MS NOW's Jen Psaki flagged President Donald Trump's increasingly noncommital and unconfident tone with Republican Senate candidates — including in states where Republicans definitely shouldn't be losing.
For starters, she said, he's been repeatedly making such claims about Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's Senate bid, saying that Paxton "can be a bit of a pain" and "I don't care" if he's here at one of his latest rallies.
"Nothing says 'everyone get out and vote for my candidate who will be an irreplaceable member of the Senate, partner to me,' like telling people you don't care if he's even there," said Psaki. Trump will be campaigning for him again soon in San Antonio, she noted, but "I'm not sure Ken Paxton sees it" as help these days.
Paxton isn't the only candidate getting this treatment, Psaki continued. "Earlier today, Trump was asked about his support for North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley, who is running against Democrat Roy Cooper. And here's what Trump had to say about his candidate in that race."
"He's a great man and I am worried about him," Trump said. "I hope he wins."
"I am worried about him. I hope he wins. Like you're a political observer," said Psaki. "Put it on a bumper sticker. Again, nothing projects confidence like saying you're worried about your candidate 32 days before an election."
Nonetheless, added Psaki, "he has good reason to be worried about Michael Whatley because just today, one of the main Republican super PACs abruptly canceled all of its ad spending in North Carolina. And they were planning to spend a lot in order to redirect resources to Kansas."
"Think about that for a second," said Psaki. "Democrats have not won a Senate election in North Carolina since 2008. But things are going so badly for Republicans right now that they are effectively giving up on that state so that they can protect a Senate seat in Kansas, where Democrats haven't won a Senate race since 1932, almost 100 years ago. And things aren't exactly going great for Republicans in Kansas right now, either, which is probably why this money is being moved."