MS NOW host Jen Psaki on Tuesday spelled out how President Donald Trump’s “erratic” decision-making is making it “even harder” for Republicans to defend him.
Psaki, who served as White House press secretary under Joe Biden, began a segment by playing a clip of Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-Ga.) recent claim that most Republicans in Congress privately think Trump has “lost it” and is “dooming them to dismal losses this fall.”
“Frankly, that statement could actually apply to a whole lot of things because there’s no shortage of issues right now where the president is screwing things up in ways that are disastrous for his own party,” Psaki said.
Psaki pointed to the latest developments around Trump’s “on-again, off-again” Iran war, including his 180 on a plan to charge a so-called “reimbursement” fee on all cargo ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
“If you’re a Republican running for reelection, how do you defend — not just that kind of whiplash decision-making in the middle of a war, a war that had no clear end that is already deeply unpopular with the American people — how do you defend that?” Psaki asked.
She went on to stress that Trump has yet to abandon his demands for “sweeping mass deportations” despite Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly telling its agents to pause most vehicle stops in the wake of two deadly shootings of motorists.
In the hours since the segment aired on Tuesday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to declare that ICE “CANNOT give up” traffic stops.
“We see this story over and over again: Trump pursues an unpopular policy then he carries it out in such a haphazard and chaotic way that the resulting collateral damage only makes it more unpopular,” she said. “And then his party struggles to justify it after it’s blown up in their face.”
Later in the segment, Psaki argued that one thing is clear about Trump: he’s “incapable of letting anything go.”
“He does not care that his pursuits are unpopular with the American people and a drag on his party’s reelection chances and in many parts of the country,” she said.
“He doesn’t care that his efforts have failed over and over again; he’ll just keep improvising new ways to push his agenda.”