Midterms 2018: Trump refuses to put party before himself in scripted speech, 'I don't know who the hell wrote that line'

US president delivers remarks to pro-life supporters amid push to strip funding from Planned Parenthood

In a speech to pro-life supporters, Donald Trump veered off script by refusing to say electing Republicans in the midterms was as important as voting for him in 2016.

The US president, who was speaking at the annual “Campaign for Life Gala”, initially warned the audience they must show up at the polls to preserve the gains made under his administration.

“Every day between now and November we must work together to elect more lawmakers who share our values, cherish our heritage, and proudly stand for life,” Mr Trump said. He summed it up for the roomful of enthusiastic supporters: “The story is, '18 midterms, we need Republicans.”

The president promised a “massive campaign” to assist Republicans this autumn, and highlighted his role contributing towards the Republican National Committee's fundraising haul.

Reading off a teleprompter, Mr Trump said: “Your vote in 2018 is every bit as important as your vote in 2016.” But he then paused, before telling the crowd, “I'm not sure I really believe that.”

“I don't know who the hell wrote that line,” he added, prompting raucous laughter from the crowd.

His mixed message over the midterms came just weeks after warning supporters at a rally in Michigan that a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives could lead to his impeachment.

Republicans currently hold a 235-193 advantage in the lower chamber of the US Congress. But some Democrats believe with Mr Trump’s low approval rating and strong enthusiasm among its grassroots supporters, they can flip the 24 Republicans they would need to retake control.

Mr Trump has long been an unlikely sweetheart for pro-life and evangelical voters. But now, the thrice-married former Democrat who used to describe himself as “very pro-choice” has been offering catnip to conservatives.

Last week, the administration unveiled a new push to strip funding from Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics.

The initiative, which was formally unveiled on Tuesday, is aimed at resurrecting parts of a Reagan-era mandate banning federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions, or sharing space with abortion providers.

It arrived just in time for Mr Trump to highlight it on Tuesday at the gala. The speech, said one administration official, had been aimed at a core constituency of conservative activists who are seen as key to energizing the party ahead of the midterms.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of anti-abortion group Susan B Anthony List, branded Mr Trump “the most pro-life president in history” at the Gala, and said the move “will help tremendously” in the midterms.

It is also the latest evidence that, as he frets over the Russia investigation and prepares for a planned summit with North Korea, Mr Trump has also been focused on fulfilling campaign promises and tending to issues that galvanize his base: holding a series of events to rail against the dangers of illegal immigration, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and wading anew into the fight over abortion rights.

Mr Trump is far from a natural fit for conservative voters. He recently admitted to reimbursing his lawyer for paying hush money to a porn star who claimed she had sex with Mr Trump – a charge that he denies.

He also bragged about groping women without their permission.

During the campaign, he sometimes had trouble articulating his views on abortion, at one point suggesting women should be punished for having abortions. His campaign later walked back on the statement, saying that if abortion were ever outlawed, he believed doctors who perform them should be punished.

Nonetheless, white evangelical voters overwhelmingly supported Mr Trump in 2016, and that support has only grown.

A survey released last month found white evangelical support for Mr Trump at an all-time high, with 75 per cent of those polled holding a favourable view of the president, and just 22 per cent holding an unfavourable view. Support for Mr Trump within the general population in the poll stood at just 42 per cent.

Religious groups like the Catholic Medical Association approves of a series of actions Mr Trump has taken, beginning with his appointment of judges who oppose abortion rights, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Mr Trump's reinstatement of the global “gag rule” that bars federal funding for nongovernmental organisations that provide abortion referrals.

The White House also points to the administration's support for religious objectors in court and Mr Trump's efforts to bring religious groups “back into the fold by ensuring religious groups and their partners are critical participants in the policy making process”.

Ms Dannenfelser, whose group works to elect candidates who want to reduce and ultimately end abortion, is planning to raise and spend $25 million (£19m) this cycle, up from the $18 million (£13m) the group spent on the 2016 elections.

She said the president's latest move would play especially well with voters in states like Missouri, where Republican attorney general Josh Hawley is challenging Democratic senator Claire McCaskill, one of the Senate's most vulnerable incumbents, as well as in Indiana and North Dakota, where Republican Kevin Cramer is challenging Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp.

Abortion rights activists, meanwhile, argue that Mr Trump's moves on the issue will only embolden women to turn out at the polls, just as they took to the streets in marches after Mr Trump's election.

“It's going to cost this administration at the ballot box in November,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Kevin Griffis.

“We have to fight back in the best way we know how,” the group Emily's List wrote in a fundraising email, “electing pro-choice Democratic women who will always protect reproductive freedom.

Additional reporting by AP.