MS NOW: Trump's team is letting some Republicans distance themselves from the president

[0:00] For a decade now, Donald Trump has made it clear to Republicans, support him or he's going to come [0:05] after you. But here's how rough the political landscape is for him right now. Trump's own [0:10] political operation is giving Republican candidates the green light to distance themselves from the [0:16] president. That is according to new reporting from my colleagues, Vaughn Hilliard and Jake Taylor. [0:20] It comes as there is new panic about the party in the midterms. Data from one GOP political group [0:26] shows about one in five reliable Republican based voters are at risk either of staying home or of [0:32] actually voting for a Democrat. We're talking about people who would generally vote and vote Republican [0:37] in a midterm election, which is why Republican operatives are calling that number scary. [0:42] Joining me now, MSNOW, senior White House correspondent Vaughn Hilliard and Shane Goldmacher, [0:46] national political correspondent for The New York Times. Susan is still with us. Shane, [0:50] before we get into the midterms in general, you broke a big story, a different one, [0:55] about Ken Martin's leadership at the DNC, especially the money lack thereof. Republicans [1:01] have a huge amount of money on their side and Democrats are actually in debt. Explain. [1:09] Yeah, I mean, there are so many things going right for the Democratic Party this year [1:13] and money and in particular money at the Democratic National Committee is one of the things that is [1:18] going wrong. But that's a big wrong. It's a big wrong. So the Democratic National Committee, [1:22] which is the sort of central official arm of the party, has two million dollars more in debts than [1:28] cash on hand right now. And in the most recent reports, the Republican National Committee had [1:32] 128.5 million dollars. And so you're talking about a hundred and thirty million dollar gap just between [1:38] those two party arms. And let's be clear, the president could send one market moving social [1:43] media post in the next 15. And God only knows how many more donations he can get on his side, [1:49] given all that's happened in terms of self-dealing and grift. [1:52] I mean, the Trump, the RNC is one thing. Trump has a super PAC as well that has major donations [1:57] with another 400 million dollars. The Democrats don't have a counter for. So between those two [2:03] accounts alone, you're talking about a half a billion dollar gap. And so, yes, the polling looks good [2:07] for the Democrats. The enthusiasm gap that you just referenced looks good for the Democrats. But this [2:11] is a real concern. Five hundred million dollar difference. Yeah. And and by the way, the Supreme [2:18] Court has changed the rules this year for how party money can be spent. It's meant that hundred and [2:23] thirty million dollar gap that the RNC has over the DNC could be worth even more because they're going to [2:28] be this is complicated, but they're going to be able to buy TV ads at a cheaper rate. And at the center [2:34] of this for the Democratic Party is Ken Martin, who is the chairman of the DNC, was elected last [2:39] year. And the story we wrote over the weekend is looking at the the money is the biggest and most [2:44] acute problem. But he's facing a lot of other challenges, including an episode earlier this [2:48] month. You also have the complication that tons of Democratic voters and candidates want to get big [2:53] money out of politics. It's hugely popular. But without the money in your campaigns, can you counter [3:00] the Republican argument? Vaughn, let's talk about the president, though. He is headed to [3:03] a battleground state today, Michigan. His political operation, this one is blowing my mind, [3:09] is telling candidates they can distance themselves from him. Here's the thing. His operation may say [3:14] that, but I cannot imagine that Donald Trump himself will like that. It can be a politician, [3:20] a business person, anyone out there. If they distance themselves, if they turn on him in any way, [3:26] he'll come for you. Here's the difference this time around, Steph. And I think this is very [3:32] important, is that Donald Trump is effectively isolated, right? There's a small group of people [3:39] that feed him information. And unless information about specific candidates or lawmakers gets to him, [3:47] you're not going to see him put out true social posts or stand on a campaign stage [3:51] and lash out. And that is what is happening this time around. Associates of Donald Trump, those [3:56] operatives that are running essentially his operation and that of the large national GOP [4:02] groups that are trying to help Senate and House lawmakers hold onto the majority this November [4:07] are acknowledging that Donald Trump is going to say whatever he's going to say. He's going to talk [4:12] about his ballroom. He's going to talk about blowing up Iran. He's going to talk about that this is the [4:17] golden age of the American economy. But as one person told me, it's