Republican turns on Trump in surprise move - Brian Tyler Cohen

[TexasTowelie]

Transcript:

Two things have happened at once that
signal a really rough road ahead for
Trump the first is an absolute brutal
poll for him in the New York Times
showing him underwater on literally
every single issue he's at negative net
12 points overall and -4 on immigration
which is generally his strongest issue
negative8 on managing the federal
government -12 on the economy also
generally his strongest issue 111 on
trade -14 on foreign conflicts -21 on
Russia Ukraine and -21 on the illegal
deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia there is
quite literally nothing he is doing that
has garnered majority support in this
country in fact more in-depth polling
shows that only 6% of Americans think
the president should be able to ignore
Supreme Court rulings and 10% think you
should be able to deport American
citizens to foreign prisons both issues
for which Trump has expressed support or
is quite literally doing right now which
probably explains why Trump's approval
rating among independents has dropped to
an anemic 29% i guess the lesson we can
take here is that when someone promises
to lower costs on day one and instead
sends them surging and then wipes away
20% of your retirement savings and then
tries to wage war against Greenland
Panama and Canada voters tend not to
love it but all of that brings me to the
next point chuck Grassley the Republican
senator from Iowa took to Twitter today
writing "I've seen enough killing of
innocent Ukrainian women and children
president Trump please put the toughest
of sanctions on Putin you ought to see
from clear evidence that he is playing
America as a psy isn't it interesting
that a party that exists to pray at the
altar of Trump suddenly begins to find
its spine as soon as Trump's approval
ratings begin to crater i can assure you
that last month not a single Republican
senator certainly not Chuck Grassley
would have spoken out publicly against
Trump now you've got Chuck Grassley
publicly tweeting that under Trump's
leadership the US is being played as a
psych
i know that this is only one piece of
anecdotal evidence but I think it
signals that the dam is breaking and
that these Republicans are beginning to
rightfully recognize that Trump isn't
the boom he frames himself as but rather
a massive liability it's also worth
noting that Grassl ey is right although he
clearly kept the criticism tame it's not
that Putin is playing America as a psy
he is playing Trump as a psy that's the
only person Putin's negotiating with
none of us are doing the negotiating so
if Putin's able to game America it's
simply that he's learned how to game
Donald Trump but hey art of the deal and
that's beyond obvious as noted here it
it's absurd uh and this is what's so
frustrating about this i mean Donald
Trump never talks about the reality
which is that Russia is the aggressor
that Russia is attacking Ukrainian
troops on Ukrainian territory as we
speak and has been for three years now
um I think you know sort of the prospect
of World War II that Trump would
constantly conjure up was more I think
the the potential of a direct US-Russia
confrontation or Russian use of a
nuclear weapon and I think those are
those are real things to worry about but
I think most kind of military experts
would say that um looking weak in the
face of that kind of aggression from
Russia is more likely to incentivize
Putin to do more and to do worse than
unity and strength from NATO countries
especially the United States i mean
clearly Trump wants to be part of the
autocrat club and and Putin's in the
autocrat club and so and so we've just
kind of relinquished our our defense of
democracies around the world but but is
is that really what he gets out of this
what's the what does he how does he
stand to benefit from this i don't know
man i mean look there there is a very
sort of dark fact that I think we all
just have to face up to which is that
our president looks at Vladimir Putin
looks at Xi Jinping and thinks I like
those guys i like their systems i share
their values i have more in common with
them than I do with a lot of uh leaders
in Europe or democratically elected
Europe and that is just a very weird
scary thing and I think you know part of
this is a campaign pledge i do think
that Donald Trump uh energized a lot of
people who were fed up with the post 911
wars uh the the invasion of Iraq the
fact that we were you know misled and
lied into war um and ran on this kind of
isolationist America first promised to
end the war between Ukraine and Russia
on one day uh he had this Hail Mary
attempt at the end to try to get some
money out of the deal and extort some
rare earth minerals from the Ukrainians
but to your bigger question I mean what
does he get out of this it is it is hard
to see but you know all the places my
mind goes are are pretty dark and it
would be one thing if it was just the
Russia Ukraine war which by the way
Trump promised would end quote before he
even got into the Oval Office i want to
get the war settled i know Zalinsky very
well and I know Putin very well i have a
good relationship and they respect your
president and this is a war that has to
end and we're going to get that war
ended i'm going to try and I think I can
get it ended as presidentele in other
words before I even take over the White
House got to stop the people from dying
it's also that he failed on everything
he's promised remember this guy came
into office promising to lower costs on
day one i won on two things the border
and more than immigration you know they
like to say immigration i break it down
more to the border but I went on the
border and I went on groceries it's very
simple word groceries like almost you
know who uses the word I started using
the word the groceries when you buy
apples when you buy bacon when you buy
eggs they would double and triple the
price over a short period of time and I
won an election based on that we're
going to bring those prices way down and
yet far from lowering anything costs
have surged inflation's rising consumer
confidence is falling the market has
crashed we are likely in a recession
right now and all the while Trump is
engaging in straight fairy tales about
how hundreds of countries are sprinting
to the negotiating table i'm telling you
these countries are calling us up
kissing my ass they are they are dying
to make a deal please please sir make a
deal i'll do anything i'll do anything
sir on Monday Beijing issued a new
warning telling the world not to make
new trade deals with the US or the
Chinese government will retaliate with
reciprocal tariffs it comes as China
tries to get around the 145% tax on
Chinese imports to the United States at
the same time China is trying to form
closer trade ties with its neighbors and
the European Union but the White House
says its tariff policy is already
working and at least 15 countries have
approached the US looking to make a new
deal a question on China can you clarify
with whom the US is speaking with China
they're saying it's fake news that trade
talks are happening well they had a
meeting this morning so I can't tell you
it doesn't matter who they is new York
Times reports this quote "In private
some Trump officials concede that they
did not accurately predict China's
reaction." Trump seemed to expect China
to be among the first to come begging
for relief given the size of its exports
to the US we advocate for inclusive and
beneficial economic globalization oppose
all forms of unilateralism and
protectionism and maintain that
indiscriminate tariffs severely harm
normal international trade so look again
I want to be fair and not overstate
Grassly's move but I think the precedent
is telling republicans are now feeling
just a little bit more emboldened to
criticize Dear Leader and you all know
what happens when one domino falls so as
Donald Trump's numbers continue to
plummet keep an eye on all those rats
fleeing the sinking ship