MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Roasts Trump in Victory Lap Over ‘Absolute Thumping’ in Elections
MSNBC host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki roasted President Donald Trump’s take on the “thumping” Democrats gave Republicans as she took a victory lap over the results.
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 talk to Senate Republicans at the White House, during which he blamed the shutdown and his absence on the ballot for the losses.
On Wednesday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki, the host opened her show with a lengthy victory lap — with a brief pause to roast Trump’s “self-involved and shameless” analysis:
PSAKI: So yeah, it was one of the best nights Democrats have had in a very, very long time. Which kind of begs the question, you’re a member of Donald Trump’s Republican Party. How do you spin what everyone knows was an absolute thumping of your party?
Well, they took different approaches. Little Mike Johnson went with the kind of the denial approach.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: There’s no surprises. What happened last night was blue states and blue cities voted blue. We all saw that coming, and no one should read too much into last night’s election results. Off year elections are not indicative of what’s to come. I don’t think the loss last night was any reflection about Republicans at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PSAKI: Okay. I mean, Johnson says that this was just blue states voting blue. Never mind the fact that Democrats won in the Republican controlled state of Virginia, or that these victories stretch deep into red states and small towns pretty much everywhere.
So, denial is certainly one way to cope with such a devastating loss, I guess. But at least Mike Johnson didn’t try to throw his fellow Republicans under the bus while trying to absolve himself of any blame. I mean, you’d have to be pretty self-involved and shameless to try something like that, right?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans, and that was a big factor. And they say that I wasn’t on the ballot was the biggest factor. But I don’t know about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PSAKI: It’s quite some analysis. I mean, Trump says Republicans lost because he wasn’t on the ballot and because the shutdown was so negative for them.
Okay. Let me take that last part first. Never mind the fact that he is not just a random observer of the shutdown. He is the most powerful Republican who is dragging this shutdown on. He is responsible for it. And as for whether or not he was a factor, well, he may want to take a look at some of these exit polls because even though he wasn’t on the ballot, around 40 percent of voters in both Virginia and New Jersey said they came out to the polls specifically to oppose Donald Trump.
Look, there were a lot of factors that led to the Democratic blowout last night. They won because of candidates who focused relentlessly on the issues that matter to the people they were running to represent, affordability and the cost of housing and energy, and the burden of the government shutdown on communities across the country.
They won because of a rising anger and outrage at the abuses of Donald Trump and his administration that we have seen at no rallies across the country, driving millions to turnout in an off year to send a message.
And they won because of people like Zohran Mamdani, and Abigail Spanberger, and Mikie Sherrill. And ballot initiatives like Prop 50 made people feel like they were voting for something and not just against someone.
Watch above via MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki.
