MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Says Trump Is ‘Owning’ His Own Fans Instead of ‘The Libs’ in Blistering Rant
MSNBC host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki shredded President Donald Trump over a set of policies she says are less “owning the libs” than they are “owning his own voters.”
Trump’s DOGE cuts and scattershot approach to tariffs and the economy have sparked a backlash that has been manifesting itself at hostile town halls in Trump country.
On Monday’s edition of MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki, the host opened her show with a blistering commentary on the divide between Trumpworld’s fantasy of “owning the libs” and the reality of how DOGE cuts and tariff-fueled policy are affecting people who voted for Trump:
PSAKI: Now, over the past few weeks, the Trump Administration has slashed hundreds of NOAA staff including people responsible for producing critical weather forecasts and maintaining radar systems, and they’re not done. The agency is tasked with cutting an additional 1,000 jobs, which means 10 percent of its workforce.
See, to Donald Trump and his buddy, Elon Musk, NOAA is just another woke agency that stirs up climate hysteria. And so, it’s one of the agencies that has found itself in their crosshairs. But here’s the thing. When devastating tornadoes swept across the country this week, it actually wasn’t Coastal Democrats in their path at all. It was states like Mississippi and Arkansas and Alabama and Missouri. States that would definitely not self-identify as woke in any way. And states that would definitely benefit from a fully operational and fully staffed and fully funded NOAA.
What about FEMA which provides essential tools for cleaning up and rebuilding after devastating storms like the ones we also saw last week and this week? Trump and Elon Musk claim the agency is a political tool wielded by Democrats during disasters. I don’t even know what they mean by that exactly. So, guess what they’ve done. They’ve cut jobs there too. And Trump has even mused about shutting it down all together. That’s how they’re owning the libs I guess, right? I mean, that’s their approach.
But guess which states get the most recovery funding from FEMA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Well, states like Louisiana and Florida and Texas, not exactly target Democratic states, those ones typically. Notice the theme here? See the things they’ve already done and things they’re planning to do actually hurt red states more than blue states. They’re trying to own the libs but they’re actually hurting Trump voters. The people they are hurting the most are in the very states that voted to put Trump in the White House.
And we’re seeing this everywhere all the time. It’s happening every day. They’re hurting red states by working to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, even though 80 percent of the Investments are in Republican districts. They’ll continue to hurt people who voted for them if they go after Social Security which one in five Americans across every single state rely on. And they’ll hurt lots of proud MAGA members if they go after Medicaid.
In one Appalachian County in Kentucky, almost 90 percent of the resident in Harlan County, that’s what I’m talking about, voted for Trump, and almost half of them — half of them received Medicaid. One woman relying on a Medicaid-funded treatment program for addiction told the Washington Post, if it were to go away today, I would be homeless tomorrow. I would lose everything, all my counseling, all my treatment. If Trump takes the things that they’re saying, it’s going to be devastation for Eastern Kentucky for sure.
And you don’t have to just to take her word or my word for that matter for it. Here’s Steve Bannon.
(VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BANNON, PODCAST HOST: A lot of MAGAs are on Medicaid. I’m telling you, if you don’t think so, you are dead wrong. Medicaid is going to be a complicated one. You just can’t take a meat ax to it, although I would love to.
PSAKI: I mean, the music in the background there is really quite something. But the point is that guy is not exactly known for his empathy. He’s not really in a super empathetic guy. But he understands the political reality of Medicaid and other issues too. Trump is also hurting red states with his beloved tariffs. He loves those tariffs.
According to New York Times analysis, nearly eight million Americans work in industries targeted by tariffs and the majority are Trump voters. The jobs that could be hit by retaliation are especially concentrated in pockets of the Upper Midwest, South, and Southeast, including many rural parts of the county that are responsible for producing agricultural goods.
And again, don’t take my word for it or their word for it. Here’s Mike Pence.
(VIDEO CLIP)
FMR VP MIKE PENCE: The truth is when it comes to tariffs, the importer here in the United States pays the tariff. A foreign country doesn’t pay the tariff. More often than not, it passes along the increased cost on that product to the consumer. Too often I hear the administration talking about broad-based unilateral tariffs that I think will ultimately work against American jobs, American families, and American businesses.
PSAKI: There you heard it from noted liberal crusader as he’s well known, Mike Pence. See, what’s becoming increasingly clear is that in this broad effort to own the libs, Donald Trump is actually owning his own voters. And you wonder why Republicans don’t want to hold town meetings out there.
Watch above via MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki.
