Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Top Trump ally scrubs Trump references from his campaign website

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Top Trump ally scrubs Trump references from his campaign website · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Some Republican candidates are distancing themselves now from President Trump. Distancing,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: which is a word that really only exists in politics.
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  Speaker 1: It basically means I'm not with him now. Byron Donald's
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  Speaker 1: running for governor in Florida. He is one of the
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  Speaker 1: biggest supporters of the president who even dressed like him
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  Speaker 1: outside the president's criminal trial in 2024. But now Donald's
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  Speaker 1: has scrubbed several references to Trump from his campaign Web site.
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  Speaker 1: That's a pretty big difference. Let's get right to CNN's
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  Speaker 1: Annie Greer for the latest on this. Even Byron Donalds,
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  Speaker 1: they're saying this morning, Annie.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, John. So Byron used to have President Trump
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  Speaker 2: featured very prominently on his website, a photo with him
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  Speaker 2: and the president and his wife featuring his endorsement by
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  Speaker 2: the president. And that was right there on the landing page.
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  Speaker 2: And now that has been scrubbed. And instead, there's a
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  Speaker 2: carousel of endorsements when you go to the landing page
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  Speaker 2: that features a number of endorsements, including from House Speaker
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  Speaker 2: Mike Johnson and Elon Musk. There's still references to President
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Trump on the website, but it's not as front and center, John,
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  Speaker 2: as it was weeks ago. And this change on the
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  Speaker 2: website was first reported by the Miami Herald that we've
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  Speaker 2: since independently confirmed. And the Byron Donald's campaign and the
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  Speaker 2: White House are dismissing this and saying that this is
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  Speaker 2: not a big deal. But This is just the latest
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  Speaker 2: example in a series of Republicans who are creating that
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  Speaker 2: distance with the president, especially when it comes to the
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Iran war. We saw last week two House Republicans in
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  Speaker 2: Iowa running in very competitive races vote against President Trump's
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  Speaker 2: Iran war. We saw the Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, who's
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  Speaker 2: running for Senate in Iowa. also say it's time for
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  Speaker 2: the war to end. We see the Republican candidate in
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  Speaker 2: Michigan coming out with an ad saying it's time to
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  Speaker 2: end the Iran war. And even the Republican senator from Ohio,
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  Speaker 2: John Husted, running for reelection, has made comments about time
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: for the Iran war to end. And that's because Republicans
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  Speaker 2: are seeing this polling that The Iran war is increasingly unpopular.
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  Speaker 2: And what's really notable here is a lot of this
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  Speaker 2: distancing is not just happening in battleground areas. It's happening
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  Speaker 2: in Republican strongholds like Iowa, like Florida, like Ohio. And
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  Speaker 2: so that just raises the question is what are Republicans
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  Speaker 2: in swing districts doing, John?
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  Speaker 1: It's a great question, Annie Graff for us. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: very much.
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  Speaker 2: Byron Donald's big Trump ally has defended him multiple times.
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  Speaker 2: His website looks a lot different now.
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't feature Trump.
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  Speaker 2: As heavily, which I do think is indicative of what Republicans.
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  Speaker 4: Are feeling right now. It is the point that I'm making, Caitlin. Republicans,
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  Speaker 4: Donald Trump isn't on the ballot this November, but every
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  Speaker 4: single Republican is. And they have to listen to their constituents.
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  Speaker 4: They have to listen to the independents in their districts. Now,
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  Speaker 4: you don't want to have too much separation from the
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  Speaker 4: president because you still need those voters to turn out.
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  Speaker 4: This becomes a math problem.
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  Speaker 5: But I think it's wise.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not trying to filibuster, Van.
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  Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
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  Speaker 6: Look, I would just say this. Byron Donalds in particular,
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  Speaker 6: you've seen a 40 point drop in Hispanic voter votes.
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  Speaker 5: A popularity for Donald Trump in the great state of Florida.
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  Speaker 6: That is a big problem in a heavily Hispanic state
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  Speaker 6: like Florida.
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  Speaker 5: But more than that, among.
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  Speaker 6: Independents, I mean, we're talking about a president of the
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  Speaker 6: United States whose net approval rating among pure independents, that
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  Speaker 6: is ones who don't lead to one side of the
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  Speaker 6: aisle or the other, that's like minus 65 points.
