Joe SLAMS Trump for downplaying affordability at Pennsylvania rally-style event

[0:00] But also Iran, we knocked them out. One week it was essentially militarily over. [0:04] Much bigger country, 91 million people. And much different ideology. The ideology of the Muslims [0:12] is slightly different than the ideology of the Catholics. We have the Catholics and the Muslims [0:17] slightly different. But Venezuela's been great and Iran's been great. I mean, you know, [0:23] if Iran's reasonable, they're smart. Otherwise we'll have to finish the job, which will take [0:27] about maybe less than a week. Absolutely terrible on affordability. Remember I got here [0:37] my first day, the fake news is screaming at me, what about affordability? I'm only here one day. [0:44] Remember eggs were up about five times higher than they ever were. And we have prices are coming down [0:51] right now at levels that you've never seen. And now with oil crashing, you're going to see something [0:56] really amazing. Yeah. Okay. First of all, oil is coming down. Crisis not coming down. [1:04] Inflation is higher today than it was when Joe Bundler's office. These are facts. Affordability, [1:09] yeah. Inflation again, higher today. Access and cost of health care. [1:15] Iran's been great. No, Iran's not been great. I could destroy them in less than a week. No, [1:21] you actually, we haven't been able to quote destroy them over three months. In fact, [1:27] we were capitulating to them, giving them $300 billion in war reparations, unfreezing funds, [1:34] doing things that made Barack Obama's deal with the Iranians look like just like Reagan. Really, [1:42] really tough. David Drucker, though, you have a new piece for Bloomberg titled Trump's economic [1:49] economic pivot isn't coming. He's made that clear. And in it, you're right for Republicans [1:53] in Congress who have been cleaning the hope that President Donald Trump might finally focus on the [1:57] economy out of the midterms. Their time might better be spent searching for proof that the [2:02] tooth fairy is real. Of course, the president could focus on more than one issue at a time. That [2:07] goes with the job. But he still refuses to acknowledge any aspect of the economy as underperforming on [2:13] matters related to affordability. And yesterday, as we were all tuning in, David, to Pennsylvania to [2:19] see whether the president was able to do that, we heard a lot of bizarre stories, a lot of false [2:24] claims. At one point, talking about a burly, muscular man whose wife didn't like him despite all of [2:32] his muscles because his 401k was low. And then the 401k went up and he said, sir, all because of you. He [2:40] said, well, that must be good. And then Donald Trump ended the story by saying, well, I don't think I [2:45] like like her anymore anyway. So for Republicans in swing districts, not exactly the message they wanted [2:54] to hear yesterday on affordability. Why can't he get there? Why is the sky blue? Listen, we've seen [3:04] this now. I know there's a scientific answer, but my kids ask me this all the time. I'm like, [3:10] I'm not really sure, Chuck, with God. I don't understand. All right. It's just blue. And that's [3:14] the way it is. Look, this goes back a decade, right? I mean, I remember, you know, Trump's first [3:21] couple of years in office during the first term. And occasionally it would appear as though he was [3:26] pivoting away from unconventional, a very successful presidential candidate to a more [3:31] normal functioning president. Right. And was this the pivot? Was his first address to the joint [3:37] session of Congress the pivot? No. A couple of days later, he was accusing Barack Obama of spying on [3:42] him. I remember he nominated Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme Court and for a lot of Republicans [3:48] that were hoping that he was pivoting to a more normal functioning conservative Republican. There [3:53] was a lot of excitement. And about two weeks later, he said that he trusted Vladimir Putin more than [3:59] the U.S. intelligence community. And so I think it became something of a punchline. And Donald Trump, [4:05] you know, he's he's in many ways a complicated political figure, but a simple man. And he just is [4:11] the way he is. And so he does not like to acknowledge when he is the incumbent, any problems with the [4:18] country because they're all going to fall at his feet because, you know, we give presidents more [4:23] blame and credit than they deserve. And that's the way it is when you're the incumbent president. [4:27] And I will say this. He's been in office now more than a year as I was reporting on the [4:32] administration and following voters for the first six to nine months of this second term. [4:36] There were a lot of voters that were giving him time. You know, he did. I hate the word inherit [4:41] because it's, you know, with all of these politicians, it's like they got a letter one day they [4:45] weren't expecting said their long lost uncle left them a money pit and they inherited. What are they [4:49] supposed to do? I mean, this is a job they wanted. They knew the conditions. But voters understood [4:53] that the president came in and needed time to try and resurrect the economy and get prices under [4:58] control. It's one of the big reasons they hired him in 2024. We've reached a point and voters always [5:03] reach a point at some point after a president's been in office a while where they now are looking at [5:09] him and saying, look, this is your gig, man. You did this. You wanted this job. We relied on you to fix [5:15] things and you're not getting it done. And so his argument isn't with us. It's with the voters. [5:21] But if the