Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / 'Under 100 people waiting' Comedian Jason Selvig describes small crowd at Trump rally

Transcript

'Under 100 people waiting' Comedian Jason Selvig describes small crowd at Trump rally · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: With the president's midterm strategy on the line, let's bring
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: in MS Now's Jake Traylor, who is following the president
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: in Denton, Texas. Angela Corazon is president of Media Matters.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Charlie Dent served as a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania. And
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Jason Selvig is one half of the political comedy duo
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: The Good Liars. He has been traveling the country talking
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to Trump supporters at rallies. It is good to see
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: you all. So, Congressman, is the party's primary goal over
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the next 30 through days just to keep the president
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: busy in the hopes that he doesn't do more harm
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: to Republican chances?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the best thing the president could do, frankly,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: is just to lay low. That would be the best
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: thing and send money. That would do more to help
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Republicans than anything else because he quite often– he's not
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: going to do that, of course. But he just doesn't
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: have the self-awareness to realize– that he is a liability
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: for many Republicans across the country in their districts. Most
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: presidents of either party understood this. They knew that they
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: were not an asset everywhere. Donald Trump doesn't understand that.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: And if you're going to send him out, you might
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: as well send him to Oklahoma and Alabama and states
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: like that where his numbers are stronger. But I would
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: even argue there, he still has problems. You know, his
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: support is eroding there as well as everywhere else. So
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: he just lacks the self-awareness Best thing for him to
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: do is just stay quiet and send money.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: And every time that he does that, every time he
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: is out on the stump, there are new opportunities to
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: clip what he said. Jason, you're the one who's actually
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: been going to a bunch of these rallies. I want
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: to read you something that the president said to Time magazine.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: He said, I went to Tennessee. The crowd went wild.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I went to yesterday to Chicago, got the big golf tent.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: President's coming. The crowd went absolutely wild. They're going crazy.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: One hundred percent. There were no negative number. You've been
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to these rallies. What are folks actually saying?
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: Well, I think what's what's more telling than what people
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: are saying is the numbers. And the rallies this year
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: compared to 2024, 2024, we go to a rally. Didn't
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: matter if it was in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Two hours before there, the doors even open. There were
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: lines of thousands of people. We went to the rally
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: to end all rallies, which Donald Trump had in Washington, D.C.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: In June.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: He implored his Trump supporters to come make it the
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: biggest rally ever. We got there two hours before expecting
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: there to be thousands of people. There was under 100
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: people waiting. And I think the estimates were like around
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: two to three thousand. Of course, Trump claimed 48000 people
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: were there. But on the ground, what we're hearing from
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: Trump supporters is echoing what Donald Trump says about the
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: high gas prices, saying they're going to come down soon.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: They've been saying that since March. Trump's been saying it
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: since March. The Trump supporters have been saying it since March.
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: But you can kind of sense, even in the people
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: decked out in all the MAGA year, that they're a
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: little sick of the war and they're sick of high
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: gas prices. And their message to the president is end
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: the war. A lot of people, even if they support it,
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: they're saying end it because we can't afford gas anymore.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: This is the danger, Angela, right? It's not just that
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: he doesn't believe the polling and that he's going to
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: a bunch of red states. It is about the fact
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: that he is inoculating himself from the pain that Americans
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: are feeling, even the pain his own supporters are feeling
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: and articulating to someone like Jason. What is the danger,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the substantive danger, not the political danger to Republicans, but
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the danger to us all of a president who lives
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: in a different reality?
