'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 of them are health, some of them are disappointment. Some of them are time, some are aged out, too, and, you know, when you don't have the fire in the gut, I think 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 still debatable," Zinke said. "But also, you know, I've always thought when you come to D.C., you should view D.C. as an adversary. I mean, you want to make change, you have fire in the gut. As soon as you make that transition, say, you know what, this is how it should be run, this is okay, that's the time D.C. has you and that's the time to leave, and so a lot of members that don't have the fire in the gut don't want to make 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 who loses?" Zinke replied. "It isn't Republicans or Democrats, it's the people who lose. So representation should be people that are in a district, I don't want to say think alike, but have the same experience. You know, they go to the grocery store, the same grocery store, they feel the same."

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 redistricting itself, right, it's a state issue," Zinke said. "Not all states bought into it and said we're going to redistrict. So Texas was first, California, then obviously Virginia. But the net result, I think, is it doesn't serve the people, and the House of Representatives is the people's house and the people's house should have a say on the people. But when it's gerrymandered back and forth, the loser is the constituent that maybe has a problem in his district that wants it solved. Who is he going to? Who's going to advocate for him? Are you going to have a, you know, a district that largely has an office that's 300 miles away? No, so I think America should stand up and say, you know, let's make the districts based on common experience. Let's make the districts where where isn't lopsided back and forth, and I think President Obama said it right earlier is that, look, these districts in gerrymandering has caused there's only about 40 competitive seats."

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