{"id":316696,"date":"2026-08-08T13:56:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/316696\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:56:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:56:37","slug":"trump-calls-jeffries-nice-guy-says-angry-voters-may-punish-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/316696\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump calls Jeffries ‘nice guy,’ says ‘angry’ voters may punish GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Trump Friday called House Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries \u201ca nice guy\u201d<\/a> and said he would \u201cprobably get along with him very well\u201d in a new interview in which he also suggested Republicans could lose<\/a> the House of Representatives in the midterms because voters are angry at the GOP.<\/p>\n

Downplaying the past insults the men have hurled at one another, Trump told Punchbowl News he could do business with Jeffries<\/a>, who would be in line to be Speaker of the House if Democrats retake the chamber in the fall midterms.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are harsh on me. I\u2019m harsh on them. That\u2019s part of the world,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI probably get along with him very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HouseWASHINGTON, DC – JULY 23: U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 23, 2026 in Washington, DC. During the news conference Jeffries spoke about a range of topics including the midterms and the upcoming August recess. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Although Trump was not directly asked about Jeffries\u2019 potential role as Speaker, his comments suggest that he sees the Brooklyn lawmaker wielding more power<\/a> in the future. That would only happen if Democrats win control of the House.<\/p>\n

Trump has trashed Jeffries as a \u201clow IQ thug\u201d and said he suffers from \u201cTrump derangement syndrome.\u201d He spread a fake video depicting Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer,<\/a> the Senate Democratic minority leader, as members of a Mexican mariachi band in a dig at their opposition to Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign aimed at undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n

Trump didn\u2019t exactly give his Republicans allies in Congress a vote of confidence, either. He said conservative voters are angry at GOP lawmakers for failing to fully enact his agenda,<\/a> and might not turn out to back the Republican ticket in the midterms when he won\u2019t be on the ballot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question is will they vote because a lot of them are very angry at Republicans,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey\u2019re angry at Republicans but they\u2019re not angry at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PresidentWASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 06: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on August 06, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump is expected to sign two executive orders on bringing computer chip manufacturing to the U.S. and denying birthright citizenship to children of foreign diplomats. (Photo by Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

He also declined to endorse Sen. John Thune<\/a> for another term as majority leader if the GOP holds onto the upper chamber, noting that he has failed to jam through his SAVE America Act of new voting restrictions and will not end the filibuster.<\/p>\n

Most political pundits believe Democrats will win control of the House, in large part because the party of a sitting president typically loses ground in midterm elections. The Senate is a tougher lift because Democrats would have to flip four GOP-held seats including a couple representing red states like Alaska, Ohio, Texas and Iowa.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s own approval ratings are also at historic lows, with polling averages showing less than 40% of American voters think he\u2019s doing a good job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Trump Friday called House Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries \u201ca nice guy\u201d and said he would \u201cprobably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,2065,858,153,4008,20196,9,24,63,119389,7059],"class_list":["post-316696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-chuck-schumer","tag-congress","tag-donald-trump","tag-hakeem-jeffries","tag-midterms","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-punchbowl-news","tag-republican"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}