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: So we have two more years of him being president. So,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: you know, I think there's this idea, as many people,
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: I know my friends and others feel relief. Oh, it's
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: just November. That's the finish line. No, that's not the
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: finish line. That's just a halfway mark. Okay, we have
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: two more years. And why that matters is your question.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Because one of the things that he's done is not
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: just insulate himself and sort of avoid all this stuff,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: but create this sort of cycle that Ruth Ben-Ghiat describes
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: as autocratic backfire, which is that you actually lean in
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: and intensify all of the most destructive impulses, not just
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: to the politics... And that's the smallest ball. But to
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: all of the larger policy issues. And there's nothing to
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: stop you or even to dissuade you or disconnect you
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: from that. And we shouldn't lose sight of the fact
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: that when he is not using AI to manufacture a
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: visual or video reality for himself. He's surrounding himself with
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: these campaign things. I think of more like a production
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: schedule than a campaign rally, because what he's basically doing
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: is creating content that he's then going to post on
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Truth Social and on socials and possibly in these ads
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: and distribute and reinforce the narrative that he's telling himself.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: And who is with him on this? Not just his
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: own people, but Steve Bannon's production team is following him
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: around for behind the scenes stuff and clipping. So He
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: is really creating that own, you know, what used to
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: be the Fox News feedback loop. At least there was
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: some filter. Now he's just building his own feedback loop
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: of really intense loyalists and AI slop, which is going
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: to intensify the autocratic backfire that we're all going to
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: have to suffer over the next two years.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Which is why it is interesting that even as folks
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: live in that ecosystem, the reality of what is happening
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: at the pump and at the grocery store is, of course,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: breaking through. The idea here, as best I can understand it, Congressman,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: is that the president was going to be effective in
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: turning out the base. Politico talked to a Republican operative
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: who said the plan is for Trump to drive GOP turnout.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: And by that, I think they mean the base, while
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the work of persuading moderates— independence, other swing voters is
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: basically now up to individual candidates. I suppose I understand
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: that in theory, but how does that actually play in reality?
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Well, the reality is every candidate in anything remotely close
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: to a competitive district needs to be speaking to those
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: soft voters, soft Democrats, soft Republicans and independents. That's where
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: the game is going to be won or lost. The
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: more candidates double down, on their base. I think they
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: do that to the exclusion of those more centered voters
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: whom they desperately need to win. I represented one of
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: those districts. I understand math. If you're a Republican, you know,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: you know that you cannot win simply by keeping your
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: base together. You need to expand. And and that's that
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: was always in my DNA, being from a dead even
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: district or one that actually is slightly lean Democratic. But
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: there are a lot of these members are in what
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: they always thought were safe seats and never really had
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: to do that. And now they're discovering, you know, 60
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: days out or 30 days out, they're discovering they have
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: to talk to these people. It's very hard to do that.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: You just don't learn that overnight. You have to do
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: it constantly. So, you know, the more you double down
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: on the base, you do that at the expense of
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: the moderate voters. So I'm not you know, you need both.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: So it's a perilous situation. What else can I say?
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Math is, in fact, important to politics. Jake Traylor, it's
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: also important to policy, but they have no regard for policy.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: So let's focus on the politics. I at least understand
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: some of the math in Texas where you have more
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Republican voters than you have Democratic voters. But you have
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: new reporting about Republicans concerns about Trump dragging them down.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: He is still headed to Texas. What's the thinking there?
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Alicia, I'm glad at the top you mentioned this.
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: It doesn't take a rocket scientist of a political operative
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: to look at Trump's numbers approval wise overall, but also
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: sentiments around Iran, affordability, the economy to go, oh, this
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: person is not going to be helpful where in swing
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: districts where moderates are potentially deciding the election. And this
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: reporting that we did kind of unveils the looks behind
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: the curtain a bit. and digs into some White House
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: officials and also people close to the president's thinking here,
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: which is essentially that what is often best in terms
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: of getting these candidates elected is in some capacity, sometimes
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: keeping the president removed from campaigning with them, from being
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: seen with them, because he does not do well, particularly
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: with moderates at this time, with the war going on,
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: with the economy, affordability, gas prices. And at the end
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: of the day, too, Alicia, it's not about what political
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: operatives think. It's actually what is trickling down to the voter,
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: what they are actually saying, thinking, and ultimately how they're
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: going to behave on Election Day. Listen to one person
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: that my producer, Sue Wren, spoke with yesterday, a Republican,
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: talking about voting in Texas come Election Day.
