Transcript: Trump Seethes at Awful Poll as Press Sec Soothes His Fury

Litman: That’s right.

Sargent: Just like that. No more invasion. They’re not invaders. They’re hardworking people.

Litman: They’re not eating pet, apparently. That’s right. That’s right.

Sargent: Right. They’re not pet-eating invaders. They’re not criminals all of a sudden just because he said so. And yet the ones in blue America, the ones in Los Angeles, the ones in New York, the ones in Chicago—they are invaders.

Litman: They’re all worst of the worst somehow. And of course that’s what’s happening in California, the reason they don’t want him there. You have Newsom making the claim, but also people everywhere saying, Look, you’re talking about folks who are part of the.… I understand nobody can really support the complete amnesty for when people need to follow the rules for getting in the country, but we’re talking about an outsize federal government effort to get at what clearly are longstanding members of the community, people who have made the economy what it is. I read a figure recently, Greg, that 10 percent, a million people, in Los Angeles are possibly at least undocumented migrants. So what he has in mind with this false phony anecdote is really just completely eviscerating the economies of these different places. But which places, as you say? Blue places. It’s already as if the the midterms are next week.

Sargent: Sure is. There’s another dynamic here I want to get at, you hinted at it earlier. As you point out, Trump is losing badly on a bunch of fronts. He’s faced one setback after another in court. He’s had no legislative wins. I’d add that he’s floundering around in all directions on immigration; as we’re saying, one day he admits that deportations are hurting the economy, then loudly doubles down on them the next. And he’s unpopular, as all this polling is showing. And yet at the same time, while all that’s happening, that’s exactly when Trump ramps up the war on blue America explicitly. I think these things are connected. Whenever Trump is losing and feeling weak, the default position is always to go out and tell his base that he’s going to make people in blue America suffer more.

Litman: I really think that’s right. To me, Greg, he’s a one-trick pony. What I say at the end of this piece is there’s been an element of shock and awe, as others have said, as he’s done so much since January 20. They haven’t been his ideas. All he is is a mouthpiece, and he’s a mouthpiece for the most vile resentment of blue America or just aspects of America. He’s divisiveness personified. So when it comes time to do whatever he’s doing, he’s just got one speed and one voice to use. Now in addition, all the other possibilities he could try to use that voice on, as you say, have been closed down to him. So we have a government now that’s not simply an attack dog against blue America—but that is all it is, [as] he gets piles up loss after loss in every other area. So it’s a real shit show in political, legal, personal terms.