Panelists on the MSNBC show “MTP Daily” appeared to be in panic mode after reviewing President Donald Trump’s recent approval rating — which remained stable despite former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s conviction for financial and tax fraud and ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s plea deal in various financial crimes.
“Last week was a tidal wave of bad news for this presidency and this president, and his approval rating stayed the same,” Katy Tur said Monday on the show, visibly frustrated.
“So I wonder — I mean, if that’s not going to move the needle, is this John McCain thing going to move the needle?”
In fact, according to back-to-back NBC News/Wall Street Journal surveys released on Sunday, Trump support stayed solid. The two surveys were conducted in the days before and after the Cohen and Manafort legal developments were widely released and discussed across multiple media channels.
The first poll found that 46 percent of American voters approved of Trump’s presidential performance, while 51 percent disapproved.
The follow-up poll found that 44 percent of American voters approved while 52 percent disapproved.
It appears these pundits are casting about for an event that will “finally” sway the president’s solid base of support.
“And forgive me for being skeptical because I was under the impression, as was most people, that when Donald Trump came out and said he [Sen. John McCain] wasn’t a war hero — he likes ‘the guys that don’t get caught’ — back in 2015, that people would care,” Tur continued, as The Daily Wire reported.
“And when I went out and I talked to Republican voters, they didn’t care at all.”
MSNBC contributor Jonathan Alter responded by claiming that Republicans do not care about Trump’s behavior, saying that Trump supporters are “deluded.”
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Tur seemed flummoxed by the fact that the overwhelming majority of Republicans showed strong support for the president.
“Eighty-eight percent of Republicans still support him — 88 percent,” Tur lamented.
“I’m sorry, I just — I start to wonder when we have these conversations and we say, ‘Well, this is going to be the breaking point,’ I wonder if there is a breaking point. I wonder if enough people in this country find the actions and the behavior repulsive enough to want to change what’s going on.”
See the panel discuss this issue in the video shown below.
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