Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump is probably spending too much effort going after his "enemies" like Bill Cassidy and Thomas Massie, and not enough effort paying attention to what his base wants. People outside Louisiana don't care about Cassidy's fate and people outside KY-04 don't even know who Massie is. Everyone else cares about affordability. It is the new key word politicians have to learn to talk about. In the right way. Just before going to China, a reporter asked Trump "To what extent are Americans' financial situation motivating you to make a deal?" Trump said: "Not even a little bit." Bad answer. Watch:
Then he goes on to say that all that matters is Iran not getting a nuclear weapon. But in the Democrats' ads this fall, only the first 9 seconds will be shown, ending with his answering the question with "Not even a little bit." For effect, the ads could repeat the "Not even a little bit" part a couple of times. The pitch could be "Democrats care about you. Republicans don't care about you, not even a little bit."
That was bad enough. On Friday, Trump doubled down and again said: "I don't think about Americans' financial situations. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon." That was so off-key that even Fox covered the story. This is political malpractice and will be the interview that launched 1,000 ads. He could have said: "On the domestic front, my top priority is affordability. In foreign affairs, we can't let Iran get a nuclear weapon." Many previous presidents could walk and chew gum at the same time. This one apparently can't. This has to be a golden opportunity for the Democrats—to use those 9 seconds to pound on an issue the voters care a lot about. It is one thing to say: "There is not much any president can do about the economy." It is something quite different to say "I don't care about your financial situation." Bill Clinton famously said: "I feel your pain." Trump doesn't even recognize that millions of voters are in pain. (V)