Jim VandeHei, CEO of Axios and founder of Politico, told MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” on Friday that based on the modern makeup of the two-party system and how the polling industry works, President Trump is at basically the worst popularity numbers he can get to–and he won’t be the one who feels the consequences of that. “Most Republicans are still with him, but that’s even sinking,” he said. “Talking to people around the president, the language and body language have changed. They know they’re in a huge hole. They don’t even really defend it anymore. They understand we’re here because of a series of choices the president made himself.” “I don’t think he cares that much. He’s been impeached before. He’ll survive it,” he said about Trump. “He can ignore subpoenas-but his allies, friends, and family can’t.” <\/p>\n
JIM VANDEHEI: You need to put the polls in some context. It’s almost impossible in modern polling, given the ideological impulses of base voters, to get much lower than he is in terms of his unfavorable ratings-but also how unpopular he is when it comes to the economy, inflation, even the non-border enforcement part of immigration. He is very, very low. He still has Republicans-most Republicans are still with him, but that’s even sinking. And I think the biggest alarm for him and for Republicans is they look at the House map and it looks almost impossible for them to keep control. They look at the Senate and start to look at states like Iowa, Ohio, Alaska, Texas, Maine-all of which should be very winnable, maybe not even competitive-and they all suddenly look in danger. To me, the most interesting thing is talking to people around the president. Their language and body language have changed markedly in the last two months. They know they’re in a huge hole, and it’s going to be really, really hard to get out of it. They don’t even really defend it anymore. They understand that we’re here by a series of choices that the president made by himself. How to prosecute this war was his choice. To do tariffs the way he did was his choice. To unleash ICE into neighborhoods before ICE was properly trained to do it was his choice-and then to promote that in a very chest-thumping type of way-that was his choice. And now Republicans are having to pay for that. I don’t think you’re going to see Republicans in Congress necessarily turn on him in force, but I can tell you right now there is a tremendous amount of pressure on the people around the president to change this cabinet, to get some more people in here-some fresh blood, some clearer thinking-or they worry they’re just going to get wiped out. And as we’re reporting this morning, day one, Democrats will impeach him. I don’t think he cares that much. He’s been impeached before. He’ll survive it in the Senate. But that’s the fate. And he can ignore the subpoenas-but his friends and family can’t. All those companies can’t. He’s coming for a political hell, and that’s going to be tough. JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, it’s going to be difficult on one side of it. On the other side, Donald Trump even told me after he got elected that he understands it was all the trials-it was the perceived political persecution-that got him elected president. He said, If they had only charged me with one crime, I’d be in big trouble right now. But they came after me time and time again. And I wonder if there’s not a part of him that’s thinking, Okay, I’ll be much better fighting against a Democratic Congress where they’re trying to impeach me-and they’ll never succeed. I’ll win there too, and my numbers will go up. So… does it seem to you that he’s actually focused more on his legacy-of being the one president who can do what seven other presidents have not been able to do with Iran since 1979? And if he loses the midterms, okay-they’re going to impeach him again once, twice, three times-and he’s going to win all of those, and his numbers are going to go up? JIM VANDEHEI: I just don’t think that’s how he thinks. I’ve seen no evidence whatsoever that he spends time thinking about his legacy or even thinking about one or two weeks from now. He’s very reactive to what’s sitting in front of him and where he can use the powers of the presidency to do what he wants to do on his terms, or just pick up the phone and try to shape public debate-usually around him. You’re definitely right that he’s probably in a better political position when he’s fighting Democrats who are coming at him from a thousand directions. I would say that strategy works better when the economy is strong-when people feel like prices are coming down, unemployment is low, and their prospects for getting better pay and a better job are higher. I think that is the big problem. Jonathan Lemire talked about it earlier-remember, the central promise of this presidency is: I’m going to focus on the working class, I’m going to tame inflation, and we’re not going to go into foreign wars. None of those have happened. That’s not a political statement-that’s an empirical statement. Go down that list-it’s absolutely true. And that’s why he’s in the political jam that he’s in. And now his political jam is a Republican political jam. I think it’s going to be really hard to extricate yourself-even if you get out of this war. The second-order consequences of what’s happened in the Gulf and in that region-that’s going to affect oil prices for years. It’s going to affect Middle East infrastructure building for years. It’s going to affect our own economy for years. The New York Times has some strong reporting this morning-Jonathan Swan-about how much munitions we’ve blown through in the Middle East. We’ve used so much that government officials think it might be impossible for us to defend Taiwan. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n