CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, under siege in Washington, defended his record at a raucous political rally in Iowa on Wednesday, rejecting a Russia investigation as a witch hunt and saying he was succeeding against all odds, despite no major legislative achievements. 
 
 “All we do is win, win, win,” he told a cheering crowd. His first tweet on Thursday morning praised the “special people” there. 
 
 A feisty Trump spoke for more than an hour at a rally in Cedar Rapids that was similar to those he held during last year’s presidential campaign. It included protesters escorted out by police, Trump attacking the news media and supporters waving signs saying “Drain the Swamp” in Washington. 
 
 Trump’s first trip to Iowa since taking office on Jan. 20 came against a backdrop of problems in Washington. His legislative agenda is struggling to gain traction, a federal investigation of alleged Russian meddling into the election and possible collusion with Trump’s campaign continues, and his approval rating is below 40 percent in most polls. 
 
 But Trump touted job gains and an improving stock market as evidence that his economic policies are working, and he lauded his wealthy appointees such as his top economic adviser Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a billionaire known for his investments in distressed industries. 
 
 “In those particular positions, I just don’t want a poor person — does that make sense?” Trump said. 
 
 He also vowed he would eventually get funding for a border wall with Mexico, possibly with solar panels attached, despite congressional refusal thus far. 
 
 “We’re thinking about building the wall as a solar wall,” he said. “Pretty good imagination, right? It’s my ideas.” 
 
 Solar panels along the wall are among proposals that have been submitted by companies to the Department of Homeland Security, according to media reports. 
 
 Buoyed by Republican victories in special congressional elections in Georgia and South Carolina on Tuesday, Trump blasted his opponents as “unbelievably nasty” and said cable news anchors appeared stunned by the Democratic losses. 
 
 Unable to get Democrats to join Republicans in major legislative efforts, Trump said the wounding by a gunman last week of Republican Representative Steve Scalise in Alexandria, Virginia, had fostered a spirit of unity. But he did not sound optimistic about breaking through the partisan divide any time soon. 
 
 Trump said he doubted he would have help from Democrats in getting major healthcare legislation through the U.S. Congress. He wants the Senate to join the House of Representatives in approving legislation soon to overhaul the signature domestic achievement of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. 
 
 “If we went and got the single greatest healthcare plan in the history of the world we would not get one Democrat vote because they’re obstructionists,” Trump said. 
 
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 Looking to foreign policy, Trump complained about the “bad hand” he had been dealt, such as North Korea’s nuclear program. His comments came days after American student Otto Warmbier died after returning in a coma from captivity in North Korea. 
 
 On Tuesday, Trump had tweeted that he has basically given up on getting help from Chinese President Xi Jinping on North Korea after investing a lot of effort to coaxing Beijing to use its influence on Pyongyang. 
 
 “I do like President Xi,” said Trump, who was with the new U.S. ambassador to China, former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad. “I do wish we would have a little more help on North Korea.” ||||| Trump spent the majority of his time on stage in Tupelo and Biloxi on Monday the way he usually does, boasting of his administration's accomplishments and exaggerating what he claims are threats facing the country, from undocumented immigrants, foreign trading partners and congressional Democrats. 
 
 Yet now that the midterm elections are over, and now that Democrats have taken control of the House, Trump's doomsday warnings about what would happen if Democrats were put in charge seemed to lack the urgency they had in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 6 elections. 
 
 Trump also bragged about the economy under his watch. He started off by blaming previous administrations for trade policies that he said "shipped away your jobs" and forced America into "economic surrender." Then he pivoted to optimism, saying that now, "so many companies are coming in to Mississippi, and every place else, by the way." 
 
 But even as Trump cited examples of the strong economy, a cloud hung over the otherwise positive picture. 
 
 Earlier in the day, General Motors announced that the company planned to cut its workforce by 15 percent and shutter five plants in North America. The cuts could end up costing more than 14,000 workers their jobs. 
 
 Trump did not mention GM during the rallies, but he told The Wall Street Journal he had warned CEO Mary Barra on Sunday that the company "better damn well open a new plant" in Ohio, one of the states slated to lose hundreds of jobs under the company's plans. Ohio was a key state for Trump in 2016. After voting for Democrat Barack Obama in two consecutive presidential elections, the state went for Trump by 8 percentage points over Hillary Clinton. 
 
 The most politically effective message Trump delivered in Mississippi was his pitch on immigration, a topic that still motivates his supporters more than practically any other. Trump hit many familiar notes, painting undocumented immigrants as violent criminals who come to America to take people's jobs. 
 
 "We don't want those people in Mississippi," Trump said to cheers and chants of "Build the wall!" 
 
 Hyde-Smith also came onstage at both rallies, where she spent a few minutes pledging to protect Mississippi's "conservative values." 
 
 Trump also made it clear how little daylight he sees between himself and Hyde-Smith. 
 
 "She votes to make America great again and she votes for America first," Trump said in Tupelo. "Cindy is so important, so respected, we've got to send her back."
– President Trump spoke to 6,000 supporters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Wednesday night at a gathering that strongly resembled one of his raucous campaign rallies—right down to whistle-blowing protesters and chants of "Lock her up" when Hillary Clinton's name was mentioned. In what is being widely described as a "victory lap," Trump, making his first trip west of the Mississippi since becoming president, spoke for more than an hour and unveiled policy proposals including a plan to ban immigrants from receiving welfare for their first five years in the US. A roundup of coverage: Trump said he will ask Congress to pass a law ensuring new immigrants "support themselves financially and should not use welfare for a period of at least five years." The rule already exists as part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, though large parts of the act were rolled back under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Fox reports. Trump plans to expand the list of benefits that new immigrants will not be eligible for. In one of his most controversial remarks, Trump defended his choice of billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary, explaining that he doesn't want poor people to hold economic roles in his administration, the Guardian reports. "I love all people, rich or poor, but in those particular positions I just don’t want a poor person," he said. The AP reports that Trump made no mention of the assorted scandals he is dealing with in Washington, apart from a brief reference to the "witch hunt" Russia probe. "All we do is win, win, win," Trump said, boasting of the GOP's 5-0 winning streak in special elections and slamming "unbelievably nasty" Democrats and the media. "The truth is, people love us ... they haven't figured it out yet," he said, per the Hill. Trump said he has come up with a plan to put solar panels on his proposed border wall, but dismissed wind energy, the New York Times reports. "I don't want to just hope the wind blows to light up your house and your factory as the birds fall to the ground," he said. The president said he has been calling for a healthcare plan "with heart," but complained that he would get no help from Democrats in getting it through Congress, reports Reuters. "If we went and got the single greatest healthcare plan in the history of the world we would not get one Democrat vote because they’re obstructionists," he said.