Responding to reported comments from a White House official who claimed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) might lose his seat because he's not "likable," one conservative pundit struggled to explain the GOP's problems — and earned a few hysterical bouts of laughter from MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace.
On Saturday, the New York Times reported that White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told a group of donors at a closed-door meeting that Cruz may not be "likable" enough to win against Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke. Mulvaney also acknowledged that candidates need to "subtract" voters' disdain for Donald Trump.
"If Ted Cruz could be charming and Donald Trump could not have a screwed-up personality, everything would be fine," Wallace said.
RealClearPolitics editor and Fox News analyst A.B. Stoddard pointed out that Mulvaney is very "slick" before claiming that "what he said is actually not that bad."
"He said if Ted Cruz wasn't odious and Donald Trump wasn't crazy we'd all be fine," the host said.
"He didn't say 'look, everyone hates Trump' — he stepped around it," Stoddard responded.
Wallace noted that Mulvaney suggested that GOP campaigns need to "remove Trump's personality" to win, to which the conservative responded "well...yes," causing the host to burst into laughter.
Watch below, via MSNBC:
