Why Trump's giving closing speech at the reflecting pool? 'He doesn't think strategically': Analyst

[0:00] Let's bring in MSNOW Chief White House Reporter Paula Reid, her first appearance on State of Play. [0:05] Welcome to the MSNOW family, Paula. I've been a longtime friend and admirer of yours, [0:09] but now it's nice to be on the same team. Let's get right to work. Trump is expected to give this [0:14] closing pitch at the reflecting pool. Again, this is, how do you say, not in line with American [0:20] priorities. What is the thinking behind the scenes? Yeah, arguably it's not even in line [0:25] with his own priorities, right? He has so much at stake this week. He has governed largely unchecked [0:31] by Congress. And depending on how this election goes, he, his administration, his allies, his own [0:36] family could face significant oversight. So it is odd that he's choosing to spend this, the last day [0:43] before tomorrow at the reflecting pool. He went on in that Q&A with reporters to talk quite extensively [0:50] about the grass and how much it has improved. Peter, I think there's two things that contribute [0:55] to this. We have seen the president repeatedly sort of retreat to this space, renovation and [1:02] construction when things aren't going well. That's sort of his safe space. This is the identity he [1:06] had, of course, before he went into politics. And that's sometimes how he wants to communicate [1:11] success. We've also heard him talk about how he's tired. Peter, you and I have covered the president [1:17] for a long time. This is a man that despite his age, despite the demands of this job, he has a lot [1:22] of stamina. So it's surprising to hear him complain over the past few days about his voice, about how [1:27] tired he was, about having to do all this travel. So I guess it's not surprising that he would be [1:31] here, but it's got to be disappointing to his party. With even like conservative strongholds like [1:36] Texas hanging in the balance. I think, Peter, we know that there are no voters in the state of [1:42] Michigan who are going to cast their ballot based on the condition of the grass at the reflecting pool. [1:47] Paul Reed there, right in front of the West Wing. Paul, we appreciate it. Look forward to seeing [1:52] you in person very soon back in our newsroom. Jonathan Lemire, Tim O'Brien, Catherine Rampell are [1:56] back with us again. First of all, if you're playing to the D.C. demographic, that doesn't [2:01] help you any because they don't get any votes that dictate control of the Senate here. Let's just [2:06] think about this. The renovation, 10 times the cost, right? Advertised cost. His own U.S. Attorney's [2:12] office said that the problems with this thing were due to shoddy workmanship. He, of course, [2:16] blames it on vandals. Tim, what is the president, like, what is the thinking? What is the strategy [2:20] here? There is never a strategy with Donald Trump. I will say that till I go to my grave. [2:25] He just doesn't think strategically. He's self-absorbed. He sees himself as center stage. [2:30] He thinks cinematically, not strategically. But even now, at this late moment, his cinematic [2:36] judgment is wildly off target. The reflecting pool is a rectangular body of water sitting over [2:43] asphalt. No one really looks at it and says that's a thing of beauty in and of itself, [2:47] any more than they are saying that about the triumphal arch he wants to build or the ballroom [2:53] extension at the White House. They do remember he hired the Mar-a-Lago pool guy to build or to [2:59] renovate the reflecting pool, that it went wildly over budget in terms of the numbers that he claimed [3:06] it would cost, that it ended up being a shoddy renovation, that it had to be readdressed, [3:10] et cetera, et cetera. And embodied in all of this is the stuff I think that average voters have now [3:14] grown very unhappy with Trump, is that he's out of touch with average people's budgets and he's out [3:20] of touch with how they want Washington to be run. [3:21] John, this is exasperating to Republicans. They never say it on the record, but privately they call [3:27] people like you and me and say, what in heaven, you know, what in God's name is the president [3:31] doing right here? Like, can no one stop him on anything? This is literally like the most obvious [3:36] mistake in the waning moments. Yeah. And it distracts from Trump's closing message, [3:39] which is that Ohio Senator John Huston has a great butt. So that's part of the problem here [3:43] too, is that he's, this is actually a piece of what has been the problem throughout this run is [3:47] that he is not focusing at all on what American voters do care about. I wrote a piece last week [3:52] about this sort of chaotic closing stretch for the president, you know, because he's given [3:57] Republicans nothing to actually run on. Prices, they're not up, they're not down, they're up [4:01] because of the tariffs, because of inflation. Obviously he vowed he would never start a new war. [4:05] The Iran war is continuing and potentially could revive in the days and weeks ahead. [4:10] The list goes on and on. He's underwater on issues that even were once a strength [4:14] and he's closing out with what he cares about most, which are these vanity projects, [4:18] which make him just look that much more out of touch with everyday Americans. [4:22] So the president has said, pretend that my name's on the ballot and certainly my agenda is on the ballot [4:26] right now. If the president, if Republicans lose tomorrow, as many polls indicate is likely [4:31] to happen, does his iron grip, does it start to crack on the Republican party? Who is the first [4:36] Republican Catherine to speak up and say, Hey guys, we need to pivot now. I think that's a really good [4:41] question. I think the problem is that even as Donald Trump's approval ratings are in whatever it is, [4:46] the thirties at this point, they're, they're very, very poor. There are still enough diehard [4:52] Trumpers whom Trump can sick on his perceived enemies, real or perceived enemies that there [4:59] will still be a lot of fear, a lot of cowardice about standing up and criticizing this president [5:05] because nobody wants a target on their back. I mean, in some cases, maybe perhaps the fear of a [5:10] literal target on their back, given that some of his voters may or some of his supporters may be [5:15] armed. So I think it's a really difficult question. I do think you've, I mean, I know that we have seen [5:20] him lose a lot of his base, but not enough of his base to really insulate, um, Republicans so that [5:28] they feel like they can, they can stand up and say something. Last two thoughts from each of you. [5:32] What are you bracing for as it relates to tomorrow night? We saw four years ago or however many years [5:38] ago it was the president, you know, saying we won well before it turned out that he had lost. [5:41] What do you anticipate? Well, he's consistently said he'll only honor election results if they're fair, [5:45] which he also said, if we win. Right. Um, so yeah, I suspect we'll see a flurry of lawsuits. I suspect [5:50] he'll try to claim victories tomorrow night before the early votes are all counted, which we've seen [5:54] him do before. I, I, and I think the department of justice is going to be really aggressive in going [5:58] after certain States. And the question is, will there also be sort of federal agents or ICE agents [6:03] out at polling places? That's something we're all going to be watching tomorrow. What worries you, [6:06] Tim? Election interference is the number one thing because I think it's a nonpartisan issue. [6:10] It is, it gets to the core of American democracy and the electoral process. And then I think watching [6:15] the results in individual States of Kansas actually goes blue by a big margin. I think the GOP is GOP as [6:22] a franchise has to be really concerned about your fear, Catherine, uh, the voter interference of [6:28] various kinds. I, I, my, my other fear just like selfishly is that I'm not going to get to sleep for [6:33] about another week because all of these races, or at least a fair number of these races are going to [6:36] be contested, litigated appeal. To be fair, there may be violence. Like, yes, we pray for no violence, [6:42] but even in places like Alaska with a rank choice system, it's going to take time even without [6:46] federal election, you know, federal interference of any kind. So folks need to just. Well, and the [6:50] DOJ has indicated that they plan to everybody has to simmer down. We'll get some results tomorrow. [6:55] Others may take a little while. Jonathan, nice to see you, Tim. Always pleasure. Catherine, [6:58] thank you so much. Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip, [7:02] because this is where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows [7:08] and everything on MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. You can watch things live [7:14] or recorded. Plus you can ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly live [7:19] chats. You can go to ms.now slash membership, or just click below. Thanks.