While taking part in a panel discussing Donald Trump’s comments about Sen. John McCain on “Up Next with Steve Kornacki” Sunday, MSNBC political analyst Joan Walsh said Trump’s recent surge in the polls is evidence there aren’t any real, strong Republicans in the 2016 presidential field.
Salon’s editor at large called Trump a “shameless… toxic waste dump,” that the other candidates can line up and, “say terrible things about.”
KORNACKI: Right now, he’s surged to the top of the polls. The latest I’ve seen, he’s at 18 percent. I guess the question here is if you have all of these voices that conservative voters, Republican voters listen to almost universally saying, this is terrible, this is outrageous, does it bring those numbers back down to earth?
WALSH: But Steve, what evidence do we really have that Republican voters are listening to this field. I mean, this man’s surge is a symptom of the fact that it is not a strong field, that there isn’t really a strong leader in the Republican party, and so people come out, and they say terrible things. Look, this is his brand. He’s a toxic waste dump, but that’s what people like about him. I just don’t see, he’s shameless, so shaming him isn’t going to work, and I do want to point out, I don’t think Scott Walker condemned him.