While the Biden administration’s approval rating is creeping ever-slightly higher, many may be wondering why, based on historical precedent, the midterm elections aren’t looking like an automatic win for the GOP to take over both the House and Senate.
“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough has an answer: The main issue is former president Donald Trump.
“This should be a massive, massive year for Republicans,” Scarborough began on Tuesday morning. “You look historically, you look at inflation, you look at what people are saying about the economy right now – this should be a massive, historic landslide year for the Republican Party much like 2010, 1994, 1980. This should be historic. It’s not working out that way, and it’s not working out that way for the most part because of Donald Trump.”
The last several months have seen the twice-impeached former president weasel his way back into the political limelight, particularly following the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and the ongoing investigation into his role in seeking to overturn the 2020 election results and the Capitol assault on Jan. 6, 2021.
“He’s at the center of attention, just where he wants to be. As long as he’s at the center of attention, he can raise money, Republicans. He can raise money off of your backs; he can raise money while you’re losing elections,” Scarborough continued. “That’s what it’s all about for him: He wants the money and the attention. What’s it about for you? Well, you’re gonna decide over the next several months.”
Of course, it’s not just Trump who’s holding back public opinion of the GOP. The recent vote in Kansas emphasized that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn abortion rights has the power to sway many pro-choice supporters into becoming single-issue voters.
“Republicans have two problems now. One of them is, of course, that a fundamental right for women has been taken away after a half century – we don’t handle that well in America. So that’s the first thing.”
The second, Scarborough argued, is increasingly extreme positions on gun reform in the aftermath of the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
And there’s a third: Trump, “who’s the biggest problem now,” the co-host said.
“If they got the right candidates they could’ve finessed some of these issues a little bit better,” Scarborough concluded. “I know that’ll offend people out there, but that’s what good politicians do. Good politicians know how to finesse issues. They don’t just run straight into political fire, which it seems that all the people that Donald Trump has anointed in these states are doing right now. And Republicans are paying for it.”
Watch the full “Morning Joe” segment in the video above.
