During an MSNBC panel discussion on Donald Trump allowing himself to be influenced by far-right characters, which had a marked influence on his Tuesday night debate performance, contributor Ed Luce suggested the former president has quickly become his own worst enemy.
Speaking with the hosts on "Morning Joe," the Financial Times columnist claimed the Trump campaign's downward spiral is purely the result of the candidate himself.
Noting that the former president recently added far-right conspiracist Laura Loomer to his travel entourage, Luce explained "This is the kind of person Donald Trump is hanging out with."
"He's hanging out with people who tell him, 'Yes, what you said about crowd sizes is true. Yes, what you said about you having the greatest economy in world history is true. What we've been hearing about people hanging other people's pet dogs or abducting their cats, that's true.'"
"I doubt, frankly, that [Trump campaign managers] Chris LaCivita or Susie Wiles, who are professionals, worked on other campaigns, are being listened to much at all by Donald Trump," he observed. "The more we see of that, a bit like the debate the other night, the more rope he is given to hang himself, the more he will hang himself."
Another member of the George W. Bush administration has come out in support of Kamala Harris for president.
Alberto Gonzalez, who served as attorney general and White House counsel during Bush's presidency, joined former vice president Dick Cheney and publicly endorsed the Democratic nominee against Donald Trump in an op-ed published by Politico, and he joined CNN's John Berman to discuss his decision.
"I know the Politico piece, you wrote that in Politico – it came out just like an hour-and-a-half ago," Berman said, "so I don't know how much time for reaction there's been, but I guarantee you, if it hasn't happened yet, it will happen, where people are going to say Alberto Gonzalez, you know, RINO – Republican in name only."
Gonzalez, who is currently dean of Belmont University College of Law in Tennessee, said he wasn't worried what other Republicans would think of his endorsement.
"I've stopped a long time ago worrying about what people may think," said Gonzalez, whose tenure as attorney general was marked by controversies over warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens and the legal authorization of torture as part of the "war on terror." "I'd like to have them think about, though, what is best for this country. For the lawyers, I would say, 'Who is best-suited to preserve the rule of law based upon their rhetoric and based upon their history.' The rule of law is what allows us as Americans to enjoy our freedoms. If we lose the rule of law, then we lose our freedoms, and so for me that's vitally important."
"Whether or not people think that I'm a Republican or whatever – I do have some experience in terms of decision-making in the Oval Office," Gonzalez added, "and I know what's important, at least from my perspective, in terms of the integrity the discipline, the courage of the president of the United States, and I just happen to believe that Kamala Harris is the right person for the job at this time."
Berman asked how he believed the vice president's campaign could attract other Republican voters.
"I mean, I've covered you since the late 90s, when you were a Republican official in Texas and the White House counsel, and attorney general, again, someone who has been a Republican for a long, long time," Berman said. "What advice would you give the Harris campaign in appealing to Republicans around the country?"
Gonzalez said that political strategy was outside his area of expertise, but he suggested that Harris project a positive message about the future in contrast to the negative and backward-looking campaign her opponent has been running.
"I think Americans respond automatically to a hopeful, positive message and this, this talk about the United States being in decline, becoming a Third World country, that we're a disgrace, was an embarrassment," Gonzalez said. "To me, that's the embarrassment, that kind of rhetoric. We are the greatest country in the face of the earth. We are lucky to be in America, we are lucky to be Americans, and I think that our leaders should have that same kind of attitudes, are talking that same kind of language, and so I think, I think one of the best things that the Harris campaign can do is to continue to talk about unity, continue to talk about a positive message that we are not going to go back to a negative message. I think that is probably a very effective message."
Berman couldn't contain his astonishment over the former Bush official's endorsement.
"I appreciate talking to you," Berman said. "This is not a conversation I thought I'd be having 20 years ago. Thanks so much for your time this morning."
During a very long "Morning Joe" panel discussion on the debate night endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris by pop superstar Taylor Swift, NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali expressed surprise Republicans are not taking it seriously.
Speaking with hosts Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist and Jonathan Lemire, Vitali went to so far as to say it was "insane" that Republicans aren't in a panic over a wave of new voters heading to the polls in November.
"Look, the only thing I was thinking about when you guys were talking is this idea that she doesn't have an impact," Vitali began. "This is a woman who made grown people, adults, make friendship bracelets. Everyone from, you know, senators on Capitol Hill on the Democratic side to Nikki Haley when I was covering her campaign, were wearing them and sporting every manner of slogan."
