'I didn't think people could ACTUALLY act that way': Nicolle CRINGES at Trump's SYCOPHANTIC Cabinet

That speaks to the strength of your leadership.

It has never been a better time to be an American.I think, actually, your efforts on the reflecting pool are actually a great segue.Just like you talked about with the reflecting pool, we didn't do the same old thing the way we'd done it in the past.Just a reminder of another war you helped settle, Mr. President.It's exciting to see your vision.

You're leading us to the greatest economy that the world has ever known, and that's why they tell me to tell you, Mr. President, thank you and they love you.

sure that was real.I did not believe that was real.You know, A .I.is everywhere.And I thought that was A .

I.I didn't think that that was real.I didn't think people could actually act that way in front of a president sitting at about 32 percent.Hi again, everyone.It's now 5 o 'clock in New York.And that was real.

And with hard -hitting Cabinet officials like those, it's no wonder Donald Trump thinks the country is hot right now and that America is experiencing some sort of golden age.It's just one of the many signs that Donald Trump is either willfully staying in the dark by having them talk to him like that, or completely unaware that people are actually really, really mad, and they don't all want them to tell him that they love him.Or he's in denial about how angry and frustrated millions of Americans are now with him and his presidency.If he went out and talked to his own voters, he would get a very different account.Donald Trump is continuing to hit record polling lows as voters express disgust with his economy.We should tell you that the Economist YouGov poll out today finds that just 34 percent of all voters approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president.

Here's what they say about those numbers.Quote, only one third of Americans approve of how Donald Trump is handling his job as president.That's lower than Trump's approval in any weekly Economist YouGov poll over his two terms as president.two terms.Trump's net approval of minus 26 is also a record low for either of his terms or Joe Biden's term as president.Donald Trump hit record low net approval for either of his terms among Democrats, minus 96, and Independents, minus 44, and a brand new low for his second term among Republicans, plus just 61.

Donald Trump's record low approval ratings come as concerns about the economy are as high as they've been in years.For the second week in a row, 63 percent of all Americans say the economy is getting worse.Just 13 percent of Americans think that the economy is getting better.The only time since 2017 that more Americans said the economy is getting worse was in the summer of 2022 during a surge in inflation.And that anger and blame is now being directed beyond Donald Trump toward members of his MAGA Republican Party.Here's just a tiny slice of the questions Republican Congressman Mike Flood of Nebraska faced at his town hall meeting last night.

Why do you continue to protect the pedophiles and Trump's DOJ as they continue to break the law they were all supposed to release on December 19th?

Trump Arch, returning the pool, the reflecting pool renovation, slush fund for crooks, and the farm bill.How do we pay for all this?It says, how can your morals let you fall into like with Trump?

It's an anti -weaponization fund, which allows all those people on January 6 who broke into the Capitol to benefit from that fund.It also gives the president the right to go after that money.Last year you talked about fiscal conservatism.How is that fiscally conservative?

The next three questions here are all the same.It's what do you think about the new slush fund of taxes?that Trump has.And I think we addressed that 20 minutes ago.

I took the slush fund question.I did that 20 minutes ago.Let's see how that works out.That growing anger from voters all across the ideological spectrum and deep inside the MAGA coalition, all while Donald Trump's cabinet tells him that America loves him.and wants them to tell him how much, is where we start the hour with some of our most favorite experts and friends.Democratic pollster and political analyst Cornell Belcher is back.

Also joining us, senior contributing editor Michelle Norris, and Media Matters for America president Angelo Carasone is with us as well.Cornell, what do you see in the numbers?

I see Jewelman collapse.And I did have to laugh with you, Nicole, at that cabinet meeting.It's like it's so disconnected from reality.Only 13 % of Americans think the economy is getting better.And they're telling him it's a golden age.And at some point, is he doing this because he believes his cabinet and he's really that insulated from what's happening out there in the real world?

Because they're not doing him service by this disconnection because what he's doing is deeply unpopular.His war is deeply unpopular.His tariffs are deeply unpopular.All of his policies are deeply unpopular.Him, you know, ballrooms for hundreds of millions of dollars, deeply unpopular.There's nothing that's on his agenda, the top of his agenda that we're talking about.

that American people say, that's for me.That's going to help me and my family.It's going to empower my family.It's going to help bring down gas prices.None of this is for the American people.

You know, Cornell, I'm struck by the corruption story.I used to have David Farenthold on.He was at The Washington Post.He's now at The New York Times.And he wrotebrilliant, investigative, deeply, deeply reported stories about violations of the Emoluments Clause.

