The Republican party is facing a potential electoral blowout in November. The government is scheduled to shut down in one week. The debt limit will be breached in March, and a debate on immigration is reaching a boil, with hundreds of thousands of young people in limbo. At their annual gathering in a West Virginia resort, Republicans had one simple answer to all of these issues: tax cuts.



A gathering that began with a fatal collision – when the train carrying Republican lawmakers collided with a garbage truck – ended with the release of a controversial memo, which some Republicans had claimed would reveal a bigger scandal than Watergate. It landed on Friday like a damp squib.

The retreat is an annual event for lawmakers, with a rotating venue around the middle Atlantic: from cities such as Philadelphia or Baltimore to tourist destinations like Williamsburg, Virginia, and Hershey, Pennsylvania. This year it was held at a famed West Virginia resort, the location of a longtime bunker where Congress could secretly and safely meet in case of nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

Events kicked off on Wednesday night, with a speech from Mike Pence in the hotel’s ballroom bedecked with green velvet chairs. Lawmakers arrived from a cocktail reception wearing Washington casual – blazers and khakis – and clutching mixed drinks and beer bottles. Phalanxes of waiters stood along the ballroom’s walls, ready with bottles of red and white wine, waiting to be summoned. Large video screens loomed on each side of the stage for lawmakers in the cheap seats.

Once Pence took the stage, he offered the president copious praise: “The state of your union is strong, because our people are strong, and they have a president who knows it.” He then heralded the tax cut bill Republicans passed on party lines last December, their biggest legislative achievement of the year with control of the White House and Congress.

Trump himself spoke at the retreat on Thursday, where he took a victory lap in front of lawmakers. “Everyone in this room, really, kudos,” he said. Last year, he added, was “one of the greatest years in the history of politics”.

The president did insist on some business, pressing the Senate to vote on his hardline immigration proposals, which have been received skeptically by Democrats and have split Republicans into factions. But most of the speech was a celebration.

“We’ve fulfilled far more promises than we promised,” Trump said. “And they’re having a hard time with that. We have seriously fulfilled promises. I call it ‘promises plus’.”

The remainder of the retreat was devoted to varied sessions, such as foreign policy and defense spending, with cameos from top officials such as the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and the secretary of defense, James Mattis. There was no formal session, however, on the divisive issue of immigration, and rifts within the party occasionally broke out into the open on a range of topics.

In one instance, a senior lawmaker from Pennsylvania, Bill Shuster, floated the idea of raising the gas tax to pay for infrastructure – anathema to many in a party that has fervently opposed any tax hikes for any reason in recent decades. One retiring lawmaker, Charlie Dent, went so far as to compare his party to “a dysfunctional family”.

“Dad’s drunk again but we don’t talk about it,” Dent said.

The Russia investigation and the Nunes memo kept coming up in reporters’ questions. Lawmakers tried to change the topic accordingly.

Asked about whether Devin Nunes should step down as chair of the intelligence committee, Paul Ryan said: “Look, the tax cuts are working. Tax reform is working.” He said Democrats were simply looking for a “political distraction”.

Even facing conflict in the ranks and unpredictability from the White House, the lawmakers and their allies put on a brave face for the midterms.

Pointing to a special election victory in Georgia last year, Steve Stivers, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, boasted that Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, had become an effective figure for the Republican base to rally against. And Pence comforted Republicans in his remarks on Wednesday night, saying the party had defied the odds before.

“Conventional wisdom said Hillary Clinton was going to be elected president,” he said. “The truth of the matter is we made history in 2016 and we are going to make history in 2018 when we re-elect Republican majorities in the House and the Senate.”

But many did not feel too lucky. For the entire retreat, the casino inside the resort was closed.