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  Speaker 5: Minus 65 points. What are we even talking about? You
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  Speaker 5: never see numbers like this anymore. And yes, These folks
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  Speaker 5: could try to run away from the president of the
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  Speaker 5: United States. You talk about inflation, right, the cost of living.
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  Speaker 5: I believe the last Fox News poll had Democrats up
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  Speaker 5: by a margin. I have not seen them lead on
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  Speaker 5: inflation since, like, the Carter administration. I mean, when you're
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  Speaker 5: mentioning Jimmy Carter and inflation, you know you're going back
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  Speaker 5: a long period of time.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, but you know what's interesting about this, Harry?
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  Speaker 7: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: When you look at the generic congressional ballot, there's only
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  Speaker 4: a five-point advantage that Democrats have. There are far fewer
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  Speaker 4: congressional— You're referring to NBC News, Paul, and it was
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  Speaker 4: four— Yeah, go ahead. And there are far fewer competitive
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  Speaker 4: districts than there were, let's say, 2018, 2010, 2006, when
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  Speaker 4: George W. Bush was running and we had the conflicts
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  Speaker 4: in Iraq and Iran. Iraq. Also, when you look at
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  Speaker 4: the approval ratings of the Democratic Party, the approval ratings
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  Speaker 4: aren't that great for Democrats when you pair them to
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  Speaker 4: the Republican Party. So, Harry, I take the points that
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  Speaker 4: you're making. I guess what I'm trying to say is
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  Speaker 4: this is still very competitive as we get closer to November,
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  Speaker 4: more competitive than what it would have been 10 years ago.
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  Speaker 8: When you talk about how other Republicans that you talk
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  Speaker 8: to see this, you know, I'm just curious, Congressman Byron Donalds,
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  Speaker 8: your colleague, he's actually scrubbed numerous prominent references to Trump
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  Speaker 8: from his updated campaign website. And he's obviously running for
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  Speaker 8: governor of Florida. He's not the only one in what
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  Speaker 8: seemed to be deep red territory who is making these
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  Speaker 8: kinds of changes, right? Getting rid of references to the
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  Speaker 8: president and his campaign materials. Is this what you're hearing
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  Speaker 8: other Republicans say? That to win now?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: We're seeing it in purple districts, particularly. Florida has been
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  Speaker 3: a pretty heavy Republican, but it wasn't too long ago
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  Speaker 3: that it was a swing state. What you see is about,
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  Speaker 3: if you won by eight points two years ago, you're
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  Speaker 3: in a pretty hard fight right now. I think Republicans
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  Speaker 3: have some advantages. They have a financial advantage right now.
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  Speaker 3: If you look at inside elections, they said Republicans are
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  Speaker 3: favored at 211 seats right now, Democrats 207. That leaves
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  Speaker 3: about 17 swing seats. In other words, it seems pretty tight.
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  Speaker 3: But on the other side of that, a very compelling
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  Speaker 3: number is the president's polling numbers, which I think the
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  Speaker 3: RCP has them about 39%. And if you look at
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  Speaker 3: the generic polling, it's not good. And so you can
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  Speaker 3: pick and choose what you want if you're trying to prognosticate.
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  Speaker 3: But I think if you're, when it comes down for
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  Speaker 3: me as in a swing district, you have to make
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  Speaker 3: the case that that I supported the president where I
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  Speaker 3: thought it was right, and I opposed the president where
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  Speaker 3: I thought he was wrong, that I work for the district,
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  Speaker 3: and I work for the constituents of Nebraska, too, and
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  Speaker 3: that I'm not a rubber stamp. And I think if
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  Speaker 3: a Republican can say that and back it up, they
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  Speaker 3: will be in stronger standing.
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  Speaker 1: With us now, Washington Bureau Chief of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
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  Speaker 1: Tia Mitchell, and Washington Bureau Chief, at the Boston Globe,
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  Speaker 1: Jackie Kucinich. And I want to read for you, Tia,
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  Speaker 1: first Punchbowl's headline this morning. The Republican freakout is here,
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  Speaker 1: they say. Republicans hit the panic button, they say. Over
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  Speaker 1: the past few weeks, the electoral climate for President Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump and Republican leaders has worsened dramatically, according to lawmakers, aides,
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  Speaker 1: and political advisors who see daily polling. So, Tia, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Annie asked a question just before, which is what about
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  Speaker 1: in the swing states? If Republicans in some of these
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  Speaker 1: red states are flipping, what about the Republicans in swing states?