"So the idea that Taylor Swift doesn't have impact is insane to me," she asserted. "Also, she's a universal voice who speaks to universal experience, and she speaks predominantly to women. I think that, for most women who might be Swifties, who might not be in the zeitgeist of talking about politics, she's bringing awareness."
"When 337,000 people went to Vote.gov, not all of them necessarily registered to vote but a good amount probably did and it gets them to start thinking about what is at stake in this election" she continued. "Devaluing a Taylor Swift endorsement is generally saying that you don't understand how women who are Swifties talk to people in their lives, are probably pretty Type A, if I think about all my friends who were Swifties. I mean she is someone who has influence over a large swath of voters, who are, again, predominantly women, and who will probably be motivated by the central issues of this election."
As part of a discussion on Tuesday night's presidential debate on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," conservative Charlie Sykes claimed that Donald Trump's campaign is collapsing because he is listening to the wrong people.
As the conversation turned to Trump closely associating with conservative gadfly Laura Loomer, who Sykes said was "not just a bigot, she is a freak," the longtime Republican pundit said she is not the only one who has persuaded the former president to follow his worst instincts.
"I mean, think about this," he began. "We're less than two months from the election and Donald Trump is associating with some of the craziest, weirdest figures on the right."
"And in part, you know, this is kind of the J.D. Vance effect," he elaborated. "J.D. Vance and Donald Trump Jr. who have decided they want Donald Trump to be extremely online. And you saw that play out during the debate, but you're also seeing it play out, you know, throughout this campaign and all of the rallies."
"In Donald Trump's head, you have people with the most extreme and bigoted ideas, who are feeding him lines and memes and encouraging him to go places that no politician in our century and, you know, maybe for the last century and a half, have even thought to go," he added. "I think this is concerning in terms of this bubble of delusion he's created himself: this bubble of extremism and delusion that he'll carry up until the election and past the election."
Donald Trump's baseless comments about immigrants stealing and eating pets in Ohio have been the basis for countless mocking memes since the debate, and one of his former spokespeople attempted to place them into a reasonable context.
The Republican nominee repeated claims during Tuesday night's debate that got a neo-Nazi kicked out of a Springfield city council meeting exactly two weeks earlier about Haitian immigrants purportedly eating residents' dogs, and former White House communications director Mike Dubke told CNN that Trump had touched on an important issue with his bizarre remarks.
"There are plenty of things that Republicans have to say about immigration that would 100 percent resonate with voters, who say they trust Republicans more," said host Kasie Hunt. "Why this thing?"
"I think immigration is the major, is the major issue that he should focus on," Dubke said. "I wish he had talked more about immigration, I wish he had talked more about the 10 million that have already crossed the border that we know of. But on this, there is a – Donald Trump's an unconventional politician. We all know that, we all accept that – it's part of his allure."
"On this question, there there are tens of thousands of migrants in Springfield, Ohio, that have overwhelmed the social services system," Dubke added. "There is, French Creole is the now almost a dominant language in the schools. There is this reaction by the citizens in that area against this heavy influx of migrants. I don't know why – let me get to the point. This is an unconventional way to bring that point up."
"Unconventional is a very generous way to put it," Hunt said, laughing.
Dubke said he wasn't even sure why Trump was focused on Ohio, which will almost certainly go in his favor in November.
"I wish there was a Springfield, Pennsylvania, or Springfield, Michigan, where he was talking about this," Dubke said. "But it is an unconventional way to bring it up, but this is true, on-the-ground issues."
With the dust having settled from Tuesday night's first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, leading Republican Party pollster Frank Luntz late Wednesday predicted the former president is headed for defeat in November.
Appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Luntz claimed Trump's performance during the debate looks to have dealt a death blow to his third run for the presidency.
As he explained to the host, “It was a pretty negative performance—pretty pessimistic, cynical, contemptuous and I think that this will cost him, yes."
"I’m trying to decide if I want to go on record, and the answer is yes. I think that he loses because of this debate performance," he added.
Asked to elaborate, he continued, "This is not the worst debate performance I’ve seen in my career, but it’s very close to it,” Luntz continued, adding that Trump raving about “people eating dogs and cats," won't be forgotten anytime soon.
