Conservative political strategist Jeffrey Lord said he shared the same "distaste" as President Donald Trump over the $1.3 trillion spending bill the president signed on Friday, averting a government shutdown.
"I share the president's distaste for this," Lord told Newsmax TV on Friday. "I understand why he feels he has to do it."
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Trump announced Friday he had approved the spending package after saying the day before he would veto the legislation. The move meant the federal government would avoid a shutdown, since the deadline for approving the measure was late Friday night.
Though the budget did not include funding for the border wall with Mexico or address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Trump said he signed the legislation "as a matter of national security."
Lord, who worked as associate political director for President Ronald Reagan, explained he was familiar with the politics of getting the bill approved into law, but said his primary focus was on Republican lawmakers whom he said were unable to "get a grip."
"This is a standard swamp-like tactic, and my real concern is not with the president, but it's with Republican members of the House and Senate who sent it to him in the first place.
"This is one of the reasons why [Trump] was elected, because these people just have not been able to get a grip. And, it's very disturbing," Lord said.
Republican lawmakers may have trouble in the fall midterm elections among constituents who had put them in office, Lord suggested.
"I was already picking this up before this. There was a feeling, 'Well, why are we electing these people if they campaign on one thing and they get there and they do the opposite?' So, I do think that this could have an impact. And, combined with the Democrats, that could do some serious damage," Lord said.
As for Trump's stance on the recent tariffs he imposed on steel and aluminum, Lord said in the five years he had known the president, he had "talked about doing what he now has done exactly." China responded to the tariffs by imposing levies on approximately $3 billion in U.S. imports.
"One of the things that it is always good to keep in mind when dealing with President Trump, he believes very much in 'Art of the Deal' fashion — that you have to start with a very tough position to get to an acceptable position. He's being very tough here on the Chinese. Clearly, he wants to get them to back off," Lord said.
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