According to “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough, polling out of Virginia, which has been heavily impacted by the government shutdown, indicates, “Republicans may get wiped out there.”
“Up in New Jersey, Donald Trump is bragging about slashing funding and ending the Hudson River tunnel, right?” he continued. “So he's bragging about making New Jersey residents commute more hellish. That's impacting what? The New Jersey governor's race and so [Democrat] Mikie Sherrill is being helped out by Donald Trump right now because he continues to brag about killing that project.”
“Tell me what are you hearing from the White House? They have to understand this is bad for them in Jersey. This is bad for them in Virginia. This is bad for them across the country,” he asked co-host Jonathan Lemire.
“White House aides, as I've been reporting on this show, have been privately saying to me for ten days or so now they think, ‘Oh, the end is in sight, he president's going to step in and get this done,’” Lemire replied before adding, “The issue is, as I've been hearing the last 24 hours, the president's not really paying attention.”
“Because Joe is right,” he told the panel. “The president, you know, people, even his critics will say has a good read of the room. Like he understands what issues are important, what's resonating with folks. He's missing this. And it's about the bubble that he's in, it would seem. And every day this goes on is worse for Republicans. But of course, more than anything, worse for Americans and he still is, at least nominally, the president of all of us.”
Asked what she is hearing, contributor Katty Kay offered, “I mean, even for a president who has an enormous amount of energy across a broad range of subjects, the reports I've had from people who have gone into the Oval Office and seen him recently, are that he is super distracted at the moment, that trying to get him to focus on one particular policy issue is very difficult, is very difficult. He's talking about the renovations of the white house. He's talking about the Lincoln Bedroom.”
“He's not a president who is particularly, you know, nailed in on one particular issue,” she added.
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