CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Calls BS On Trump’s Post-Bloodbath ‘Affordability’ Push: ‘Something That Might Cause a Problem for That…’

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins called BS on President Donald Trump for openly trying to co-opt “affordability” messaging after an Election Night bloodbath, pointing out “something that might cause a problem” with that strategy.

After an election night that saw Democratic landslides in races that were supposed to be close and losses for causes Trump heavily supported, the president gave a sort of anti-pep talk to Senate Republicans at the White House.

He acknowledged the negative effects of the government shutdown on Republicans and urged them to mimic Democrats’ use of “this new word called affordability.”

On Wednesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, the anchor led off with a package of news about the shutdown that included a succinct rejoinder to Trump’s “affordability” play — “prices are actually up”:

KAITLAN COLLINS: As we come on the air tonight, the deadlock here on Capitol Hill is about to potentially trigger an air travel nightmare across the country. We’ve now learned the FAA is going to reduce air traffic in the United States by 10 percent, across 40 high-volume cities, starting Friday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I anticipate there will be additional disruptions. There will be frustration. We are working with the airlines. They’re going to work with passengers. But in the end, our sole role is to make sure that we keep this airspace as safe as possible.

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COLLINS: Now, the airlines themselves learned that this was coming about an hour before the Secretary made that announcement there. An announcement that happened to come as the political calculus has just shifted in a major way, here in Washington.

That message was delivered, after Democrats had a huge night in New York, Virginia, New Jersey and California. And President Trump’s frustration with those big Republican losses was on clear display, as we were in the room this morning for his meeting with Senate Republicans.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I thought we’d have a discussion after the press leaves about what last night represented and what we should do about it, and also about the shutdown, and how that relates to last night. I think if you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans, and that was a big factor.

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COLLINS: Now, the President, who has always been quick to sense what voters want to hear, seems to have picked up on the winning message for Democrats, last night. Affordability.

The President came into office, pledging to bring higher prices down, and today argued that things are better, and that Republicans should be saying that more often.

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TRUMP: They have this new word called affordability, and they don’t talk about it enough. The Democrats did. And the Democrats make it up. Because we took over a mess.

It’s going to be affordable again at a really record pace. And you know, other people are going to take credit. All the mayors and all the governors, they’re going to say, What a great job. They didn’t do a damn thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Something that might cause a problem for that is that grocery prices are actually up since President Trump took office, back in January.

Now, for Democrats, this momentum comes after a year, where there was very little of it for their party. It’s already jumpstarted conversations, here on Capitol Hill tonight, about what this could mean for next year’s midterms.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.