Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / 'It's doesn't matter who pays for the damn ads!' Steele on how unhappy voters are with Trump

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'It's doesn't matter who pays for the damn ads!' Steele on how unhappy voters are with Trump · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So, Michael, you have some insight into how these things
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: generally work.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: How bad was it for Donald Trump to reverse himself?
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: It was bad.
• 0:12
  Speaker 4: Largely, from what I could put together from conversations, it
• 0:16
  Speaker 4: really wasn't translating into support. The party candidates, down-ballot candidates from,
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: you know, Senate races especially, some state other statewide races
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: like governor were really hemorrhaging. The congressional ballot absolutely is
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: a minefield for Republicans. And at the core of it,
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: that ad, you know, love me, love me, love me,
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: did not translate into love for GOP candidates.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: And so Donald Trump bit the bullet.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: I mean, like he's sacrificing something to do it legally.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: To have non-taxpayer dollars, his campaign money, pay for political ads.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Hold on, hold on, hold on.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Is it legally when he's directing a super PAC to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: do it?
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Pardon me?
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Is it legal when he himself is directing a super
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: PAC to do it?
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: No, that's a whole other question. No, it's not. But
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: it's a lot better than you and I paying for
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: it in that sense. And that's the problem. That's the problem.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: You know, let's do the less illegal thing and people
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: will feel like we're doing the right thing. That's a
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: Republican thing. party problem, not just now, but going forward.
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: But the reality of it is they were hemorrhaging of
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: votes and they wanted to stop some of the bleeding.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: And so I don't think it helps.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: This is all baked in for voters at this point,
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: the corruption, the lack of accountability, the lack of affordability
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: in their own lives. They placed that squarely at the
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: feet of Donald Trump and his party. And at this point,
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: it doesn't matter who pays for the damn ads. You're
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: still going to get.
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: It in the back.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: So, Mark, why isn't it working?
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Why don't these ads inspire or motivate voters any longer
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: for a time?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Stuff like this did.
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: I mean, because voters don't like Donald Trump and those
• 2:16
  Speaker 6: are not good ads. I mean, they're good ads if
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: Donald Trump was on the ballot and running for reelection, maybe,
• 2:21
  Speaker 6: and he was about 20 points more popular.
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: Than he is.
• 2:24
  Speaker 6: I mean, I do think the fact that taxpayers were
• 2:26
  Speaker 6: on the hook for this was just sort of like
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: another dollop of whipped cream on top of What is
• 2:31
  Speaker 6: a really tone deaf and sort of not very politically
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: smart move for Donald Trump as the head of the
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: Republican Party to be to be putting through. So I
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: do think that, look, they're bad ads. They do nothing
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: to benefit down ballot candidates at all. I think the
• 2:46
  Speaker 6: fact that they're all about him and don't sort of
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: rope in any particular midterm candidate is probably a benefit
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: to them. But ultimately, I do think what probably happened
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: here is. The legalities of this became so potentially cumbersome
• 3:03
  Speaker 6: to a lot of people who are involved in putting
• 3:05
  Speaker 6: these ads on the air because it's pretty well known
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: to be blatantly illegal. And sometimes you get into networks
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: or TV stations or people who are ad buying or
• 3:13
  Speaker 6: producing these things knowing well that they're breaking the law
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: and they could have some exposure down the road.
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: But there's a level of complication here that clearly drove
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: a decision that I don't think is going to really
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: have a big difference either way on his standing in
• 3:25
  Speaker 6: the midterm going into it.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: There there is polling on the ads. Reuters episodes came
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: out today. Eighty six percent disapprove. That's a wild number.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: You rarely see a majority like that in any polling.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: And Donald Trump keeps coming up on polls that show
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: just that, that he is deeply unpopular with not just a,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: you know, some a small majority of voters. but a
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: decisive majority of voters.
• 3:55
  Speaker 7: Yeah, and look, 80% of Republicans, if I'm looking at
• 3:58
  Speaker 7: that poll, are saying they don't like this idea of
• 4:00
  Speaker 7: these ads.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: And you ask yourself, why?
• 4:03
  Speaker 7: Well, because I think, oddly enough, this issue intersected with
• 4:08
  Speaker 7: one of the rising issues of this fall campaign, which
• 4:11
  Speaker 7: is corruption, right? This notion that very powerful people in
• 4:16
  Speaker 7: business or in government do, you know, they just use
• 4:19
  Speaker 7: the resources available that should be used for the common
• 4:21
  Speaker 7: good for their own advantage.
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: So I think there was a challenge there.
• 4:25
  Speaker 7: But I do think there was one other element of
• 4:27
  Speaker 7: it that kind of goes into the fabric of the
• 4:30
  Speaker 7: Republican Party. This is a president who's been out on
• 4:32
  Speaker 7: the campaign trail literally saying, you don't have to like
• 4:35
  Speaker 7: the candidate who is on the ballot in your state.
• 4:38
  Speaker 7: Just pretend I'm on the ballot and go pretend you're
• 4:41
  Speaker 7: voting for me. And the fact is, when you've got
• 4:43
  Speaker 7: a 32 percent approval rating, If you're the candidate on
• 4:47
  Speaker 7: the ground in Ohio or Iowa or any number of
• 4:50
  Speaker 7: other states, you're saying you don't say that.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: You know, that's not so useful.
• 4:55
  Speaker 7: And so reemphasizing it with ads, you know, it's there's
• 4:59
  Speaker 7: so many reasons why this was a bad strategic move.
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: It's not surprising that the president is backing away.
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: In fact. The weird part about it is, is who
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: thought that this was a good idea.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: In the first place?
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: So I think it's coming at a really interesting moment
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: because Donald Trump, as this tough guy, has been an
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: image and a message that has worked for him for
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: a long time. You know, you go to the rallies
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and there'll be images of Trump's head on Rambo's body,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Trump riding a horse without a shirt on. Like, he's
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: really strong and he's really tough and he's going to
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: fight for America. These ads, though, were there was something
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: sinister about them.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Really dark. I mean, we can play them again.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: There's one where Donald Trump is lit from beneath and
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: he's got dark circles, shadows under his eyes. He looks
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: like a character from a horror film. And then you
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: have the Blackhawks flying.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Over Mount Rushmore.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: It looks kind of like an invasion, very militarized. In
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: this particular moment where people are very nervous about the future, Michael,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: nervous about drone warfare.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: About what's going to happen with AI. We're in a
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: war after all.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: People are not feeling optimistic about what's coming.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: There's a.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Does the tone-deaf nature of this ads mean something? Is
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the message, the dark message, part of the problem? It's
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: not hitting with voters because voters themselves are nervous.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I think that's very true.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: I think that's an accurate assessment of what we're seeing
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: in these four ads. I think it's also a reflection
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: that the American people are at a point where they've
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: had enough. You know, this, to be honest, has been
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: the longest weekend at Bernie's we've ever had politically.
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: I mean, this.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: This has been the biggest you-know-what show from day one. And, yeah,
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: you know, we've all been to that party. We're at
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: the beginning at 11 o'clock at night. It is the joint.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: But by 6 a.m. the next morning, like, I got
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: to go home, you know.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: And I think a lot of people are at that
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: point in this relationship with Donald Trump.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: So Donald Trump pivots.
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: And so now he pivots to what pleases him the most,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: this imagery that he's concocted in his own head, that
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: he is on par with a Vladimir Putin. That's the image,
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: you know, the fake AI image of him on a
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: horse or.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: As Caesar or as Jesus Christ.
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: And the American people are like, okay, now we're cosplaying?
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: Is that what we're doing? Meanwhile, gas has gone from $ 2.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: 94 a gallon to, to $ 5. 16 a gallon. And there's
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: been no accounting for that. There's not been a conversation
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: except for, well, you can bear it because you love me.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: And that's just not translating. The last point, I think, Katie,
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: these ads will be what Donald Trump will be looking
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: at in his retirement. He'll be sitting in his room
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: as an 85-year-old man looking at these ads of himself,
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: And reliving a time that actually never really happened. And
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: that's been a lot about this presidency, from the economy
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: to his militarism, to his view on our global relationships.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: It's out of a period of American history that never
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: really played out the way he.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Thinks it did.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: And that's the sad part. And I think that's something
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: else American people have clued in on.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Well, he's always lived within the stories that he tells himself,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: so that's not going to be too different. What happened
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: to the Republican Party having ideas? They don't have any
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: ideas right now, Mark. The idea that Donald Trump has
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: for how to juice the midterms, it's just to write checks,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: checks that the American public doesn't even think he's going
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: to write. They're seeing it as empty promises.
