He's trying 'to get under Trump's skin': Reporter Olivia Nuzzi outlines Joe Walsh's impact on 2020

Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton explained during an MSNBC panel discussion that former Rep. Joe Walsh isn't likely to peel away many voters from Trump as someone who is "Trump-light." New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi, however, thinks Walsh with have a more significant impact, whether or not he can win the primary race.

During a CNN panel discussion, Nuzzi similarly noted that Walsh's primary purpose could be to troll the president.

"I talked to Joe Walsh yesterday for New York Magazine before he formally had gotten into the race as he did this morning. When you talk to him, it seems like his whole objective is to get under Donald Trump's skin and to try to test to see how solid his base really is. How vulnerable he really is."

The host noted that the most recent CNN tracking poll showed that the president enjoys an 84 percent approval rating with Republican voters.

"I think he looks at those polls and he — the way that Donald Trump talked about the silent majority in 2016," she recalled. "People may not tell a pollster on the phone they'll vote for him, but deep down they knew they would. I think Joe Walsh is betting on the fact that a lot of Republicans who say they support Trump really, deep down, don't and are skeptical of him or humiliated by him or know that long term he's having a negative effect at least on the Republican Party if not the country more broadly."

Watch the full conversation below: