Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Top Trump aide sparks backlash with A.I. champagne-popping video amid affordability crisis

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Top Trump aide sparks backlash with A.I. champagne-popping video amid affordability crisis · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We are talking about a Senate race in Idaho gives
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: you an indication of how the map has shifted and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: how these issues are just cutting against Republicans in states
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: that they shouldn't even have to worry about or think about. And,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: you know, it's interesting that you highlighted that because there's
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: a number of states where, in fact, Republican incumbents are
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: faced with independents who can't be tagged with the Democratic
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: brand who are raising these kinds of issues. And so,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: You know, I think what you're seeing is an indication
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: of the way the political environment has shifted and the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: way that Donald Trump's complete tone deafness has given Democrats
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: control of the narrative, at least at least for now.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Mariana, that ad is devastating. When you talk with Republicans
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: on the Hill, which of the myriad problems do they
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: see as the most insurmountable? And while they seem to
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: be very comfortable complaining on camera, are they actually complaining
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: to folks inside the White House?
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you said it perfectly at the top that they're
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: now saying the quiet part out loud because I have
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: heard for majority of this year that privately they have
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: been griping about a number of these issues for a
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: long time and they have been pushing back, whether it's
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: on tariffs. or the Iran war or immigration directly to
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: the White House, directly to Trump's political orbit. I think
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: the one takeaway here is that it is past Labor Day.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Voters are paying attention. We're about a month away. And
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: that's why you're hearing a number of these Republicans now
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: publicly saying that they don't agree with the president on
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: a number of fronts. However, as has already been mentioned,
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: The president is not on message and Republicans have kind
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: of given up that he ever will get to that point.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: It has in some ways become just Trump's show, right?
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Like this, he just is convinced about what he wants
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: to talk about. And he has in some ways already
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: suggested Republican lawmakers are to blame if and when they lose,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: not just as majority, but potentially even, even the Senate majority.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: So I think at this point, Republicans, as much as
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: they themselves may be, you know, trying to stay on message,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: they talk about gas prices going up. That's the number
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: one indicator for them. If that doesn't come down in
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: the next couple of weeks, that's a problem. Those beef prices,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: a number of different fronts. They might be talking about
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: that to their constituents, but Trump has the loudest bully
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: pulpit and it's very hard to break through what he's saying.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Sawyer, I mean, to the point that Mariana is making
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: about the Trump show, The White House deputy chief of staff,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Dan Scavino, posted this video of himself, members of the
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Trump family, popping champagne and riding a golden cart to
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: see Donald Trump. I get that it is AI, but
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: still the fact that it would be posted at a
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: time when Americans feel that they can't afford hamburgers. On
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: one hand, there's the reality that like less than 40
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: days out, there's probably no legislation they could pass that
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: would address the affordability crisis that ship has sailed. But
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: it is as though they are thumbing their nose in
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: voters' faces.
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: I mean, for a long time, it seemed like it
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: was obvious that Donald Trump didn't really care if Republicans
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: lost the midterms. But now it looks a little bit
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: more like political sabotage. I mean, I think, you know,
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: focusing on things like the ballroom and the arch and
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: the Kennedy Center, while these affordability crisis continues, while the
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: war in Iran continues, while his global war over trade continues,
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: as I think really starting to divide his coalition from
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: him and from Republican candidates across the country. And I
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: think it's one of the under-discussed elements of the affordability
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: crisis is the disproportionate impact, rather, that it's had on
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: rural states like Texas and Nebraska and Kansas and Idaho,
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: states that have been ground zero for not only the
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: cost of groceries rising from his trade war and his
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: tariff war, but also the cost of fertilizer and gasoline
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: rising from his war in Iran. And so it's that
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: coupled with his focus on these vanity projects that I
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: think is really starting to put some distance between voters
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  Speaker 5: and the Republican coalition with just, you know, 40 something
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: days until the midterms.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Kevin, I want you to take a listen to what
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: the president said just this Sunday about cost of living.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: Everything is going down.
