Transcript: Fed Chair Drops Hammer on Angry Trump as Poll Drop Worsens
Sargent: It’s really important that you said that. I want to bring out another number here from the Reuters/Ipsos poll. They have Trump’s approval on immigration at 43 percent with 51 percent disapproving. A whole bunch of other polls have found Trump deeply underwater on immigration—again, his strongest issue. Gallup had him in the high thirties on this issue. And that is the perfect example of how Democrats psych themselves out of making good arguments. This is an area where Democrats told themselves, We’ve lost the argument. He’s unassailable on immigration. He’s won the argument. So as a result, they don’t take him on on it. And then as you say, when a few Democrats stick their damn necks out and do some stuff like Chris Van Hollen, the Senator from Maryland, going down to El Salvador, it brings his approval down. And they cannot seem to get this through their heads that they can win on an issue like this, that Trump is the person in power. He’s the one who’s held responsible for all the awful shit that’s happening. They’ve got to get their head straight on that.
Downie: I think that if they don’t get it together—if the Democratic leadership doesn’t get their act together—then the party’s base is going to let them know about it. And I think it could be very interesting how that shakes out in terms of primaries. In terms of the polls that have shown poor favorability for the Democratic Party, you find again and again that Democrats are saying, We don’t want compromise. We want you to stand by your values. There was one poll, for example—I think it was a Reuters poll—that had 62 percent of Democrats want leadership replaced already. And obviously, if there’s a disappointing midterm, that number would only increase. I think that the base of the party has been very clear about the strategy that they want leadership to take. I think that, again, particularly if the midterms are disappointing, I believe that 2026, 2027, 2028 are going to be very, very fractious times for Democratic incumbents.
Sargent: Oh my God, it sounds terrible, man, the way you’re talking about it. Look, Trump is meanwhile raging in all directions—other directions as well. He flipped out on Truth Social saying that Senator Grassley, who’s the GOP chair of the Judiciary Committee, that he damn well better get rid of the blue slip process, which allows home-state senators to put holds on nominees. “He should do this, IMMEDIATELY, and not let the Democrats laugh at him,” Trump said. But Grassley doesn’t appear to be moving on this. There are certain things GOP senators won’t do, no matter how wildly Trump rages at them. What do you make of that?
