GOP Pollster Drops Epic Takedown Of Trump’s Hurricane ‘Lies’: ‘Very Real Consequences’

Republican pollster and publisher of the anti-Trump Bulwark, Sarah Longwell, joined MSNBC this week to discuss former President Donald Trump’s pushing of conspiracy theories surrounding the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene.

Host Nicolle Wallace asked Longwell about the impact of Trump and his allies on the hard right pushing false claims about Democrats and FEMA refusing to help Republicans, which has resulted in some on the right not accepting help. Longwell replied with a lengthy takedown of Trump’s rhetoric.

“I mean, here’s what Trump does. In a moment like this, when normal politicians would be, because of the very real consequences, they would be looking to unite people, right? Not to divide them. That’s not how Donald Trump thinks,” Longwell began, adding:

Donald Trump only cares about winning. And so he is utilizing this disaster, this natural disaster, which cannot be, you know, engineered by anybody, as some people are saying, because as Republicans are now having to reassure people, one cannot engineer the weather. Democrats are not engineering these storms for some reason or other pernicious influences.

But these Republicans who constantly support Trump are forced now to grapple with the very real consequences of his lies on their constituents at a moment when they are trying to help people see this is the thing is, oftentimes Donald Trump’s lies don’t have a personal consequence for the people who repeat them. You know, like the election being stolen or migrants eating pets in Springfield. But they have real consequences for somebody. And when those consequences affect you, as they are now, the Republican leaders on the ground were having to deal with the consequences of them. I feel like this should be the moment that they realize this is why this person can never lead the country again.

And one of the things that Donald Trump does, it’s a very specific tactic from Trump, where what he does is he elevates the notion of scarcity at a time when people are frightened. Right. So people are much more likely to buy into these conspiracies because they are suffering at the moment. Right. They don’t have wi-fi. They don’t have water. You know, they are dealing with a response to a natural disaster. And so they’re scared.

And Donald Trump manipulates and uses that fear to sow distrust for the agencies that are trying to help them. And that is unique to Trump’s character. Other politicians, even ones that aren’t very good at their jobs, don’t usually do this because they are at least decent enough people to understand that real lives are at stake.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.