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Maggie Haberman Says The Quiet Part Out Loud About Trump’s Erratic Behavior
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New York Times reporter and White House correspondent Maggie Haberman isn’t convinced that President Donald Trump “believes he will suffer consequences” amid his ongoing erratic behavior and decisions. Haberman made the remark while appearing Wednesday on CNN’s “The Source With Kaitlan Collins” alongside her colleague Jonathan Swan to speak about their new book, “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.” During the conversation, host Kaitlan Collins read aloud an excerpt from the book. “To the extent that [Trump] still cared about polling at all, he is seeing far fewer polls than during his first term. His advisors knew he was not receptive to being briefed on harsh realities. In his second term, unlike his first, he was willing to take breathtaking risks, risks that could throw not only his presidency but the Republican Party and the entire world into chaos and carnage,” she read. “More than ever before as President, he was operating on pure gut instinct,” she added of the passage in a clip shared by Mediaite. Collins questioned Haberman if she thinks that is what the president is doing now, adding, “And do you think it matters if that gut instinct hurts Republicans who are on the ballot?” “Yes, I do think that what we are seeing right now is very in line,” Haberman responded. “On the one hand, yes, it’s similar to what we saw in term one, just in terms of sort of a sense for his party and some of his own staff of being erratic, but is definitely consistent with trusting his gut more than ever.” Haberman then pointed to Trump recently abruptly canceling the signing of a landmark bipartisan housing affordability bill, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, aimed at tackling the national affordability crisis. Trump demanded that Congress first pass the radical SAVE America Act that he’s been championing, which would require American voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, before he will sign the housing bill. Trump’s U-turn on his support sparked bipartisan backlash. “The president just wasn’t interested,” Haberman said. “So does the president care? He’s not behaving like somebody who cares. Maybe he will start to at some point, but he is not right now. And I’m not sure whether he particularly believes he will suffer consequences.” Before that, Haberman told Collins that she and Swan obtained “some confidential polling memos inside the Trump team.” “And one was from December when his own pollster circulated a memo. And it was after Trump had done an affordability speech, or what was supposed to be an affordability speech, where instead he called affordability a ‘con job’ and started suggesting, again, Democrats were responsible for coming up with this term and that this was not fair to him, that it used the term.” She continued, “I’m paraphrasing here, but it was that the White House and the GOP, if they wanted to make gains in the midterms and not suffer, they needed to be, quote, unquote, ‘honest’ with voters about the affordability crisis and try to find a way to deal with it.” The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act “was supposed to deal with that,” Haberman added. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.