Trump Says ‘I'm a Nationalist’ in Appeal to Texas Republicans

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump declared that he’s a “nationalist” at a campaign rally on Monday as he appealed to Texas Republicans to re-elect Senator Ted Cruz and help the party keep control of Congress.

Trump ran for president as a nationalist, declaring he would place “America first” in his policies. But he’s previously declined to label himself, even telling the Wall Street Journal in an April 2017 interview, “hey, I’m a nationalist and a globalist. I’m both.”

At the time, some members of his administration were considered globalists by their critics, including former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn.

Trump’s declaration on Monday came as he criticized Democrats, associating them with “corrupt, power-hungry globalists.”

“You know what a globalist is, right?” Trump asked his audience. “A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly not caring about our country so much. And you know what? We can’t have that.

“You know, they have a word -- it sort of became old-fashioned -- it’s called nationalist. And I say, really, we’re not supposed to use that word.

“You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, OK -- I’m a nationalist," the president said. "Use that word.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net;Alyza Sebenius in Washington at asebenius@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, John Harney

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.