And I remember asking him to explain that.The corruption in Trump 1 .0 was unprecedented.The corruption in 2 .0 is like off the hook.I mean, we're out of PG -rated superlatives for what he's doing in the second term.But I wonder how much of it is the more brazen corruption and how much of it is what a safety net, the perception of a strong economy was for him in 1 .0.Do you have a diagnosis and does it matter politically?

I think if Americans are feeling confident about the economy, they're feeling confident about direction of the country, I think they're more likely to turn away from this.But what I'm hearing of focus groups is how can you be spending a couple of hundred million dollars on a ballroom when I can't put groceries on our table, right?He's got the and so the corruption has meaning for them now, right?I used to always argue that a little bit of corruption voters would turn their face or turn their eye away from a little bit of corruption if they were benefiting.There is absolutely no benefit for the American people in what's happening in Washington right now.they're only hurting because of it.

So no, corruption is a part, a front and center.There's a culture of corruption that's permeating this White House, and American people do see it connected to their inability to get ahead and get the system to work for them.That's what makes it a little bit different, Nicole.

Angelo, I went back to listen to something that you and I have talked about a lot, probably more than my audience wanted to hear about it.And that is the, the manosphere bump that Trump got ahead of the 2024 election.And I think I misunderstood some of that as, as, as people really vibing with him.And there was some of that, but it was like equal partsvibing with Trump because he showed up, hating the left and misrepresenting all of the left with some policies that were unpopular politically.And then the third piece really was, like, economic viability, or I'll be more blunt, being rich.

I mean, there really was a luster to aspirational wealth.And that makes up sort of the Manosphere vibes that boosted Trump.I personally think it was determinative in his ability to win in 2024.There is no more shining the economy.It sucks.And a lot of Republicans think it sucks as well.

There is no more vibes.I mean, Trump falls asleep in.I mean, the White House is the most press -controlled White House in terms of where they let the cameras in.He is asleep in all of his own events.And there is so much makeup on his face, but they can't find enough to cover the bruises on his hands.So there's no more vibing on the manliness of Trumpism.

And the third piece of that is evaporated as well.I mean, the whole idea that he was this good choice for young men seems to be gone.Where do you see his political coalition today?

Yeah, I mean, that part of the coalition is fractured and certainly gone.Now, whether they'll ultimately be aligned with his interests and they overlap over time, you kind of hinted at it, which is that they're not really going to support Democrats right now.So they may stay home.They're going to lean toward anti -establishment candidates, right, and anti -establishment figures.And that's kind of the direction they're going to go in.And that fetishization piece on sort of their own pockets was a big factor.

They thought that Trump was going to do things to the economy, or at minimum, he was going to be really good for the speculative investments around crypto, that they'd be able to, you know, pump and dump, ride the wave, make some money, make a quick buck and move on, right?There was a financial interest there, and that seemed to overlap.with Trump.And they were also mad at Biden, because they felt like, hey, here they're out here telling us how great the economy is when we don't feel it.And they're even further detached and disconnected.So that part of it is they're not going to be with Trump anymore, but they're not going to be with Democrats.

So the so what of it is that it doesn't have a huge political effect.To the extent that the midterms are going to be a referendum on Trump, Some of them may peel off and vote against Trump locally, but I just don't think they're going to be as big of a factor.And this is where the flip side comes in.There's going to be a little bit of bread and circuses along the way.They'll come back around or temper on things related to Maha.And we see that every so often with, you know, peptides and other things where they bring in Rogan or they tout out RFK Jr. to sort of just appeal to them a little bit, give them something to distract them, to engage them.

There'll be some stuff around the UFC and that cultural part of it, but he's not getting them back.And that's the reveal here, because then what does Trump do?He goes back to his old playbook, which is organize and build power on what used to be considered the fringes.So, he's lost the kinetic energy of this third part of his coalition, this sort of manosphere piece.He needs to replace it.And that slush fund isn't just purely corruption.

It is.It certainly is.But it's also calculation.which is that I am going to incentivize a whole bunch of extremists to be confident and comfortable and get out there and get excited, because I'm going to need them to do things.I'm going to need to reactivate that part of my coalition and grow it, because I need to replace some energy that I've now lost as a part of the manosphere.And so I think those two stories are actually linked.

He's lost that one piece of it.He's replacing it with his extremists.And that's the way that that conversation has been activated in that part of the media landscape.Enrico Tarrio, who's former head of the Proud Boys, for instance, has been talking about howexcitement there is from J6ers and his people of being able to dip into those funds.So, that part of the coalition is going to keep taking shots on the sidelines.

They're going to make Trump not cool, and they're going to make fun of him.But they're not going to help Democrats in terms that they shouldn't rely on them or beyond that.And Trump is going to replace that with something much scarier and, frankly, more violent.