Chuck Todd said attacking Donald Trump for not being a conservative Republican is a “mistake” because Trump’s supports know that his isn’t one already.
Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Todd said Trump’s supporters “are folks that are looking for change, not necessarily looking for conservative change.”
Host Joe Scarborough said, “If Trump wins South Carolina, a lot of people believe he’ll storm through the South and possibly run the table. But look at what he’s doing while that’s happening. You talk about problems in the general election, certainly on temperament. But in South Carolina he defended Planned Parenthood. In South Carolina he blamed George W. Bush for 9/11. In South Carolina and New Hampshire, still was talking about national health care, refused to get some good, easy endorsements in New Hampshire by being against Medicaid expansion. This guy is ideologically about as moderate ideologically in some of these areas as anybody who has run in the Republican Party since the 1960s.”
Todd, the host of “Meet the Press,” agreed with Scarborough’s assessment, claiming, “Well, right, because he’s not trying to — this is what I think has been the mistake.”
“Jeb [Bush] tried it early. [Ted] Cruz is trying it now — attacking Donald for not being a conservative. His supporters know that already. That is baked in. That is built in,” Todd argued. “Frankly, it’s also why I think some of these hits on [Marco] Rubio and immigration and Gang of Eight aren’t as effective anymore. It’s baked in, it’s built in.”
For Trump, “You got to go after him on something else,” Todd said. “I think temperament is probably a bigger vulnerability for him than ideology. The people who support Trump, you and I’ve talked about his, they were Democrats 20 years ago. Many of them supported Bill Clinton. Some of them supported Barack Obama. They are folks that are looking for change, not necessarily looking for conservative change. They’re looking for change. And maybe they haven’t figured it out ideologically yet or they don’t know, but they know what they don’t like. And I think that’s why these ideological attacks on Trump haven’t been as effective.”
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