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and just to glorify himself. I mean, think about
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: Someone like John Husted in Ohio or Dan Sullivan in Alaska,
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: both of whom are in big trouble. They're in really
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: tight races, possibly behind. And I do think that Trump
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: being so over the top about this really does underscore
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: the meekness and the impotence, frankly, of these guys. And
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: that they're basically being completely silent about it. I mean,
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: it's not so much that it'd be bad enough if
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: Trump were actually naming Husted and Sullivan and any other
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: people on the ballot.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: In these ads.
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: But look, the real outrage here is that it's been
• 9:20
  Speaker 6: allowed to happen. And Donald Trump has been in this
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: consequence-free environment, which is the Republican Party, that someone like
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: Husted and Sullivan are very much part of. And again,
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: they just sort of sit idly by while this plays
• 9:34
  Speaker 6: in this loop, you know, in the sort of background
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: of the American life these days. So I think, you know,
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: the real effect of this on the ground is not
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: just innocuous and it's just Trump being Trump. I think
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: it is very counterproductive and I think it reflects even
• 9:48
  Speaker 6: more poorly on the people who are actually on the ballot.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: There's also just an unwillingness.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: There's a reversal here, but a general unwillingness to understand
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: why people are unhappy. Here's a, our reporter, Kayla Gardner,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: asking Donald Trump if he has any regrets about the
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: first two years of this second term.
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: I love it.
• 10:15
  Speaker 8: I think it's been a great I think it's the
• 10:16
  Speaker 8: most productive two years, they say, anybody of anybody in
• 10:21
  Speaker 8: the history.
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: Of the presidency.
• 10:22
  Speaker 8: I think it's the most consequential two years of anybody
• 10:27
  Speaker 8: in the presidency.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Again, living in the reality that he wants, the ones
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: that he's made up in his mind. It also reminds
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: me of what Speaker Johnson said to CNBC the other day,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: asked what Republicans will do if they're able to maintain control.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: And he said more of the same.
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: I know, which is exactly the wrong answer.
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: And, you know, in politics, some of our most effective communicators,
• 10:48
  Speaker 7: most effective presidents, people like Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan,
• 10:52
  Speaker 7: were willing to acknowledge at points where things were not
• 10:56
  Speaker 7: going well.
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: That they weren't going well.
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: They would.
• 10:59
  Speaker 7: Roosevelt famously would say, you know, look, we have a
• 11:02
  Speaker 7: huge portion of the population that is still suffering in
• 11:04
  Speaker 7: the Great Depression. But here are the things we've done
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: so far. And if you let me continue in this position,
• 11:09
  Speaker 7: if you honor me with the ability to continue in
• 11:12
  Speaker 7: this position, I will try to address some of the
• 11:14
  Speaker 7: fundamental issues.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: And here's how I'll do it.
• 11:17
  Speaker 7: The president is not taking advantage, if you will, of
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: that opportunity.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: It's not meeting voters where they are.
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: That's what I mean.
• 11:25
  Speaker 7: And I think that for Republican candidates across the country
• 11:28
  Speaker 7: who are desperately trying, in some cases, changing their positions
• 11:32
  Speaker 7: on issues to try and catch up with the electorate,
• 11:34
  Speaker 7: to have a president running ads and running around the
• 11:36
  Speaker 7: country saying, no, everything's great, it's a golden.
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: Age, that isn't helping them.
• 11:43
  Speaker 7: And I suspect that within the White House, people are
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: saying to the president, look, We really are at a
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: point now where it's a critical juncture.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:51
  Speaker 7: And you've got to start to change some of these approaches.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: Hey, it's Rachel.
• 11:54
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• 11:56
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• 11:57
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• 12:19
  Speaker 4: Thanks.