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  Speaker 3: You're in Georgia.
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  Speaker 1: You cover the Atlanta General Constitution does. How are you
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  Speaker 1: seeing this punch bowl named freak out manifest itself in Georgia?
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  Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, to me, we see it playing out
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  Speaker 9: in two separate ways in the two key races in Georgia.
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  Speaker 9: In our Senate race, Republican Mike Collins won. has not
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  Speaker 9: distanced himself from President Trump. Now, he's perceived to be
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  Speaker 9: in a lot of trouble against incumbent John Ossoff. So
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  Speaker 9: he's hoping to turn out the MAGA base in hopes
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  Speaker 9: of getting enough of Republican voters to push him over
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  Speaker 9: the edge. So he is not shying away from Trump,
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  Speaker 9: even though he has bigger fish to fry with his race.
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  Speaker 9: In the governor's race, Republican Rick Jackson is has more
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  Speaker 9: distance with Trump. He kind of has all along, but
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  Speaker 9: even more so lately. You know, he doesn't talk about Trump,
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  Speaker 9: doesn't mention the president, really tries to avoid making any
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  Speaker 9: connections with the president. And that wasn't quite the case
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  Speaker 9: during the primary where he was in a crowded Republican primary.
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  Speaker 9: So I think in a swing state, you're going to
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  Speaker 9: see both. You're going to see some who just hedge
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  Speaker 9: their bets that Trump himself is popular enough, if the
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  Speaker 9: base turns out, they can still win. And some saying,
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  Speaker 9: you know, I've got to create some distance with the
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  Speaker 9: president because I want to appeal to swing voters, independent voters,
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  Speaker 9: to win in November.
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  Speaker 1: So, Jackie, two other numbers to show you, which may
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  Speaker 1: be leading to this freakout that Punchbowl calls it. How
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  Speaker 1: is the president handling his job as president? 51 percent
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  Speaker 1: strongly disapprove. So a majority of voters telling our pollsters,
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  Speaker 1: They strongly disapprove of the president. Again, it's hard to
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  Speaker 1: imagine a voter who strongly disapproves of the president then
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  Speaker 1: deciding to vote for some of the president's supports. It
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  Speaker 1: could happen, but it's unlikely. And then just the Republican
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  Speaker 1: approval of the president over time. I want to put
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  Speaker 1: this up there. Seventy five percent is now it's very high,
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  Speaker 1: but you can see how much lower it is than
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  Speaker 1: other points this year that we've polled. And we put
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  Speaker 1: that list even even further if we wanted to. And
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  Speaker 1: 75 percent will be the lowest we put on the
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  Speaker 1: screen there.
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  Speaker 5: So sagging.
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  Speaker 1: Even among Republicans. Those are serious headwinds, Jackie.
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  Speaker 7: I mean, look no further than the issue list in
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  Speaker 7: that same poll. 27% approve of his handling of the economy.
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  Speaker 7: 20% approve of his handling of inflation. These are economic
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  Speaker 7: issues that the president himself has dismissed and has focused
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  Speaker 7: instead on other things, none of which it seems like
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  Speaker 7: voters in this poll approve of. Now, one of the
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  Speaker 7: biggest differences this cycle than even, say, in 2018 is
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  Speaker 7: that the president really is pulling Republicans close. He has said,
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  Speaker 7: I am on the ballot. He has tried to tie
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  Speaker 7: himself To Republicans, usually incumbent presidents, when they're this unpopular,
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  Speaker 7: take a step back, kind of let their party do
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  Speaker 7: their thing in order to get individual members elected. Not so.
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  Speaker 7: Trump wants to be on voters' minds. And I don't
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  Speaker 7: think there were any Republicans who were sad when the
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  Speaker 7: sound didn't work or there was no longer sound at
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  Speaker 7: the White House the other day when the president was talking.
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  Speaker 1: That's a great point. I mean, the president's saying, look
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  Speaker 1: at me, look at me. I want this to be
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  Speaker 1: about me. And all the polls are saying me, meaning him,
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  Speaker 1: not doing that well right now.