U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he and Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney (not pictured) meet in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 7, 2025. REUTERS Evelyn Hockstein
CNN chief national correspondent John King says Trump may have irritated U.S. voters with his refusal to sign the popular bipartisan housing bill that the Republican majority sent to his desk, but he’s done even more trouble to endangered Republicans in dicey swing districts.
The state of Michigan voted to send Trump to the White House again in 2023, but now Republican legislators are having to tell constituents that their party president doesn’t appear to be in line with their needs. And all because the House and Senate GOP majority refused to change rules to pass Trump’s SAVE Act.
“So is there a sensible strategy to this, or is it an unforced error on the president's part to refuse to sign a bill that could give a win to vulnerable lawmakers in his own party and, in theory, help tackle the housing affordability crisis,” CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked King.
“It would be an unforced error if the president cared to help his party,” answered King. “Even members of his own party's leadership will tell you privately that they think he's giving them the shaft because they did something they needed, not what he wanted them to do. … And a lot of people in his party are miffed about it.”
King then laid out an example in Michigan's 7th Congressional district, currently occupied by GOP incumbent Tom Barrett — but now possibly not for long.
“You can see two years ago, that was a very close race. He got 50 percent of the vote to win this race. That was a presidential year [where] Trump won. Michigan congressman Barrett is in a toss-up race this year. He could use all the help he can get,” said King.
These days Barrett’s district has a heavy Democratic presence, and the lawmaker could have used a bipartisan bill like the housing bill to sway those liberal voters concerned about Trump losing sight of them.
“If you're congressman Barrett, wouldn't you like to be able to have some extra television coverage? A pen from the president, video of the president in the White House saying, ‘hey, you did a great job to go to Democratic voters and say, I'm actually working to help you, too. I'm not just in there voting for Republicans.’ That didn't happen,” said King.
Nevertheless, King said Barrett is campaigning on the Housing bill — while also having to admit that the president of his party had no interest in it.
“[Barrett’s] actually somebody who, from the beginning of his term, was urging Congress to do … housing affordability issues. He's pushed this. A lot of his ideas are included in the bill, so he'll still run on it, Anderson. But he doesn't have that pen, and he doesn't have that ‘attaboy’.”
It doesn’t help that Trump’s approval rating is below 40 percent, or that his ceasefire with Iran has collapsed. Gas prices, additionally, are on the way back up, while Trump has called the Housing bill a “yawn.” He’s also proclaimed publicly that he loves inflation.
“The president keeps saying and doing things that are hurting his party at a time when his party already is in a very, very difficult climate. And so, Republicans — they won't say this publicly because they don't want to draw his eye, or they don't want him attacking them on social media — but they understand that unless they do what he wants, he's not going to help them. So, they're on their own, and that's their choice with only months to go,” King said.
“They don't like it in many places, but they know that's the reality,” concluded King. “He cares about him, not about them.”
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