• 4:23
  Speaker 6: We have it going down.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: We inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: And it's going really down. 401ks are at their all
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: time high. The stock markets are at their all time high.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: And our country is doing really well.
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  Speaker 6: Fact check there.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Inflation is higher now than it was when he began
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: his second term. But just bigger picture, Kevin, his comments
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: aren't a comfort to people who are living paycheck to paycheck,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: especially with gas just under $ 4. 50 a gallon. Republican candidates,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: they see the disconnect. You see them there on camera
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: complaining about the disconnect. What kind of reception are they
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: getting when they take those concerns to the White House?
• 5:00
  Speaker 7: Well, I mean, let's pull apart what he just said
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: there a little bit. So our team here at MSNOW
• 5:06
  Speaker 7: went through all of his true social posts since Labor
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: Day as kind of the kickoff point for election season
• 5:12
  Speaker 7: in full. And we found that he tweeted 30 times
• 5:15
  Speaker 7: about D.C. renovation projects, 10 times about renaming Lake Ontario
• 5:20
  Speaker 7: and New Mexico, 20 times about complaining about media coverage
• 5:23
  Speaker 7: and obviously the MSNOW, CNN and Politico bans. And when
• 5:26
  Speaker 7: he did talk about the economy, it was often in
• 5:28
  Speaker 7: the same sort of language you just heard in that clip,
• 5:31
  Speaker 7: where he was bragging about it, comparing it to Biden,
• 5:33
  Speaker 7: saying that it's better, saying poverty is lower, talking about
• 5:36
  Speaker 7: how high the stock market is. That is not in
• 5:39
  Speaker 7: junction with what, for example, I heard from Senator John
• 5:42
  Speaker 7: Kennedy just the other day, who basically said he would
• 5:44
  Speaker 7: like to see the president do two things right now.
• 5:46
  Speaker 7: And Kennedy has been very outspoken in kind of sounding
• 5:49
  Speaker 7: the alarm about where Republicans are on the messaging heading
• 5:51
  Speaker 7: into the midterms, saying that he one wants the president
• 5:54
  Speaker 7: to come out and actually explain why we are in Iran.
• 5:57
  Speaker 7: And he also wants the president to come out and
• 5:59
  Speaker 7: explain what he's going to do to actually bring down
• 6:01
  Speaker 7: costs and talk about what he's going to do to
• 6:03
  Speaker 7: address this. inflation rather than brag about it. And so
• 6:07
  Speaker 7: these Republicans are now grappling with the fact, many of
• 6:09
  Speaker 7: them telling us now on the record, that no, the
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: president is not giving the sort of message that we want.
• 6:14
  Speaker 7: I thought this bite from Senator Cornyn was quite telling
• 6:17
  Speaker 7: that he said the president does not believe that we
• 6:19
  Speaker 7: should address affordability issues.
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: That was his take.
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  Speaker 7: Obviously, he's not up on the ballot this fall because
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: he lost the primary and some might say he has
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: a bit of an axe to grind. But at the
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: end of the day, he can also speak candidly a
• 6:30
  Speaker 7: little bit more about what he's seeing on the ground
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: in Texas.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: You know, to that point, about Cornyn. I talked to
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: James Tallarico when I was just down in Texas this weekend.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: I want to play just a part of our conversation
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: and then talk about it on the other side. If
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: John Cornyn himself chose to endorse you, is that support
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: that you would welcome? Oh, absolutely.
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: I'm running for his seat in the U.S.
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: Senate.
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  Speaker 6: And whether he endorses me or not, I will seek
• 7:01
  Speaker 6: his counsel. I will seek his guidance.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Do you think there's any way, Charlie, that Cornyn gets
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: to a place of frustration with his own party such
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: that not only does he not actively support Ken Paxton,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: but that he's actually willing to throw his hat in
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: for Tallarico?
