by Wednesday morning, with several victories occurring in districts Trump carried by double digits in 2016. They also defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin and propelled Democrat Gretchen Whitmer to a gubernatorial win in Michigan. Both states played a critical role in delivering the presidency to Trump, but now stand to become major challenges as he plots his path to reelection.

Despite their losses, White House officials said the president was more pleased than disappointed by Tuesday’s outcome, noting that Republicans looked poised to gain between two and five Senate seats. Few incumbent presidents in the last century have expanded their party’s Senate majority in off-year elections -- something Trump joyously highlighted as returns poured in Tuesday night.

“It went significantly better than we thought it would,” a senior White House official told POLITICO, suggesting Trump’s “impact in a bunch of these states and Senate races was key.”

“It was a long night,” said a person close to Trump’s 2020 campaign, “but we didn’t bleed out like we could have bled out."

In between race projections Tuesday evening, Trump spent much of his time at a White House election watch party consulting with friends, family, and advisers on how he should approach the new political landscape. The president, whose ideological malleability is no secret to Republicans and mostly welcomed by his base, was running through various deal-cutting scenarios, according to one person in the room.

“He probably asked 25 people what he should say. The question is always if he listens,” said the former White House staffer.

Those close to Trump say because he relishes gamesmanship and isn’t tethered to a single belief system, he is likely to pursue bipartisan legislative solutions to address issues like illegal immigration, surging pharmaceutical costs, and America’s crumbling infrastructure.

The question is how long that desire lasts, and whether Democrats are willing to play ball.

“We saw that during his first two years, the president reached out and offered olive branches on things like immigration and infrastructure -- often to the chagrin of Republican leaders,” said former White House adviser Marc Lotter, who accused Democrats of repeatedly rejecting the president’s offers.

“The dirty little secret of the House Democratic majority is they weren’t elected by the Democratic base to work with Trump on a bipartisan basis," said the former White House official.

Conversely, a decent number of Democrats who will join Congress as freshman members in January have spent the past few months casting themselves as centrists who want to inject new leadership into the party’s ranks and avoid gridlock. For example, Democrat Anthony Brindisi, a state assemblyman who began his campaign with an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association, bested incumbent Republican Claudia Tenney in New York’s 22nd congressional district, which Trump carried by 20 percentage points in 2016. Early on in his campaign, Brindisisaid he would not support Pelosi for another term as speaker if he won.

If Trump is truly eager to reach across the aisle, it’s these kinds of members who would be the likeliest to respond.

“They had a lot of moderate candidates who won precisely because they opposed Pelosi, and I think a lot of these members are going to have a big say in the Democrats’ agenda,” said a former White House staffer.

Andrew Restuccia contributed to this report.