against trump on the product is a loser. that s how you ultimately convince the primary electorate that you change horses. because trump, even if you love the guy has problems winning the general election. and i think increasingly we see that the polling is going forward. and psychologically it s going to drive trump crazy talking about and losing. jason, one strategy rhonda santos is not changing, we shouldn t be surprised. his signature, the anti woke agenda. even flow there s new polling out for the times that says gop voters are not even buying it anymore. so i lean into it? it s his only game? what else has he got? look, stephanie this is hilarious to me. i do not know when republicans are going to understand that going to war with popular culture doesn t really when you anything. it sounded cool when it was reagan back in the 80s. but mitt romney going after big, bird he probably lost every
election. let s bring in jason johnson, a politics and journalism professor at morgan state university. and mark mckinnon, former advisor to both george gonna be bush, from cain. among the hosts of the circus on showtime. jason, i turned you first. on desantis admitting donald trump lost. is it too little too late? and what does that do to the mega voter that he needs? i ve been saying this for months. i ve said this all through last year stephanie. that literally this is going to be the first question any potential republican debate. who do you think when the presidential election? and here s the catch. you were always in a trap as a republican running against trump. because if you believe that joe biden treated. and stole the election from donald trump. then you have no justification for running. and if you think that donald trump lost the election. then 35% of the republican electorate will not vote for you.
nothing, and no action he took afterwards could be a crime. of course that is not true. for example, if you think that the bank somehow defrauded you and owes you money. that does not mean that you can go and rob the bank or ask somebody else to rob the bank for you. so, this idea. the special counsel puts this in the indictment. he said he was free to believe what he wanted. to say what he wanted about the election. he was not free to take certain actions that are crimes based on those beliefs. tally, if you ever lose your voice in the next nine months, we are just going to get you a little sign that goes of course that s not true. of course that s not true. of course not true. kyle, let me ask you about mike pence and bill barr. they say that they will appear as witnesses if they are asked. have you heard anything about others who could be more susceptible to be witness intimidation atoms from trump? but we know those two.
they are just feeding off of what trump is telling. and of, course i think long-range, listen we still have six months until iowa. and as we get a fourth indictment, we see more and more polls between now and i will. and we see that well he has strengthened the primaries increasingly problematic for donald trump. in the general election, then this is joe biden. i think that is going to sag. and i think ultimately, the voters who appear to be for donald trump, it s kind of the opposite of 2016. in 2016, it was very unpopular to say your for trump. this cycle, it s unpopular to say you are not for trump. so these are kind of just goes to voters that could easily disappear at the map when i was around. jason? look, there is a certain amount of the republican organization that are just cultists and it doesn t matter. these are the people trump was talking about. i could shoot somebody on fifth avenue and nothing would happen one way or another. it doesn t shock me stephanie. nothing
problematic in the journal trump is a distinguishing feature in the republican primary. 25% of the voters like that message. so all you ve got to do is get enough to break out in iowa. and then push on to new hampshire. so, listen as i said i don t think it s a winning general election strategy, but i think it is a distinguishing factor that could help desantis. i m just not ready to bury him yet. i think he s got staying power, he s got money. and i think people message appeals to enough of the primary electorate. as i said, it s a distinguishing factor. let s talk trump. because new polling shows that a majority of republicans believe these indictments are just an attempt to stop his reelection campaign. how alarming is that? because we need to remind our audience that among other things, he is being charged with trying to defraud the united states of america. what do you think about the way we republicans are reacting to this mark?