Reporting on the fall-out from Donald Trump’s controversial town hall on MSNBC on Thursday night, Associated Press White House correspondent Jonathan Lemire claimed that aides to the president are already admitting that the president made some “damaging” comments that could hurt his re-election campaign.
Speaking with “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski, Lemire said the range of topics exposed the president and his answers likely didn’t make anyone on the fence consider voting for him.
“Viewers would have experienced some whiplash watching the two — trying to watch both town halls,” Lemire explained while comparing the Trump town hall to Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s on ABC. “There was one moment that crystallized it: at the same moment that Trump was defending QAnon, Joe Biden was talking about the taxes. He showed empathy to the listeners, to those asking him questions.”
“In terms of the president, people I have talked to around him last night and a few texts early this morning suggested once again a real anger at the media,” he continued. “Blaming the scapegoat, in this case, Savannah Guthrie who I thought did a terrific job yesterday.”
“But I will say they do say there may have been some moments last night that may have been damaging,” he added. “Like not denouncing QAnon. The very testy one when he finally got around to denouncing white supremacy. There are certainly going to be questions about tax returns and whether or not he took a COVID test before the last debate. Several times he dodged, he evaded and raised real questions as to whether or not he exposed Joe Biden last time which is going to raise more concerns about next week when they’re supposed to set up for a final debate next Thursday.”
“The president, frankly, is running of out of time” he explained before concluding, “It’s hard to imagine, even his aides concede, that there was any moment last night that the president swung voters his way when he simply is running out of time and opportunities to change the trajectory of this race.”
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