The hosts of “Morning Joe” broke down the current struggles within the White House and the larger Republican Party on Thursday, noting that getting President Trump to remain focused on issues that Americans actually care about, such as affordability, is “an exercise in futility.”
“There are the things that Americans care about: the war in Iran and its implications for gas prices, oil prices, food prices, everything that’s happening in this country right now. Those are top of mind,” co-host Willie Geist said. “And then there are the things that President Trump wants to talk about, like reflecting pools and giving $1.8 billion to January 6 convicted felons.”
MS NOW White House Correspondent Jake Traylor then joined the panel to offer some further insight into the growing divide between Trump, his political party and even some of his cabinet members.
“The White House is struggling right now to keep President Trump on messaging,” Traylor said. “There’s a really clear juxtaposition here between what President Trump is saying, and then maybe what the Republican Party is trying to push in terms of messaging on affordability.”
“[White House Chief of Staff] Susie Wiles has told cabinet officials in multiple meetings, ‘The plan is for you guys to be the ones to stick to the script,’” he added. “The problem with that is we’re seeing what we’re seeing, where the president in real time is saying he doesn’t care about midterms, while the White House is trying to say they are the party of affordability.”
“It might just be an exercise in futility trying to keep this president on message,” Geist ultimately concluded. “They’ve tried to have events about affordability over the last several months. He would just get up on stage in front of a crowd and mock the very idea of affordability as a Democratic hoax.”
He went on to ask “Morning Joe” panelist and Politico columnist Jonathan Martin if there is anybody in Trump’s inner circle who might be able to correct his ongoing inability to connect with American voters.
“You think that somebody is going to take him aside and say, ‘Mr. Trump, you’re dragging down the party. Your message is a disaster. We need you to go out there and actually read the script and stop doing your riffs — and by the way, lose the gold’? No, of course not!” Martin responded. “That’s never going to happen because they want to let Trump be Trump because that lets them keep their jobs.”
“For the Republican Party, that’s not getting the job done,” he continued. “Trump is so focused on his own primary that he has no appetite to expand his appeal or his party’s appeal beyond the primary. But that is a fraction of the larger universe of the American voter. That’s all he thinks about.”
“That works when Democrats are on their heels and he can attack Democrats,” Martin concluded. “It doesn’t work when you’re the one in charge.”
