MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace may have abandoned the Republican Party, but the 2008 McCain/Palin operative (who didn’t even vote for John McCain), on Monday had advice for her old party: Avoid the “dark underbelly” of the “right-wing coalition.” Talking about Joe Biden’s campaign speech in Pittsburgh, Wallace lectured the GOP: “Having worked on Republican campaigns, the three things you try not to talk about in the last 70 days, even if you're a Republican, are abortion, gun rights, and these polarizing issues.”
She continued, “You almost want the swing voters to forget about sort of that dark underbelly of the right-wing coalition, especially after tragedies like Newtown and like Parkland. Those are the things that really cross pressure independent women.” It should be noted that Wallace’s campaign strategy for the 2008 John McCain ticket resulted in just 22 states and 173 electoral votes, a landslide loss. So, perhaps, she’s not the best person to give advice on this topic.
Wallace then predicted doom and gloom, asking former Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of the GOP convention:
But what do you make of the fact that polls suggest that that convention of his, so far, didn't move anybody in terms of their favorable ratings of Donald Trump? I think the first poll that came out was ABC, and Donald Trump has a 31 percent approval rating, down four points since the middle of August.
In reality, according to Emerson, the GOP convention scored Trump a bounce. Biden’s lead is down to just two percent since the convention. Trump also has a positive approval rating of 49 percent (to 47 percent negative). Wallace must not have seen those polls.
Wallace concluded by descending into a rant:
I remember that Donald Trump isn't for the law at all. He's an unindicted co-conspirator in the Southern District of New York. He's been pardoning campaign aides and allies. He's undermined the rule of law inside the military by reaching deep inside their sacred process and pardoning people accused of war crimes. I mean, he's not for law and he is creating disorder. And it's really an effort to bamboozle his supporters. He's the opposite of law and order.
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A partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
Deadline: White House
8/31/2020
4:11 PM ET
NICOLLE WALLACE: Having worked on Republican campaigns, the three things you try not to talk about in the last 70 days, even if you're a Republican, are abortion, gun rights, and these polarizing issues. You almost want the swing voters to forget about sort of that dark underbelly of the right-wing coalition, especially after tragedies like Newtown and like Parkland. Those are the things that really cross pressure independent women.
And when we talk about independent women, I spent two months out interviewing independent women for the Today show in 2016. And today they're registered as Democrats, sometimes they're registered as Republicans. But they follow events. And I think you're right, though, about Joe Biden. He needs to get on the air, on camera, every single day to counter the disinformation coming from Donald Trump about all of this.
And I think he's landed on the right message, that this is Donald Trump's America and Kellyanne Conway gave away the farm when she told us that he does this because it benefits him politically. But what do you make of the fact that polls suggest that that convention of his, so far, didn't move anybody in terms of their favorable ratings of Donald Trump? I think the first poll that came out was ABC, and Donald Trump has a 31% approval rating, down 4 points since the middle of August.
…
WALLACE: Let me read you something that Greg Sergeant writes in today's Washington Post, which is a pretty insightful analysis. “What Trump really represents is the promise of law and order without the rule of law. He stands for this in combination, as part of the same package, often quite deliberately so. But law and order without the rule of law is the wielding of power and violence, both state violence and private vigilante violence, unshackled from laws and rules-bound processes.”
You know, when I read that, I remember that Donald Trump isn't for the law at all. He's an unindicted co-conspirator in the southern district of New York. He's been pardoning campaign aides and allies. He's undermined the rule of law inside the military by reaching deep inside their sacred process and pardoning people accused of war crimes. I mean, he's not for law and he is creating disorder. And it's really an effort to bamboozle his supporters. He's the opposite of law and order.
