President Donald Trump's neglect of domestic issues as he pursues a deeply unpopular new war in Iran is dragging his numbers down to record lows, MS NOW's Ari Melber said on Tuesday, and turning some of his former most loyal disciples against him.
"The public has spoken, and they continue to speak against Trump," said Melber.
"Sometimes our words become very narrow," he continued. "We say 'Donald Trump' and you get a picture in your head. Maybe you're thinking of him from 2016. Maybe you're thinking of him during COVID. Maybe you're thinking of him now. Well, if you never liked him, fine, then that's what you think of. But a heck of a lot of Americans have given him a chance. He was running about 49 percent as recently as November 24th. That's also a fact. And a lot of those folks are done with him. Because when you say second-term Trump, Iran war ... prices keep going up, and he dismisses your concerns as peanuts."
"Well, take a look at the numbers that don't lie," Melber continued. "36 percent job approval is abysmal. He's hit a second-term low. Washington Post reporting on Democrats seeing an opening, midterm upsets in districts where Trump won safely that were MAGA turf. They think they can flip it."
"And that's not all. I want to show you something that you have to see to believe," said Melber. "Take in the sight of one of the greatest MAGA voices ever to grace your TV screen. Because he got big on Fox. Tucker Carlson, who also continues to be a big part of what we hear is the MAGAsphere, the digital space. He kind of has been able to walk both of those paths with media success, if you want to call it that. And he actively campaigned for Donald Trump in '24 because, having left Fox, there was no more standards or rules holding him back. And here is what Tucker Carlson has to say ... tonight, Tucker Carlson is apologizing for ever helping to elect Donald Trump."
"We're implicated in this, for sure, yes," said Carlson in the clip. "It's not enough to say, well, I changed my mind, or like, oh, this is bad. I'm out. You and me and millions of people like us are the reason this is happening right now. I do think it's like a moment to wrestle with our own consciences. You know? We'll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be, and I want to say I'm sorry for misleading people. It was not intentional. That's all I'll say."
"Tucker is sorry," said Melber. "And he's sorry, not only that he campaigned for Trump, but that, as he says, if it was misleading, because how could you accurately sell this thing that was itself not intentional? There's a lot there we might have to unpack."