President Donald Trump's pitch to voters to cut $5,000 checks for every adult if Republicans win the midterms shows how truly out of options he is, political analyst Juanita Tolliver told MS NOW's Ari Melber on Monday.
In essence, she argued, the president is starting to realize he's in trouble — but has deluded himself that he has a path out of it.
"The empty claim that the benefits, the ones I mentioned, whatever they may be, would only come after the midterms — I'm curious where you view that on the desperation meter tonight," said Melber.
"It's sky high," said Tolliver. "And honestly, I wish you could run back the booing of Ted Cruz and other Republican candidates right now because it encapsulates how radioactive Donald Trump and his actions are."
A pledge to give people money if Republicans win, she continued, cannot "nullify the reality that people are experiencing every single day at home, or nullify the impact of policies advanced by Republicans in Congress... that Donald Trump uses to destabilize global economies. None of this is going to help him" — nor his threat at his "emergency mini-convention" that any Republicans who don't back him are going to suffer eternal damnation.
Ultimately, she continued, "all of this reeks of him grasping at straws, trying to say and do anything to try to divert attention away from the reality that people are feeling every time they go to the grocery store, or when their Medicaid benefits have been cut, or when their health care premiums have gone up because Trump and Republicans ended health care tax subsidies. But nothing will detract from reality, as much as he tries."