He also noted that Trump blew the opportunity to make the case for himself, noting he repeatedly missed "the opportunity to focus on inflation and affordability, and the complete inability to present his point of view without completely tearing into her, into Joe Biden, into whomever was in his sights.”
During an appearance on MSNBC's "Way Too Early," GOP campaign consultant Susan Del Percio suggested Vice President Kamala Harris will be on the receiving end of additional endorsements from members of the Republican Party.
In particular, she suggested that a major endorsement could be in the works within two to four weeks that would be a major blow to Donald Trump.
Speaking with host Jonathan Lemire, Del Percio pointed out that she is well aware how precarious it is for any Republican to jump across the aisle considering the former president's rabid base, but that defections could be coming nonetheless.
"It's not enough to say we don't support Trump, but take the next step and say, I'm voting for Harris. Looking at, perhaps, former President George Bush among them. What do you think?" host Lemire prompted his guest.
"I think former President Bush is a great example," she immediately replied. "Even though he said he won't be endorsing, I'm not so sure, come only two to four weeks, that maybe he changes his mind."
"But Republicans, I understand why some choose not to," she conceded. "As far as elected officials who can afford a security detail, that makes sense. But when you do that and you go after former president Trump, there is a security issue for your family that is very serious."
A Republican senator received a real-time fact-check from a CNN anchor as he tried to breathe oxygen into a racist conspiracy theory promoted by former President Donald Trump at the debate Tuesday night.
"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats," Trump said, repeating a theory previously floated by running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, that Haitian immigrants are abducting pets and eating them in the Ohio city. "They're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country."
Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee joined CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday night to discuss the debate, telling her that not only did he think Trump won the debate — contrary to what many pundits and experts have said — but that the MAGA leader was "assaulted with all kinds of lies and misinformation."
When Collins asked Hagerty if Trump ought to have avoided the baseless conspiracy theory at the debate, Hagerty appeared to suggest there may be some "evidence."
"You talk about evidence, I've heard conflicting reports — there's conflicting evidence. There's a lot of information on the internet that this is happening," he said. "But here's the real problem —"
The senator couldn't finish the sentence before Collins interjected.
"Yeah but no real credible evidence," she said, citing people living in the city.
Not to be deterred, Hagerty doubled down.
"In Springfield, Ohio, the governor is sending in state troopers and millions of dollars to deal with the problem that's happening across America," he said, pointing to millions of immigrants that he and the GOP have said have flooded over the U.S.-Mexico border.
Hagerty pointed to hospital emergency rooms and schools trying to find teachers who can teach English as a second language.
"We have these problems in my home state of Tennessee," he said, blaming a flood of migrants.
While Collins acknowledged school systems and hospital systems have reported being "overwhelmed," CNN hasn't heard from a single city official in Springfield that Haitian immigrants are abducting pets.
But Hagerty was unconvinced and again dug into the claim.
"City officials aren't the only source," he said. "There are plenty of people saying this is happening. So I think this just needs to be verified."
"We talked to multiple people there," insisted Collins, including the police commissioner and others who said, "There's just no evidence of it."
She later added that while immigration is a "fair point," a "false claim is what people have issue with."
Hagerty's claim was met with mockery online from critics on X.
"'But I saw it on the internet' has to be the dumbest excuse for pushing a debunked racist conspiracy theory," wrote Kelsie Taggart, digital media director for the Democratic PAC American Bridge. "Republicans need to grow a spine (and brain.)"
"The Party of Lincoln and Reagan has been reduced to 'I saw something online,'" jabbed prominent national security attorney Bradley P. Moss.
In a separate post, Moss rhetorically asked Hagerty, "Have you seen these wild videos on the internet that prove Trump wasn’t actually shot but rather that he staged the entire thing? I know we have official reports from the FBI and Secret Service but this cool YouTube video narrated by a guy who says he knows classified things totally shows that it was all staged. I look forward to you looking into this because, hey, it’s on the internet."
"When it comes to daffy senatorial caucuses, don't sleep on Tennessee," wrote journalist Charles P. Pierce. "That's a low pair that'll bust you."
"Kaitlan Collins refuting Sen. Bill Hagerty's (R-TN) assertion that pets are being kidnapped and eaten. Watch both videos. Hagerty also told her he watched the debate 'very carefully' and thought Trump won. This is a sitting senator," said investigative journalist Victoria Brownworth.
