CNN’s Jessica Dean said Wednesday that former President Donald Trump may be “tapping into something” with his message on Ukraine aid and other big topics.
Democratic strategist Keith Boykin discussed Trump’s recent comments in which Trump likened the political persecution of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to what he is currently facing amid multiple lawsuits and attempts to knock him off the ballot.
Navalny was found dead in a Russian prison, with authorities claiming he had a brief illness. The Telegraph, however, reported Navalny’s body was found covered in bruises.
Boykin argued that the lack of condemnation from Republicans for Trump’s comparison was exemplary of how the party was “corrupt.” Boykin also alleged Trump was beholden to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The fact that the Republican Party has now fallen for the con after they spent all of 2015, and much of early 2016, denying that Donald Trump represented who they were, is a reflection that they have just completely given up and allowed Donald Trump to run their party.”
Dean then jumped in to argue that Trump’s support comes in part due to his stances that are popular amongst average Americans.
“And yet there are some people that that really, Kevin, connects with, that are out in America trying to get through a day and see any further — they see aid as a gift. They don‘t know that perhaps we‘re making those weapons in states across the country. They think it’s just, you’re giving money away when there needs to be help at home. And it seems like Trump is tapping into something there, and the Biden Administration hasn‘t quite explained it in a way that benefits you know, how an average American can absorb that message.”
President Joe Biden has struggled to sell Americans on his policy goals like “Bidenomics,” his electric vehicle tax credit and funding for Ukraine. (RELATED: White House, Media Elites Think Americans Are Too Stupid To See How Good Biden’s Economy Is)
Scott Jennings, a longtime GOP adviser in Kentucky and CNN contributor, told the Daily Caller that the White House was missing the mark when it came to appealing to voters.
“What they choose to focus on in the face of obvious problems is a major political liability. Whether it’s inflation, EV’s, violent crime, antisemitism, they almost always choose to focus on something that’s so way off the mark, and outside of the center of where most people realize things are.”
“It calls into question their judgement,” Jennings continued. “Do they not have enough judgment to realize that what you’re saying is nowhere near sort of the center of everything? It just makes them seem so out of touch.”
The Biden administration has not wavered in its support for Ukraine despite public support for continued funding seemingly dropping. Forty-six percent of Americans backed sending weapons to Ukraine in May of 2023, while 29% opposed. By October 2023, that figure shifted to 41% in support of sending weapons and 35% opposing, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.