President Donald Trump pumps his fist during an event to celebrate Congress passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence and other GOP lawmakers on the South Lawn of the White House Dec. 20. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images After passage of tax bill, a White House thank-fest GOP leaders practically compete to heap praise on the president, who shows no resistance in accepting it.

Finally — a win.

In the wake of passing major tax cuts, congressional Republicans gathered at the White House beneath a cloudy December sky on Wednesday to make sure that the man who prizes winning over all else, President Donald Trump, received his thanks.


The event had echoes of the May fete in the Rose Garden, when House Republicans gathered with Trump to celebrate the passage of a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act before watching the effort disintegrate in the Senate.

This time, they saved the party and self-congratulation until the very end.

A Marine band serenaded the crowd with Christmas carols as cabinet members and staff took seats on the South Lawn and congressional Republicans obediently lined the steps on the South Portico of the White House.

A triumphant Trump, joined by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence, took the stage to “Hail to the Chief” and kicked off a series of speeches aimed at touting the legislation — and especially on praising the president, who is expected to sign it in the days ahead.

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After months of frustration with Trump’s erratic leadership, congressional leaders on Wednesday seemed to compete for who could lavish the most praise on the president, whose hunger for aggrandizement is well known.

“This has been a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the Trump administration,” declared McConnell, who led off the speeches. “We’ve cemented the Supreme Court to the right of center for a generation. Mr. President, thanks to your nominees we put 12 circuit court judges in place — the most since the circuit court system was established in 1891. You hold the record.”

Ryan followed: “Something this big, something this generational, something this profound could not have been done without exquisite presidential leadership. Mr. President, thank you for getting us over the finish line, thank you for getting us where we are.”

And Pence continued: “Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your leadership, thank you for your boundless faith in the American people and thank you for keeping your promise to see this Congress deliver the largest tax cut in American history before Christmas of this year.”

“You,” Pence gushed to the president, “will make America great again.”

Trump appeared to soak it all in, smiling and nodding along, playing the role of emcee as he summoned each speaker to deliver his or her thanks.

“I want to say thank you to Mr. President,” said Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee. “Thank you, President Trump, for allowing us to have you as our president and to make America great again.”

“You’re living up to everything I thought you would,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. “You’re one heck of a leader.”

“Look at all the things that he’s been able to get done, by sheer will in many ways,” he added. “I just hope that we all get behind him every way we can.” This presidency, he went on, could be “the greatest presidency we have seen not only in generations but maybe ever.”

And, in case anyone was confused about whom to thank for the tax cut, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy sought to clear it up: “That will be the pay raise of the vote for Donald Trump.”

The love-fest, a scene unprecedented in any other presidency but almost normal-seeming in Trump’s Washington, comes after a winding and bumpy road for Republican leaders, who frequently swallowed their deep misgivings in the hopes of a day such as this one.

“I don’t know if we will have bigger moments, but we hope to,” Trump quipped at one point, a seeming recognition that for him and the Republican Congress, this may be the apex.