A tense discussion broke out Wednesday night on CNN between a Republican strategist and a conservative political commentator during a discussion over a racist conspiracy floated by former President Donald Trump at the debate.
Scott Jennings, a senior political commentator who served as Special Assistant to former President George W. Bush, joined a panel on CNN's "Newsnight" and was asked about Trump's promotion of a conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants are abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
"I do think it's a legitimate conversation to have about the societal public safety health impacts anytime cities or communities get drastically changed because of our immigration system," he said. "Whether that's in Springfield, whether that's on the border with Mexico. Whether that's New York City, which has had issues. I don't think that's an illegitimate conversation to have."
Jennings added that the "real question" is whether America has that conversation "flippantly" or "seriously."
The comment drew a quick response from fellow conservative Ana Navarro, who noted Trump wasn't being "sarcastic" or "hyperbolic" when he promoted the theory.
"He was amplifying a conspiracy theory that I think you would agree puts a target on the back of Haitian immigrants and that it is based on racism. Would you agree on that?"
After a lengthy silence, broken only by a fellow panelist noting it was based on "anti-Black racism," Navarro continued going on the offensive.
"Do you think that if there were 20,000 Scandinavians that had been sent to Springfield, the people would be saying that they're eating cats and dogs and geese?"
Jennings tried to dodge the question.
"I'm not going to answer for him, for his memes or anything else," said Jennings. "But I am —"
Navarro cut him off, insisting he answer whether the conspiracy is based on racism.
"It's a yes or no!" she said.
"Because I'm not going to answer — I don't know!" he replied, visibly flustered.
"That was a long pause, Scott," noted host Abby Phillip.
"Because I don't know the answer. And I'm not going to sit here and answer for somebody. I don't talk to Donald Trump about what the motivations are, and I don't answer to you either."
Phillip kept on Jennings, however, asking, "What is the answer for you?"
"The bottom line is immigration is a top-two issue in this election. It must be discussed. And we're either going to go down a rabbit hole here which is not the real issue, or we're going to talk about the real issues."
Navarro didn't accept the answer, pushing back that the reason the panel went down the "rabbit hole" is "the man you support is making us go down that rabbit hole."
"The reason we're not talking about the legitimate issues you have brought up is because he is claiming with no facts that Haitian migrants are eating pets! And that is a dangerous conspiracy theory to be spreading to America."
Watch the heated discussion below or at this link.
Donald Trump's niece applauded Vice President Kamala Harris for doing exactly what she needed to do at the debate in Philadelphia — rattling her uncle early and causing him to "unravel."
Mary Trump joined Anderson Cooper on his show Wednesday night and called her uncle's performance "incredibly validating," noting that getting under Trump's skin is the "way to go" but that no one has been able to do so — until now.
"That was the thing that she did so brilliantly," said Ms. Trump. "Vice President Harris gave both substantive answers to questions to help the American people get to know her better and what she's going to do for our country, while going straight at Donald's vulnerabilities."
Mary Trump said her uncle suffered "narcissistic injury" at the hands of Harris in the opening 15 minutes of the debate, and accomplished "exactly what it needed to do": "make him unravel."
"He couldn't recover and honestly he's not going to," she said.
Mary Trump added that Donald Trump hasn't evolved past his childhood self. She wrote in her new book, "Who could ever love you" that as a child, he tormented his little brother Robert and appeared to have "nothing but disdain for everybody else, including, and perhaps especially, his mother."
She wrote that her uncle had a reputation for being a "thin-skinned bully who beat up on younger kids but ran home in a fit of rage as soon as somebody stood up to him."
That characterization, she told Cooper, is "one of the most damning and dangerous things" about her uncle and one of the things that makes him "most unfit."
"That's still who he is," she said, replying "absolutely" when asked by Cooper if she sees Donald Trump as the same person she knew as a child.
Former President Donald Trump severely hobbled his chances at the debate in Philadelphia by choosing unserious people to prep him for the debate, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, prominent liberal podcaster Tommy Vietor told MSNBC's "The ReidOut" on Wednesday evening.
Trump's performance, which even Republicans regarded as a "trainwreck," saw him struggling to answer basic questions, growing visibly agitated with Vice President Kamala Harris as she attacked his record, and promoting an internet hoax about Haitian migrants eating pets.