been made pretty damn implicit [4:23] to the Republican candidates that they don't have to take that same sort of messaging out on the road [4:28] on the economy and the Iran war, because voters just know that it's not the reality that they're [4:33] living in. Republicans up and down the ballot know that here as well. And that is what is so striking [4:39] is that there is that tacit acknowledgement to these candidates that, you know, don't necessarily [4:45] go out there and rail against Donald Trump, but you can also focus on things you want to focus on. [4:50] I was told by one person that was familiar with a prominent Senate Republican candidate running that [4:58] they turned down a TV interview when it became known that it was going to be on Iran because it's not a [5:04] good subject matter to talk to. And this is a moment here where Donald Trump, you know, cannot be [5:10] controlled and the associates and those operatives working with him know that. So they're trying to [5:15] do their best to at least help candidates, give them the head nod that they understand this weird [5:20] situation that they're in right now. Then Susan, what is a good area for those Republican candidates [5:26] to focus on? Besides, we know what they're going to trying to claim that Democrats are fast tracking [5:32] us to communism. What is a good argument? Because based on the most recent reporting, Republicans are [5:38] worried that 20 percent of their reliable voting base isn't going to come out. Yeah, Steph, I was really [5:44] struck by that as well. You know, in the latest Washington Post survey, I think there was a 10 point [5:49] gap in enthusiasm. CNN had an interesting take on this about a week or so earlier looking at who had [5:58] actually turned out so far in the primaries, which, you know, it's not a perfect measure of who's going [6:03] to turn out in the fall. But I was really struck by the fact that it was something like 57 percent of [6:07] the turnout so far this year in primaries had been among Democrats. Again, not a perfect measure, but it [6:12] clearly shows there's an enthusiasm gap and that it's even wider than the last Trump midterm in 2018, [6:19] two years into his first term in office. You know, so Democrats have the numbers right, although I think [6:27] Shane's reporting is really important here on the money piece of it. That gap is enormous when it comes [6:33] to what you can do with late spending in a campaign. And this comes back to the question of what, if anything, [6:39] are Republicans running on? I'm seeing them run the same old playbook because they are scared to [6:44] deviate too much from Donald Trump again and again and again. We look for this moment when there's [6:49] going to be some kind of a Republican break from Donald Trump. And quite frankly, it just hasn't [6:54] happened. I listen to reports like that. It seems to me that you have a bunch of Republican strategists [6:59] who are still so scared of poking the bear on their own side. They're sort of gently signaling [7:05] signaling to their own candidates like, oh, it's OK to talk about the economy. Of course, [7:09] it's OK to talk about the economy because that's the most important issue for American voters [7:13] in every election. But right now, I don't see what Republicans can do except scare people with the [7:21] boogeyman of communists, as you said, Steph. OK, well, now the House is on recess for a month. [7:27] So these lawmakers are theoretically in their home district, actually with their constituents. They've [7:33] got hundreds of hundreds of millions of dollars to put out these TV ads. What will the ads say? [7:39] What arguments are they making to their voters? I mean, I think Susan just touched on it, right? [7:45] Voters have said they're unhappy with Donald Trump. They're unhappy with what they're seeing out of [7:49] Washington. And so the Republican Party is going to run on is be scared of what the Democrats would [7:54] do if they got back power. That would start with saying it's going to be gridlock and voters don't [7:58] like gridlock and it would be continue with immigration and all these other issues where they're going to [8:02] say immigration, which is no longer a winning issue for Donald Trump. The economy, which is no longer [8:06] a winning issue for Donald Trump. Education. We no longer even have a federal funded Department [8:11] of Education. And last I checked, health care costs a whole lot more. And we're at war. [8:15] I mean, this is the challenge. If you are the party in power and you have a president with record low [8:20] approval ratings, you can't talk about the president, right? That's not a winning message. [8:24] You're going to try to talk about the other side. This is typically what the parties in power do in a [8:28] midterms. And this is what they're going to try to do, right? And there's not a sign that it's going to work, [8:32] but they certainly have enough financial resources to push this out. And it's going to be a fascinating [8:37] 99 days for sure. They sure do. Well, you'll have to come back soon and tell us about them.