President Donald Trump said Friday that Republicans must not be "complacent" going into the 2018 midterm elections because if they are, then Democrats will perform well and subsequently repeal tax cuts and the Second Amendment.
Trump emphasized the importance of Republican voters staying active and being enthusiastic about the upcoming elections in November while addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. He spoke on CPAC's second day for over an hour and discussed multiple issues, including tax reform, the Second Amendment, and the 2018 elections.
Trump argued that parties that win the presidency often lose the next midterm elections because they get complacent.
"So people [Republicans] are sitting there and they're saying, 'We just had that great victory. Let's not vote; let's go to a movie. The Republican Party, we're going to do great.' And they end up losing," Trump said.
"You gotta keep up the enthusiasm. Now, what happens by the way, they lose, and then you have the presidential election coming up again and you clobber them because everybody gets off their ass and they get out and they work ... and you end up winning the presidency again" Trump continued. "Right now we have a big race coming up in '18. You have to get out. You just have to get that enthusiasm. Keep it going."
"The word really is complacent," Trump added. "People get complacent. It's a natural instinct. You just won and now you're happy and you're complacent. Don't be complacent, don't be complacent."
Trump then warned the conservative audience that if Democrats perform well in the upcoming elections, they will repeal Republican tax cuts, appoint liberal judges, and take away their Second Amendment rights.
Vice President Mike Pence warned the same audience a day earlier about House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) possibly becoming speaker of the House again if Democrats win back the chamber in November.
Pence singled out Pelosi because she recently referred to the GOP tax reform law as "armageddon" and "unpatriotic." She has repeatedly called benefits resulting from the tax reform legislation, which include dozens of companies giving employees $1,000 bonuses, "crumbs" and "so pathetic."
"I want to say from my heart, any leader who says that $1,000 in the pockets of working families is 'crumbs' is out of touch with the American people," Pence said. "It would be a disaster for our cause if Nancy Pelosi became speaker of the House again, but we're not going to let it happen."