"Tommy, Trump has been a little iffy on whether he would be willing to debate again," said anchor Joy Reid. "It would seem now he needs it, but it is the Harris campaign that's saying bring it on, let's debate again. And he doesn't seem 100 percent sure he's willing to do it, even on Fox."
"I think the first mistake was letting morons like Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard do your debate prep and call it policy sessions. Maybe a little more discipline in preparation would help him," said Vietor.
When Trump went out to debate, Vietor continued, "he lost so badly he had to go to the spin room and then he went to his safe space, which is Sean Hannity's show. And there they pressed him about whether he would do another debate with Fox, because Fox obviously wants to make money off of it. And he would not commit to doing a debate."
He said he can imagine Kamala Harris' team is "chomping at the bit to get another debate."
"Because she is good at this and she is disciplined and he is not," Vietor added. "And I imagine his advisers are just worried that the same, angry, red-faced, brooding Trump will show up and make a fool of himself again. And you know, there's some data out today that shows 45 percent of the people who watched that debate are now more likely to vote for Kamala Harris. 50 percent of those who watched — 50 percent of independents think that she won. So this was obviously beneficial for her."
President Joe Biden wore a "Trump 2024" hat on Wednesday — and though it confused Republicans, he had a specific reason for doing so.
The president was at an event in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Shanksville was the site of the United Flight 93 crash, in which passengers revolted against hijackers trying to fly the plane into a government building in Washington, D.C.
Shanksville is in a small, conservative county where voters backed former President Donald Trump by a margin greater than 3 to 1, and many attendees were wearing Trump merchandise, including MAGA hats. According to Newsweek, White House officials said that in a show of nonpartisan solidarity and unity, Biden handed one of the attendees a Harris-Walz campaign hat, then took that man's "Trump 2024" hat and donned it himself, posing in a video and in a photo with children.
Republicans appeared either confused by the president's actions, or simply made fun of them.
"What's Happening?" posted Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita.
The Trump War Room campaign account, meanwhile, posted, "BREAKING: Kamala did so bad in last night's debate, Joe Biden just put on a Trump hat."
Meanwhile, Benny Johnson, a right-wing influencer who was one of many singled out by the Department of Justice in their criminal charges against a pair of Russian state media officials who allegedly helped promote certain social media content to exacerbate U.S. political divisions, posted, "Photo of Joe Biden looking absolutely shook surrounded by Pennsylvania kids rocking Trump and MAGA gear. Zoom in. The shirts on these kids are incredible. Love this energy."
A prominent New York Times reporter revealed Wednesday on CNN that close advisors of former President Donald Trump wished he hadn't mentioned a racist conspiracy theory — but were "more concerned" about a separate failed "missed opportunity."
Maggie Haberman joined "The Situation Room" on Wednesday and said Trump likely knows he performed "sub-optimally" at his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris. She was not surprised by how easily Trump became provoked.
Haberman told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer that Trump probably knows he lost the debate given his pushback against any criticism following his widely panned performance Tuesday night. Trump has also declared he won the debate, despite "every objective voice I've seen" agreeing he lost, Haberman said.
"What that means for the campaign and the election is an open question," she said, adding it'll be telling to see if Harris gets a post-debate bump.
"But Donald Trump had a rough outing. It was arguably the worst debate, and certainly, you know, if you don't think it was the worst, it was the second-worst debate that he has had since he entered the political scene," she added, noting that Trump's debate against President Joe Biden in 2020 could be his single worst performance.
When Blitzer asked Haberman if she was surprised that Trump took Harris' bait on Tuesday — playing a clip of him responding to her attack on his rally crowd sizes — Haberman replied that it "honestly didn't surprise me."
"I thought there was a chance of this given that he has such contempt for her and has made that very clear," she said.
Haberman noted that her success in goading Trump into talking about crowd sizes — instead of the border, which he was asked about — allows Harris to say, '"He is only interested in himself and talking about himself.'"
"It was a lot of missed opportunities, Wolf," she said.
Haberman later added that privately, a number of supporters and advisors wish Trump hadn't repeated a false racist conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio.
"It just stands out," said Haberman. "And it's just a moment, again, where a lot of people are paying attention. This is an unfounded claim that he is making to demagogue immigrants."
Haberman said that those advisors are "more concerned, bluntly," that Trump failed to tie Harris to Biden and make her "own" the last 3 1/2 years in the White House.
