No one explained Trump's 2016 triumph, which so confounded the liberal media, as well as did Salena Zito. She famously said that the press took Trump "literally, but not seriously," whereas Trump's supporters took him "seriously, but not literally."
There was an echo of that analysis on today's CNN This Morning. Co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Phil Mattingly were trying to understand why Trump's fiery rhetoric, far from hurting him with Republican primary voters, seems to actually be helping him.
First up was Shelby Talcott. Now at Semafor, Talcott worked at The Daily Caller for over three years, including a stint as its senior White House correspondent. She said:
"A lot of the voters that I talked to on the ground have the mentality that, A: this is just sort of something you have to deal with when Donald Trump is involved, and, B: they view this rhetoric as that fighter mentality that we talked about last week. And it's, like, it's been really interesting because this rhetoric isn't taken like a lot of the media is taking it. It's just taken as, this guy is a fighter, he's using this language because he cares about us."
Lee Carter, a former Republican strategist, now the president of a language strategy firm, offered a similar take:
"What I see right now and I really think it's an important point you made, two-thirds of Americans are looking for a fighter. They want someone who is going to say, who is going to fight back to a system that seems to be working against them. .
"So when he does this, it actually energizes them. They don't hear it the same way everybody else does. Everybody else is hearing what he's saying as a threat to democracy. As maybe he's going to be an autocrat dictator, all those kinds of things. And the more people call him a dictator, an autocrat, the more the Republicans dig their heels in and say, we're going to support this guy because we want somebody who's going to fight for us, and nobody else will."
At least as notable as the views that Talcott and Carter expressed was the simple fact that CNN simultaneously had both on a panel. Even if this pair aren't identified with Republican politics at this point, they certainly can understand and describe Republican sentiment without the ingrained hostility of the liberal media.
Over on MSNBC, when's the last time that Morning Joe -- or any of the network's prime-time shows -- had such a pair simultaneously on a panel?
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
12/26/23
6:16 am ETPOPPY HARLOW: Donald Trump shared an insulting Christmas message to some politicians and prosecutors. You see some of it. We'll pull it up here for you. Some of the attacks, there's a lot right there, on Truth Social. Writing things like, deranged prosecutor Jack Smith, or the unselect January 6th committee. He went on to call Nancy Pelosi crazy, and President Joe Biden crooked.
Joining us now, former Republican strategist and pollster Lee Carter, CNN political commentator Jamaal Simmons, and politics reporter for Semafor, Shelby Talcott. Good morning, guys. Good to have you here.
One thing that I think is really striking, is some of the language that Trump is using is not hurting him in Iowa among Republican voters. In fact, this Des Moines Register poll shows that when he says things like immigrants are poisoning the blood of America, or the radical left thugs are like vermin, people are saying it's more, it makes them more likely to support him. 42% say, more likely to support him in Iowa.
SHELBY TALCOTT: Yeah, a lot of the voters that I talked to on the ground have the mentality that, A: this is just sort of something you have to deal with when Donald Trump is involved, and, B: they view this rhetoric as that fighter mentality that we talked about last week.
And it's, like, it's been really interesting because this rhetoric isn't taken like a lot of the media is taking it. It's just taken as, this guy is a fighter, he's using this language because he cares about us.
And on the flip side, you've seen Trumps opponents really use these examples as reasons not to vote for him. They cite the chaos, and the drama surrounding Donald Trump. And I've also heard voters on the ground in Iowa say, you know, I wish he would just stopt tweeting as much and just stop using social media. And so, there is this frustration. But it's not registering enough in the polls. It's not convincing voters enough to not vote for him.
PHIL MATTINGLY: To that point, why? Becvause I think when you listen to Nikki Haley talking constantly about, we can't have the chaos, you listen to DeSantis, I'm Trump policies without the chaos. Everybody thought going into this campaign season that that was a pretty effective message.
LEE CARTER: Right.
MATTINGLY: It doesn't seem to be working, though.
CARTER: What matters is what people hear. What I see right now and I really think it's an important point you made, two-thirds of Americans are looking for a fighter. They want someone who is going to say, who is going to fight back to a system that seems to be working against them.
There's a particular sentiment among Republican voters who support Trump that the government doesn't work for them. That it works for the elite, for the few, and not for people not like them.
So when he does this, it actually energizes them. They don't hear it the same way everybody else does. Everybody else is hearing what he's saying as a threat to democracy. As maybe he's going to be an autocrat dictator, all those kinds of things. And the more people call him a dictator, an autocrat, the more the Republicans dig their heels in and say, we're going to support this guy because we want somebody who's going to fight for us, and nobody else will.
And so, despite the fact that there are voters out there who say they want trump without the chaos, they are already supporting people like Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis.
But the people who support Trump solidly, they want it, they love it, they live for it. And it's hard to understand if you're not part of that audience.
