'President Obama said it right': GOP lawmaker breaks with Trump on key midterm issue
A retiring House Republican contradicted President Donald Trump on a pair of key political issues.
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) appeared on "CNN This Morning," where he was asked by host Audie Cornish about his decision to join 34 other GOP lawmakers who are retiring from the House in this midterm election cycle.
"There's a lot of different reasons," Zinke said. "Some ofthem are health, some of themare disappointment. Some of themare time, some are aged out, too, and, you know, when you don'thave the fire in the gut, Ithink it is time to leave."
Cornish asked if the congressman was tired of winning, and she laughed when he paused to measure his reply.
"I'd say the score is stilldebatable," Zinke said. "But also, you know,I've always thought when youcome to D.C., you should view D.C.as an adversary. I mean, youwant to make change, you havefire in the gut. As soon as youmake that transition, say, youknow what, this is how it shouldbe run, this is okay, that's the time D.C. has you and that's thetime to leave, and so a lot ofmembers that don't have thefire in the gut don't want tomake change – you know what?It's time for them to go."
Cornish next asked whether the redistricting fight that Trump kicked off in the Texas legislature was worth the response by Democrats in other states to redraw their own districts, and Zinke broke with the president.
"No, because you know wholoses?" Zinke replied. "It isn't Republicans or Democrats, it's the people wholose. So representation shouldbe people that are in adistrict, I don't want to saythink alike, but have the sameexperience. You know, they go tothe grocery store, the samegrocery store, they feel thesame."
Cornish pointed out that Trump pushed strongly for mid-decade redistricting in Texas, Indiana and other GOP-led states, and she asked Zinke whether the president seemed worried that his own disapproval rating would cut into the Republican congressional majorities.
"Well, in redistrictingitself, right, it's a stateissue," Zinke said. "Not all states boughtinto it and said we're going toredistrict. So Texas was first, California, then obviously Virginia. But the net result, Ithink, is it doesn't servethe people, and the House of Representatives is the people'shouse and the people's houseshould have a say on the people.But when it's gerrymandered back and forth, the loser isthe constituent that maybe has aproblem in his district thatwants it solved. Who is he goingto? Who's going to advocate forhim? Are you going to have a,you know, a district thatlargely has an office that's 300miles away? No, so I think America should stand up and say,you know, let's make thedistricts based on commonexperience. Let's make thedistricts where where isn't lopsided back and forth, and Ithink President Obama said itright earlier is that, look,these districts ingerrymandering has causedthere's only about 40competitive seats."
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