Trump risks losing Senate as 'Colbert Dem' surges

the strain that Trump is putting on his own party with what Republican senators call selfishness.The sound you hear is, of course, Election Day in America.We'll keep following these primaries.Voters in Texas are coming out in the Republican primary.And they are looking down the barrel of what some view as a Mago Civil War, where Donald Trump has picked the anti -Republican re -election side.That's what Senate Republicans even are saying.

So kind of an unusual headline, if you think about it that way.This is the runoff you might have heard about if you follow the news.You have an embattled incumbent, Republican John Cornyn, and the very controversial, once impeached, scandal -plagued Ken Paxton, who netted a Trump endorsement, and that's got Republican senators and strategists mad.They say it makes it less likely that they'll hold the Senate.Some have called this a brutal primary that leaves Republicans in tatters.Of course, it all depends on whether the eventual nominee can win.

But it paves the way for a rising star in the Democratic Party to have what, again, even Republicans say is potentially a better shot at turning this seat blue.Now, if you're watching the news going, I feel like I've heard about this before, it is true.We have heard many times about efforts to turn Texas blue that have not actually won, or as the kids would say, manifest.But why is this time different?Well, Paxson has more than your usual amount of MAGA baggage.He had to settle a federal corruption indictment.

He was impeached for alleged fraud and obstruction of justice.His wife filed for divorce amid these allegations, and those are allegations.Of course, a divorce proceeding can go on in court, but it is a matter of public record for voters to be aware of.uh... that there are allegations of multiple affairs i will note that he was acquitted in his impeachment and he has asserted that he is innocent of all corruption charges but this is politics not a court of law the republican senators were basically unanimous at wanting thenon -impeached, non -scandal -plagued incumbent Republican to be their choice.The candidacy has divided many, including even some couples in Texas.

It's not a great choice, either one, really, but I think I lean towards Paxton.for sure.He's local.Cornyn hasn't always been with the Republicans the way I would like, but it was a tough choice.But I did vote for Paxton on the runoff.

What are your thoughts about Paxton?A crook.Yeah, that's it.Period.He's just a crook.

That's an independent talking.

is taken into account in the summer.People plan their trips.They think about gas prices.They think about what they can afford.And it's less under Trump.Here was a White House official, though, today.

The thing that I've seen when I look at credit card data and other things that I can get for the private sector is that while people have been spending more money at gas stations, they've been spending more money on everything else, which means that they're still very, very optimistic about the state of the economy.

You can ask yourself whether transferring your planning and your budgeting to your credit card reflects, quote, optimism or just the crunch of the fact that things are more expensive and people go into credit spending to say, all right, well, we'll do the July 4th trip on the card, and we'll figure the rest out later.It's more of reality than optimism, and it's a rising price problem that Trump promised and has now failed to fix.59%, meanwhile, say Trump lacks mental sharpness.Many people skeptical of his health problems.He says he got a clean bill of health after a third in -person doctor visit in just over the year.Skeptics, though, have been raising questions about everything from the appearance of his hands to recent events where he has his eyes closed in meetings, whether you call that a nap or something else is the eye.

or the closed eye of the beholder.I want to bring in from the New York Times Molly Jong -Fass and Michelle Goldberg from the New York Times, also both analysts for us at MSNOW.Michelle, we start with Texas where I want to be objective.If Paxton gets the nomination with Trump's help and ultimately holds the seat, then it may have cost them a little more, but it will feel like noise.If they blow a seat, though, in a red state because Trump just didn't care about holding the Senate, that would really be something.

Yeah, I mean, it would be astonishing.This has been the white whale for Democrats for as long as I've been covering politics, the idea of a Democratic senator from Texas.And I think most people who follow Texas think that that Teller Rico has a better chance against Paxton because he is so plagued by, you know, scandal, both in terms of kind of bribery and corruption, but also just in terms of this very ugly and messy divorce.At the same time, The the amount of Republican, the way that these Republican senators are showing so much kind of angst and sense of betrayal over Donald Trump stabbing John Cornyn in the back.It's like this is the line for you.I mean, to me, that's what's astonishing, is that you see them all say, well, now that now we're going to stand against the ballroom right now, we're going to stand against the slush fund.

