with one of his acolytes Kerry Lake down in defeat in Arizona's governor race tonight the former
president could dominate the headlines tomorrow he's expected to announce he is running for
president again as Republicans wait for that very big shoot to drop some of the party appear to be
edging away from him Senator Josh Hawley for one who raised a fist in solidarity with a crowd at
January 6. here's what he said today I think that this election was the funeral for the Republican
parties we know it the Republican party is as we have known it is dead and voters have made that
clear I like a lot of what president Trump did as president I think we've got a lot to talk about
there but we need to have a conversation about our core convictions as a party and clearly this party
is going to have to actually it's going to have to be different or we're not going to be a majority
party in this country also today Charlie Baker the Republican governor of Massachusetts told CNN
Street Tapper that the former president quote hurt the party's chances this year question is how much
and how long will they keep saying that for that we turn to CNN's one and only senior data reporter
Harry Anton so what are the midterms reveal about the former president that his political brand is
poison I mean you look his favorable rating in the exit poll was under 40 look Donald Trump was never
a popular figure in either 2018 or 2020 but he was never this unpopular and the people who had
an unfavorable view of him voted overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates keep in mind Joe Biden's
approval rating was just in the mid-40s but the fact is those voters who had an unfavorable viewer
not a favorable view of both of the candidates basically split their tickets evenly between the
Democratic and Republican candidates for congress if you don't like the incumbent president you
should be voting against that party but because Trump was out there these voters basically split
their ticket so it's not hard you're yelling at me how did how did swing out I was really excited
I know how did swing state candidates who attach themselves closely to Trump and election denials
I mean I have a sense of this how did they do yeah we just saw obviously the projection that
Kerry Lake lost all the election deniers who were running in the states that buy them one by less
than five points for governor or for Secretary of State we projected all of them to lose election
denialism does not work with the middle of the electorate and it clearly didn't work last Tuesday
and that was why Republicans did or at least part of the reason why they did significantly
worse than I think a lot of us expected so does this open the door for Ron DeSantis on a national
level I absolutely believe it does you know just going to the State of Florida right where
those two candidates both the Santos and Trump are about equally well known and if you ask Republican
voters uh whether or not these two guys should run more Republicans say that Ron DeSantis should run
than Donald Trump and I think once Republican voters get to know Ron DeSantis Nationwide a
little bit better I think it can make for quite an interesting race so what did work for the
Republicans who got elected or re-elected issues talking about issues like crime immigration Nation
inflation foreign policy Republicans let on all of that it was just that the personality of trump
combined with the abortion decision basically took away from what should have been a very strong
midterm for Republicans if they want to win going forward they should be talking about the issues
that are strong for them not be talking about the 2020 election and talking about Donald Trump
um uh it's gonna be hard to tomorrow at least yeah it's going to be hard for tomorrow but
this is this is why we have primaries it should be very interesting to see what happens Republicans
are going to have a real Choice ahead of them Harry inton appreciate it thanks for joining
us Jim Schultz who served as a White House lawyer in the previous administration also seen a senior
political analyst in USA Today columnist Kirsten Powers Jim you work for the Trump White House you
supported the foreign president through a lot over the last few years is it time for the Republican
party to move on from him I think it's clear that folks are calling coalescing behind other
candidates at this point I think it's time that we move on as a party I think we saw right here
in Pennsylvania right he hand-picked memade here in Pennsylvania you get memadize got smoked by
John fetterman by all historical figures in terms of of what a landslide election looks
like in Pennsylvania and his endorsed candidate Doug mastriano lost by more than 11 or 12 points
double digit points you can't have those kinds of results and I think that those results lie right
at the feet of Donald Trump curious I mean the former president continues to complain that the
2020 election was stolen from him which it was not we've now seen demonstrably that is not a winning
message with independent voters do you I mean I I know he's not capable of actually changing that
message yeah uh given what we saw now with with Kerry Lake in Arizona who was you know as you
know just a glossier version of him with better makeup and lighting is election denying is any
election denied candidate going to lose their election I mean it seems to be something that
most voters are not buying but you know Donald Trump I think is mostly if if I'm going to guess
what he's thinking he's probably thinking well I wasn't on the ballot right they just couldn't do
it but I could do it I think that that's how he thinks about things and because he has a history
of bringing the Republican party to heal you know when after the January 6th you know attack on the
capitol you had people coming out and decrying him and then of course he brought them to heal
and so he probably thinks that he's going to be able to do that again but I think what he may be
missing but I I also will just say I don't really know what's going to happen because I think a lot
of people need to wait and see what's going to happen with the based voters but you know I think
we he's he's looking to see whether or not he can you know create chaos and bring these people back
into the fold and even if he doesn't he's shown that he doesn't care about the Republican party
and and the Republican party if they leave him we'll be leaving him because he's not giving
them the wins that they want and I think that that's what we've seen we've seen they'll put
up with almost anything except losing yeah Jim how is this different than the days after January
6 you know January 6th that night you know McCarthy Lindsey Graham was saying you know
he was finally quitting Donald Trump and then he gets yelled out in the airport the next day
by a mob and suddenly he's down at Mar-A-Lago again how is this any different because I think
you're seeing the electorate start to shift the electorate his base didn't shift after January 6th
hard to believe but it didn't shift after January 6th and you're starting to see now the electorates
start to shift and you're going to see guys like DeSantis and Pence and others start you know Nikki
Haley start gaining some momentum Chris Christie gaining some momentum here and kind of taking the
spotlight light away from Trump and you're going to see the numbers start to coalesce behind Kansas
you've already seen it with the santis I mean his numbers are tremendous in those early States we
saw polling come out today that had him far ahead of trump compared to where they were in August
um Kirsten I want to play what former vice president Pence said to ABC news about uh 2024.
will you run for president in 2024 well we're giving a consideration in our house
prayerful consideration do you believe you can beat Donald Trump
well that would be for others to say and it'd be for us to decide whether or not we'd want to
test that I mean you know the Jim talked about Nikki Haley talked about DeSantis
and and others do you think Mike Pence could actually unite the Republican Party behind
him because I mean all of these are pretty regular candidates who play have a sense of
decency and a sense of where the guard rails may be I don't know that they've ever been
against somebody like the former president who's clearly not wanting to leave the ring
yeah I mean we saw what happened last time right um a lot of people came in a lot of people who
are pretty popular before they got into the race the Jeb bushes and the Marco Rubio's and they came
out bruised and battered and really in a much worse place now the question is you know does
Donald Trump still have that kind of power do people still want to hear that from him and I
think the other thing is there is a Rhonda Santos now and there wasn't a Rhonda Santos I don't I
don't really see Mike Pence as the alternative at least to these core Trump voters the Maga
voters Ron DeSantis has more of the Trump Vibe right that's and that's what they're
really looking for they're looking for at that more than they're looking at policies they're
looking for somebody who if you if you really you know look at what they say they say Donald
Trump fights for them and Donald Trump pushes back against the liberal establishment you know
and the elites and that's what we want we want somebody who's willing to get down and dirty and
nasty and look that's what Rhonda Santos does uh Kirsten Paris Jim Schultz appreciate it thank you