‘YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO BREATHE’: Exasperated voters bash Trump who claims they aren’t mad at him

[0:00] There are now just 88 days until Election Day, and things keep looking worse and worse for Donald Trump and his Republican Party. [0:08] And Republicans, well, at least some of them, they seem to know they're in trouble. [0:14] The Hill reports Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, who served as National Economic Council director during President Trump's first term, [0:23] scolded Senator Tommy Tuberville during an interview Wednesday about the lack of big Republican accomplishments this year. [0:29] Quote, the Republicans are doing nothing. I mean, you got stuff out there. [0:35] The polls are lousy, Kudlow declared at the start of the interview. [0:39] Damn. But yes, the polls are lousy. [0:44] If you're a Republican, you might have already heard some of these numbers this week, but they bear repeating. [0:49] For the first time in a decade, a new Reuters poll finds that voters prefer Democrats over Republicans when it comes to economic issues. [0:58] And a new Associated Press poll finds 69 percent say the state of the economy is poor. [1:06] That's seven out of every 10 people. [1:10] And Donald Trump's approval rating and poll after poll is either at or near an all time low for his political career. [1:20] The one Republican who still seems very much in denial about the uphill battle Republicans are facing this fall is Donald Trump. [1:29] He's been saying the polls are fake today in a new interview with Punchbowl News. [1:35] He tried out a new line when trying to explain why voters might reject Republicans in the November midterms. [1:42] The question is, will they vote? [1:46] Because a lot of them are very angry at Republicans, to be honest with you. [1:52] Why is that? [1:52] I don't know. [1:53] I mean, they're angry at Republicans, but they're not angry at me. [1:56] That's an interesting thing. [1:56] Why? [1:57] They're not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans. [2:01] What? [2:03] Me? [2:04] Oh, they're not angry at me. [2:06] They're just angry at the people doing exactly what I tell them to do. [2:10] But they're not angry at me. [2:14] Yes. [2:15] Yes, they are. [2:16] Donald Trump is living in a fantasy world of his own making because Americans have had it. [2:22] They've had it with Donald Trump's war of choice in Iran. [2:25] They've had it with gas prices, with inflation and the high cost of everything. [2:29] The polls tell us that. [2:32] Also, Trump voters are telling us that directly. [2:36] All this week, MSNOW's Alex Tabbit has been talking to Trump voters. [2:41] And I'll let you decide if these people sound happy with their president. [2:45] What does it feel like to live with that economic pressure? [2:53] Stressful. [2:55] Very stressful because you never know. [2:56] You know, I can get laid off tomorrow and then I'm pretty much homeless. [3:00] Because, you know, you can't save now. [3:02] Every dollar you have has to go to gas, groceries, bills, rent. [3:05] So there's no cushion for you to save now like he had back in the day where you could put money aside and say, [3:10] OK, I got money for, you know, in case something happens. [3:13] Now it's like paycheck to paycheck. [3:14] You know, I'm getting paid Friday and Thursday I'll be broke. [3:18] I'll be down to $10 maybe, $15. [3:21] Is this how you expected the second Trump term to go? [3:24] No, not at all. [3:25] I hoped it was going to be so much better. [3:29] What were you expecting instead? [3:31] I was hoping that gas was going to go down so I could do something. [3:38] You know, you can't do anything with gas prices and you just can't, you can't afford to breathe at this point. [3:49] What does it feel like to be living in these conditions right now, in these economic conditions right now? [3:54] Hurt. [3:55] Very hurt. [3:56] But I try to do, sorry, I cry. [4:02] I try to do a lot for my kids and I can't do much. [4:07] President Trump promised no new foreign wars. [4:10] He promised lower gas prices. [4:13] He promised lower food prices. [4:16] How do you feel about those campaign promises right now? [4:18] He needs to get on them and get it done. [4:22] Start thinking of the little people instead of the rich people. [4:27] Are you disappointed in him a little bit right now? [4:28] I am. [4:29] I am. [4:30] Because their campaign promises, that's what they need to be keeping. [4:36] And they're not. [4:37] What do you make of all these prices right now? [4:40] I think that we need to end the war with Iran and get these grass prices and all the stuff that we have to go back down reasonable. [4:50] I think everything is kind of out of hand now. [4:54] I like Trump, but I wish he would quit changing his mind every other day. [5:01] Voters are angry. [5:02] And Democrats know it. [5:03] Last night on this program, my colleague Eugene Daniels laid out some key races that Democrats have turned into true battleground contests. [5:11] In Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms has a real shot at retaking that state's governor's mansion for Democrats for the first time in more than 20 years. [5:21] And Georgia Senator John Ossoff is winning Republicans' support in his fight to keep that critical U.S. Senate seat. [5:27] Also helping Democrats in their fight to retake the United States Senate is Iowa's Josh Turek, who is statistically tied inside the margin of error in the latest polling for the U.S. Senate seat now open with Republican Senator Joni Ernst retiring. [5:45] A Democratic senator from Iowa is something no Republican seriously considered possible when Donald Trump retook the White House less than two years ago. [5:54] And yet, here we are. [5:56] In fact, today, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the party's only committee solely dedicated to electing a Democratic Senate, celebrated the gains their Senate candidates are making. [6:08] The organization put out a press release stating, quote, with less than 90 days to go until the midterm elections, Republicans are losing ground across the country as Democrats continue to go on offense in key Senate battleground states, building momentum heading toward November. [6:24] Yesterday, analysts at inside elections shifted the Senate contests in Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, and Texas toward Democrats, delivering a brutal snapshot of a GOP Senate map collapsing in the final stretch. [6:41] And in Michigan tonight, after a tough primary this week, Democrats showed they remained united rather than divided at a unity event. [6:51] In the spirit of unity, in the spirit of the work, in the spirit of coming together, I want to thank both of my colleagues who ran Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow for an incredible race, their incredible public service to the state of Michigan. [7:11] And I cannot wait to see what both of them will do next. [7:15] We are so blessed to have that caliber of public servant here in Michigan. [7:19] But it isn't just the battleground states where Democrats are putting up good candidates and forcing Republicans to answer for the mess their party and its leader in the White House have created. [7:32] There are candidates out there doing the work, knocking on doors, making their case and trying to create the next political upset because you can't pull off a surprise win if you don't run. [7:45] Take Tennessee, not a state exactly known for sending a lot of Democrats to Congress these days. [7:51] That's especially true after Republicans there yet again gerrymandered the state's election map this year, trying to erase every Democratic House seat they can. [8:03] And something surprising happened last night in Tennessee's newly redrawn 5th Congressional District. [8:08] Republican Congressman Andy Ogles, who was running for re-election with Donald Trump's endorsement, became one of the few incumbents in Tennessee history to ever be defeated in a primary. [8:23] So now, without an incumbent on the ticket, could a Democrat flip that seat? [8:30] Leading off our discussion tonight is the Democrat looking to do exactly that. [8:34] Columbia, Tennessee, Mayor Chaz Mulder, he is now the Democratic nominee for Tennessee's 5th Congressional District. [8:42] Mr. Mayor, thank you for coming to the last word. [8:45] Let's look at this new gerrymandered map. [8:48] It's a strange shape. [8:49] It includes a sliver of Tennessee's entire western border, including part of Memphis, which Republicans sliced into three districts. [8:56] It then curves up and east before going south to include suburbs south of Nashville, including Columbia, where you're now mayor. [9:05] That's part for all of 17 counties and a lot of different kinds of voters. [9:12] Mr. Mayor, what's your main message to them? [9:15] And what are the top issues in this campaign? [9:20] Well, Jonathan, it's great to be with you. [9:21] And, you know, you mentioned the gerrymandering, and actually, I would call it a dummymandering. [9:26] What the legislature did by changing the maps after the deadlines had already passed is create a district that was really well-suited for a guy like me. [9:34] I'm the mayor of my hometown in Columbia, as you mentioned. [9:37] But you can go to West Tennessee, rural West Tennessee, where my wife's family is from, and we've been married for 20 years now. [9:43] And you go down to Memphis, which was really the direct target of this gerrymandering. [9:48] Memphis is a community that I know. [9:50] I lived in Memphis while in law school. [9:52] And so, in a lot of ways, this district was created for a guy just like me. [9:57] Trump's chosen candidate in this campaign, Congressman Andy Ogles, lost his primary to the man who is now your opponent, Charlie Hatcher, the state's former agriculture commissioner and a dairy farmer. [10:08] Hatcher made a point to say he supports Donald Trump despite not getting his endorsement. [10:13] How much of a factor is Donald Trump going to be in this campaign? [10:18] Well, the reality is Andy Ogles was defeated last night because voters wanted something different. [10:24] Andy Ogles' policies were on the ballot last night, the policies that he supported, and he was defeated. [10:29] The reality also is, is my opponent supports those same policies that Andy Ogles supported, and that includes policies that are driving costs. [10:36] It's heartbreaking to hear the stories, the stories that you featured earlier tonight. [10:40] I'm seeing and hearing those on a daily basis, Jonathan. [10:42] We set off on a 17-county tour today on the hills of last night's primary win, and we're hearing those stories daily. [10:50] I just spoke with a farmer here in Dresden, Tennessee, where I am tonight, where we ended our day, who is struggling and who said to me that he doesn't want a government handout. [10:59] He just wants to be able to charge reasonable and fair prices to the consumer. [11:02] So we're hearing that daily. [11:04] We know people are hurting, and our message is we're here to help and be an adult in the room on important conversations. [11:09] As a mayor, I've had a front-row seat to the issues that matter, and those are the issues. [11:14] As we're sitting around the kitchen table tonight, we're talking about kitchen table issues, [11:17] and that's really resonating with the voters out in this newly gerrymandered 5th Congressional District. [11:21] We're talking about kitchen table issues, and that's really important.