Now we're going to vote for a war powers resolution because how dare you take out our friend John or potentially help take out our friend John Cornyn.And I think it just goes to show how utterly insular they are, right?That this is the line that Trump can cross that will finally make them say, you know, this man is out of control.

Yeah, I mean, your criticism makes a deep point.If you remember in The Dark Knight where the Joker says, and this is his cynical view, he says people are only as good as they're allowed to be.And whatever the cowardice or narrowness, or you called it insularity of these Republican senators,apparently they are only as independent as they think they're allowed to be.And having watched a move that in the narrow math of the Senate, they perceive, let's put aside whether it happens, as I said, we don't know.They perceive it as materially making it more likely they lose the Senate.

And that, as you say, unloads them to say, well, maybe we will stand up against your ballroom.

Yeah, exactly.I mean, and what's so bizarre, too, is that it's actually only by kind of standing up against Trump in these very small ways that they might have a chance, I think, or have a better chance of holding the Senate.

About this and doing some research, a nurse in Queens who makes $75 ,000 a year pays more than $12 ,000 a year in taxes.Does that really make sense?If people want me to pay more billions, then let's have that debate.But don't pretend that that's going to solve the problem.You could double the taxes I pay, and it's not going to help that teacher in Queens.I promise you.

Putting aside his defense of his tax record, which is sort of what he's answering the question on, he advocates eliminating.

uh... the entire federal tax burden of those lower income people and so my question on the politics is why do you think he views that as popular right now.technology industry.Right.They know that artificial intelligence.or at least they suspect that artificial intelligence, is going to be terrible for a lot of people's jobs.And they know that there's going to be, you know, sort of metaphorical, pitchfork -wielding mobs coming for them, right?

They're already fantastically unpopular.And so you see them kind of paying lip service to things like, yes, eliminating their tax burden, a universal basic income.They throw all these ideas around.But they never actually then kind of support redistribution when it actually counts.

On night one of the Colbert report back in the day, I said, anyone can read the news to you.I promise to feel the news at you.And I don't know about you, but I sure have felt it.

Steven, I'm here on behalf of Paramount.They wanted me to read this statement.Paramount strongly believes in covering both sides of any black hole that is swallowing everything we know and love.

That's what we thought.America was just the land of the free.mm -hmm the greatest democracy that was yep yep that was yeah still is hopefully I mean that's what it was.

I think that I mean look there's no question that this show was taken off the air for political reasons.And I think even in Trump one it would have been unthinkable that these kind of TV networks and that these media oligarchs would be you know, kind of listening to Donald Trump about programming decisions, both because I think maybe they thought that Donald Trump was a transient phenomenon and they would be ashamed to have done that.And now we've seen this mass capitulation, not by the American people, but by these, you know,kind of ostensible elites.It is so shameful and it's so short -sighted unless they really think that they are just going to, you know, that there's going to be some sort of authoritarian consolidation and they're never going to have to answer to an opposition party.If there ever are Democrats back in power, I hope that there will be a lot of hearings about the sort of decisions that these various owners have made to kind of curry favor with his administration.

And Molly.Sherry Redstone.You say goodbye.

And I say Sherry Redstone agreed to cancel Colbert so that she could get regulatory approval was pretty craven.And you know she set a date so she could sell paramount to the Ellison's and was able to do it.It was pretty transparent.Very craven.And also it's worth realizing that People who watch these shows don't like it.Right.

We've seen the CBS takeover.Barry Weiss has gone to CBS.She has made some decisions editorial decisions and their numbers just you know their evening news numbers just keep going down.So there is we really do see that viewers don't like these kind of ideological decisions being made by at news at news channels that never used to be like that.

And you think people they see Colbert end and then where do they go?

I mean, I think they follow Colbert.We'll see what Colbert does next.But like, you know, what's replacing Colbert is is not something similar.

It's a it's a comedy hour.