Transcript: Trump Rages Openly at Midterm Woes as Worst Poll Yet Drops

As an angry Trump says straight out that his failed election-theft plot will hurt the GOP in the midterms, a Democratic strategist parses through what is arguably his worst polling news this cyle.

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the September 16 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.

Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.

The New York Times poll is the absolute gold standard, so when it drops, we pay attention. And boy, did it just drop. It finds that the Democratic lead in the House generic ballot matchup is growing, and it also found a lot of other things that are deeply problematic for the GOP and for Donald Trump. It’s not a coincidence that Trump just erupted in crazed fury over the Supreme Court, which just blocked his plot to steal the election via corrupting vote by mail. Meanwhile, other polling shows Trump absolutely cratering with Latinos, which means the Texas Senate race could be gettable.

We’re talking about it all with Democratic strategist Caitlin Legacki, who’s worked on a lot of midterms and knows this stuff in and out. Caitlin, always good to talk to you. Thanks for coming on.

Caitlin Legacki: Thanks for having me, Greg.

Sargent: So the Supreme Court just blocked Trump’s effort to use the Postal Service to rig the midterms. He exploded in a frenzy on Truth Social, calling the ruling horrible. He said:

“It is a big loss for Republicans and America itself, and makes cheating by the radical left ‘Dumocrats’ on mail-in ballots a much easier thing to do. The Supreme Court has really let our country down!”

Trump added that Democrats are “crazed and depraved.”

Caitlin, this was maybe his longest tirade ever. It was really, really lengthy. He really lost it. He was counting on using the mail to steal the election, I think. Your thoughts on all that?

Legacki: Yeah, I mean, this is an issue that I’ve been working on for a couple of years, but it’s part of a larger agenda where Trump has been trying to either use the FBI or the Department of Justice or his ability to control and change regulations at the U.S. Postal Service to really turn the federal government against his perceived political opponents. And so it isn’t surprising that it got to this place.

I think the most surprising thing is that the Supreme Court stood fast against him. But you know, he definitely is the kind of guy that, like, if you can’t win the game, he’s going to change the rules. And that’s clearly what he’s trying to do here.

And, oddly enough though, a lot of his voters vote by mail, whether it’s rural voters, older voters. Plenty of Republicans have tried to push back on his war on vote by mail, but he clearly views this as a huge loss for him and his interests.

Sargent: And I think that that’s probably a good thing. Look, we’re going to have a real election, it looks like now. They’re still trying to corrupt the elections and steal them, but the big story right at this moment is that with around eight weeks to go, we now know we’re going into an actual election without any kind of shenanigans, any theft like that—presuming that the Republican efforts don’t work, which I don’t think they will. That’s what Trump is angry about. He has been hoping to avoid a real election, and now he’s facing one, right?

Legacki: That’s exactly right. And I think what’s funny is that the more he talks about all of this other stuff, the more it’s going to drive the American voter away from him. Because what we’re seeing, whether it’s in this New York Times poll or elsewhere, is there is a massive affordability crisis in America right now. And, you know, I think the American people are smart enough to know that there’s not always a lot you can do on that.

But the fact that he’s actively making the problem worse by going to war with Iran and closing the Strait of Hormuz—you know, diesel just hit its highest price, I think, on record, going into the fall and winter. And people are just so sick and tired of all of this other stuff that he’s spending his time on, all of these other fights that he’s waging, when he’s really just ignoring the challenges that they have every single day, whether it’s, like, buying a dozen eggs or filling up their car.

Sargent: Yep. Trump is really, really making this election as bad as possible for Republicans. The Times poll is probably the best survey out there. It’s worth taking extremely seriously. And it just found that Democrats lead by over eight points in the generic House ballot matchup, 51 percent to 43 percent.

The Times’s Nate Cohn says that’s getting into blue wave territory. Trump’s approval is just 38 percent. That’s lower than any president going into a midterm since George W. Bush, just before the 2006 Dem wave.

Caitlin, up until today, it was looking as if the Dem lead in the generic ballot was expanding, but I don’t think we could really say that with any certainty. I think this Times poll brings us a little closer to confirmation that that lead is expanding. What do you think?

Legacki: I think........

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