president has proven anything and if people have been paying attention, [5:25] he does not pivot. He may acknowledge. And as I write in the piece, I think his effort in any way [5:33] he possibly can to get out of the Iran war is a recognition that higher oil costs were exacerbating [5:40] the problem of inflation. But an acknowledgment is not a pivot. And I wouldn't expect him [5:46] based on history and a past is prologue and it always is President Trump to start focusing [5:51] relentlessly on the economy versus saying this is all a democratic hoax. Everything is fine. [5:57] Yeah. I mean, in the middle of this war, he infamously said, I don't care about people's [6:01] financial situations when he was asked about the consequence of the Strait of Hormuz being closed [6:05] and people's gas prices going up, said he didn't care about that. So he's kind of on the record. [6:09] And you hear more of that when he says affordability is a hoax. I'm curious, David, [6:13] though, as you travel the country talking to Republican voters, we always hear that, you know, [6:18] there's some who are breaking, who are done with Trump. They're exhausted. They want to move on, [6:22] turn the page from the show. And then they seem to, not all of them, but they seem to find their [6:26] way back. But given the war, given the Epstein files, given the state of the economy, the MAGA base [6:33] is going to stay with them. What's your sense of where sort of rank and file Republicans are sitting [6:37] right now with Donald Trump? Look, I think rank and file Republicans are going to largely stick [6:43] with the candidates that are running for office in midterm elections. The question is going to be, [6:48] one, where do they fit in the coalition, right? How close are they? If we're looking at this [6:54] coalition like a solar system, you know, how close are they to the sun, right? And the further they [6:59] are, the further away they are from the center of gravity, the more chance for some frame, the more [7:04] chance that they'll sit on their hands and not show up. It depends what the trigger will be. [7:09] Maybe it'll be the economy. Maybe for some, it'll be the president's handling of the Iran war [7:14] with this, you know, memorandum of understanding. I think we will, though, see, and we see this in [7:22] midterm elections, usually, even when there's a route by one party where voters tend to come home [7:28] at the end of the day and support their party, even if they have misgivings about the president, [7:34] especially in these very polarized political times with such deep splits. But watch turnout, [7:44] watch the different parts of the coalition, because you join the coalition, you're a part of [7:50] the Republican Party for different reasons. And the further away you are from the president to begin [7:53] with, the more likely you are to either not show up or to cross the aisle and vote for a Democrat. [8:01] If it's the right kind of Democrat in a swing district, we're referencing New York with Kate [8:06] Conley, a really good example there where you have a Democrat that could appeal to some swing and [8:12] soft Republicans. And Elizabeth, it's not just theory. We have faces and names to these frustrations. [8:19] Yesterday, MSNOW had a reporter talking to people in Redding, Pennsylvania ahead of that Trump event [8:26] and heard from person after person disappointment about he's failed to keep his promises [8:32] critically on prices. And that echoes what we have had in previous segments. We've had [8:36] reporters in Ohio and Florida, other states almost saying the same thing, that we elected this guy more [8:43] than anything else to bring prices down. He hasn't done that. And instead, he's focused on his own [8:47] legacy. And he's focused on, you know, foreign military intervention, which he promised he [8:52] wouldn't do. And while Trump's not on the ballot this fall, other Republicans are and certainly [8:58] speak to us about their anxiety levels. High anxiety. And I agree with you that we have the [9:03] same we have the same kind of reporting at The Times. People are telling us, you know, I've given [9:07] up on him. I, you know, I thought he was going to do it. He hasn't done it. Look at what I'm paying. [9:12] And I also think it's really striking, too, that he's not getting out very much. I mean, this was a new, [9:16] you know, he's, he's not traveling the country very much. And we're not that far from the midterms. [9:21] And, you know, maybe it's better for Republicans that he doesn't, because he certainly doesn't [9:25] bring a winning message with him when he's saying that he doesn't care about people's financial [9:29] situations. So they're very, they're very anxious. The polling shows that he's, you know, [9:34] he's a 36 percent approval rating. He's down even among Republicans, which is quite striking. [9:40] I can't remember what the numbers are, 70 percent, 80 percent. I mean, it's still high. [9:43] But for a party that has really embraced him for a long time, it's very striking. I think [9:48] he's wearing very, very thin. And he's not really, he's not meeting people where they [9:53] are. I mean, it's interesting. Donald Trump always, he's a big salesman. He'll tell you [9:58] that prices are the lowest they've ever been, hoping that people believe him. But they can't [10:02] believe him anymore because they see what the prices are for gas and for, and for groceries. [10:07] And if I say, So make sure I can't believe him. [10:09] I don't want to believe him anymore. [10:10] So make a difference. [10:11] So make sure he's going to get a difference. [10:12] Now he's going to be in the last 30-day. 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