Jen Psaki reminded the audience that President Biden’s electoral win was slim. Trump’s performance, however vile, and the crowd’s reaction made it clear he could still win.
Jen Psaki gets it. I hope Democrats will heed the warning.
Many are touting the recent Trump town hall on CNN as a disaster for both Donald Trump and CNN. While CNN lost a lot of credibility by having ostensibly a national Trump rally, to many, it was a success for Trump.
MSNBC host Alex Wagner asked Jen Psaki if Biden’s administration spinning the event as one that Americans would see as Trump antics they don’t want again was their strategy. Psaki did not believe so as she said administration officials she spoke to take Trump seriously. After all, he only won by slim margins in important Electoral College states.
“They are not the ones in my experience or from my engagements with them who need a kind of a wake-up call,” Jen Psaki said. “I will say that given tonight was one of Trump’s biggest returns to the National stage in a while. It should be a pretty big wake-up call for Democrats. I mean, he lied about a lot of things. He said some crazy things, like the country could default. He couldn’t figure out a good answer whether he would sign an abortion ban. Maybe he’s on the side of Russia. He said lots of crazy things about January 6. All of that is true.”
But then came Psaki’s most important statement.
“But he also had a command of that town hall meeting,” Psaki continued. “And he has the evil charisma that people can hate, but it is happening, and hopefully, it was a wake-up call for people out there about the reality that this guy is currently on the path to be the nominee and to maybe likely give the president a run for his money.”
Jen Psaki nails it. Trump is performative, and we have proven that a lying nonsubstantive xenophobic, homophobic, sexist, misogynist racist can be elected President of the United States.