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't know, but the fact that you're even
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: asking that question is an indication of what the environment is.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, Cornyn really has very, very little to lose,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: although we've seen Republicans in the past who have nothing
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: to lose still not taking that final step. But, you know,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Tallarico's answer is exactly right. He's going to need Republican votes.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: He's going to need moderate votes. He understands the kind
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: of big tent that he has created and that Ken
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Paxton cannot. The fact is that because Donald Trump endorsed
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: him and because the voters nominated him, Ken Paxton may
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: be one of the very few Republicans who cannot win
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: in a very Republican state like Texas. By the way,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: can we go back to the Dan Scavino story? Instagram post.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: This would come out, what, 36 days before the midterms.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it is, to say that it's tone deaf
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  Speaker 1: and crass is putting it mildly. I mean, this is
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  Speaker 1: the kind of thing that costs Marie Antoinette her head.
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  Speaker 1: She would be blushing over this kind of over-the-top, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to be partying with the champagne. And by the way,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: he put that out after the state dinner in which
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump sucked up to the communist leader of China.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: So at the moment when Donald Trump is trying to
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: project this, the strongman image around the world, what do
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Americans see? They see him kowtowing to the most powerful
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  Speaker 1: communist in the world and to our Chinese rivals worldwide.
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  Speaker 1: And apparently, as we learned today, he wore yesterday, he
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: was talking about actually selling weapons to the Chinese. Trust me,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: this is not playing well with Republican voters, with MAGA
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: voters who were told that Donald Trump was going to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: be a hawk on these issues. And he's putting out
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: ads saying we will never be a communist country. And
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: yet when the communist ruler of China comes down, you know,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: comes to the United States, who's waiting at the bottom
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  Speaker 1: of the stairs? to kiss up to him so all
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: of this message is is certainly not designed to help
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: republicans in the midterm elections.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, to your point about Marie Antoinette, as though the
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: president is saying, let them eat AI slop. Mariana, I
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: want to bring this conversation back to where we started,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: which is like Republicans see all of this. And I
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: think an interesting example of what happens when you attempt
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: to turn on Trump was on display over the weekend.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you saw this. He reposted messages calling Florida
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar a backstabber. You know the backstory here.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: She's in a competitive race, majority Hispanic district. This has
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: become an issue. She released an ad trying to distance
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: herself from Trump on immigration. Then he called her. She
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: walks it back. Now you have this reposting spree. What
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: are you hearing from Republicans on who are being told
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: by folks inside the administration that they are free to
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: distance themselves from the president, but then when they actually
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: do it, are being penalized by the president.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: This is a perfect example of the risk Republicans take
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: when they criticize the president. Because while the president may
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: say one thing, and I am sure Speaker Mike Johnson
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: and a number of others who want to keep the
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: House have been telling the president, let these Republicans do
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: what they need to do to win their districts. But,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: you know, turn around a different weekend. He's hanging out
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: with other advisers who are completely against what a Republican's
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: policy may be. And then suddenly the president is thinking
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: or it seems like based on what he was was
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: reposting was, oh, well, maybe I shouldn't. be so kind
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: to a number of these lawmakers. And again, that is
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: always the risk that Republicans are weighing and have been weighing.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: And it's another reason why I think it's taken some
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: time for Republicans to speak out. They have been more
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: calculating behind the scenes, not wanting to go against the president,
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: not risk maybe not getting MAGA ink spending, whatever it
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: may be. And this is really the only time for
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: them to do that. Whether voters can recognize that? I'm
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: not sure, because these are obviously a number of issues
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: that we've talked about that goes to the core of
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: what voters have been saying for a long time. We
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: want to make ends meet. This isn't helping us. And
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: if a Republican candidate is suddenly saying, oh, I am,
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: you know, I actually agree with you on this position,
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: maybe some voters buy it, but it's probably a little
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: hard to convince a broad population.
• 11:57
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• 12:00
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