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: We are going to vote for James Tallarico. Oh, interesting.
• 8:15
  Speaker 6: We are voting blue because the current Republicans on the
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: slate in Texas are not desirable. I'm not going to
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: vote Republican in this election. Wow.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: Is that the first time for you?
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: I don't know about the first time, probably all ballot,
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: but certainly the first time that it's not a shoo-in
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: for the GOP and the Reds.
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: Alicia, over the next 30-something days as the president promises
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: to visit all 35 of the most competitive races across
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: the country, I want to underscore this quote you said
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: at the top from this White House official I spoke
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: to who said, the closer the race, the more Republican
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: candidates are going to try to break from President Trump.
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: We're going to see that play out, it seems, over
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: the next few weeks in some of these key races
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: to decide the.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: House or the Senate, Alicia. Well, speaking of tight races,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: that Tallarico-Paxton race is now among them. And this rally
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: could be a little awkward, Angelo, considering recently leaked audio
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that recorded the Texas Republicans saying that the Trumpapalooza convention
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: actually did more harm than good. The president was actually
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: asked about that.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: This is what he said.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: There is a report that Ken Paxton was complaining about
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: your midterm convention and he felt like it hurt him.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: What's your reaction to that?
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Well, I haven't heard that, but I can tell you
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: that the convention was amazing.
• 9:35
  Speaker 7: As you probably know, we had 107 million views.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Think of that.
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: We had over 100 million views, I think 107.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: The NFL had 25 million views.
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: So we had four times what the NFL did.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Convenient to compare social media impressions with television views. We'll
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: put that aside for the time being, Angelo. But it's
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: got to be tough for Ken Paxton that he is
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: going to have to. to live with the reality of
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump foisting himself upon him.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: And let's just unpack that, because one of the things
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: that's been a follow up from that claim actually helps
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: reinforce why it's tough for Ken Paxton, because nobody repeated it.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: You know, if you go and search all the databases
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: for the right wing shows and all of the typical
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: machine that was designed to amplify these very claims and
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: have done that pretty reliably, they didn't repeat that claim.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: They don't want to carry water for that, right? They're
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: just ignoring it. They're just letting it go by. And
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: when the thing that was built that was designed to
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: amplify these kinds of lies stopped doing it, that should
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: tell you something. Because that same apparatus, instead of amplifying
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: his grandiose claims about how many people... sort of, you know,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: Washington were participating in that. They're actually saying the opposite.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: They're expressing the very anxieties in that last report about
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: voters saying, I'm kind of done. They're worried about Paxton
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: losing and reinforcing the story that Ken Paxton was sort
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: of underscoring in that leaked audio. So he's not listening
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: to the very thing that helped, not just gives him power,
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: but where he built an organized power on the first place,
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: on the fringes, that entire apparatus. And that's why it's
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: going to be tougher for for for for paxton because
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: instead of going out there and trying to make a
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: strong case they're reinforcing that they're afraid he's going to
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: lose and the best argument that they have or have
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: settled on against talarico is either by calling him a
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: demon or suggesting that he's gay but none of them
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: are connecting the culture war fight that they're doing to
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: the very economic things that all the trump voters are
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: begging them to actually explain so that's what it really
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: foretells that the machine's not doing what trump wants and
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: it's actually the opposite of.
• 11:36
  Speaker 7: Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you
• 11:38
  Speaker 7: at the end of that clip because this is where
• 11:39
  Speaker 7: I get to tell you about a new way to
• 11:41
  Speaker 7: watch all our clips and all of our shows and
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: everything on MS Now on your phone or your tablet
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: or your laptop. You can watch things live or recorded. Plus,
• 11:51
  Speaker 7: you can ask me and all the other hosts and
• 11:53
  Speaker 7: reporters questions in our weekly live chats. You can go
• 11:57
  Speaker 7: to ms.now slash membership or just click below. Thanks.