Appearing on Thursday’s NBC Today, political analyst Mark Halperin worried that Republican President Donald Trump was behaving like...well, a Republican. Talking about the coming fight in the Senate to confirm Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Halperin lamented: “...right now Donald Trump is governing as a Republican president, not as an independent. And if he does a scorecard of his first few weeks in office and says, ‘Am I living up to my goal, my promise to unite the country?’ Right now he’s not.”
The veteran journalist continued: “He is in the barricades with Mitch McConnell and other Republicans on these confirmation fights. He's got a whole agenda, separate from getting people confirmed, that involves trying to appeal to Democrats. That’s going to be tougher to do the longer these confirmation fights dominate the discussion.”
Halperin was teed up by substitute co-host Hoda Kotb fretting over the possibility of Republicans using the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules in order to overcome a Democratic filibuster of Gorsuch: “With cameras rolling, Trump said to Mitch McConnell, basically, don't hesitate to go nuclear. What does that say for how everyone's going to be getting along?”
Earlier in the discussion, fellow co-host Matt Lauer wondered: “You heard Chuck Schumer, he said, ‘Hey, do not change the rules in the Senate. This guy [Gorsuch] needs 60 votes one way or another.’ Is he going to get 60 votes anyway? Are enough Democrats going to cross over to make that nuclear option a moot point?”
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Halperin touted left-wing pressure on the lawmakers to obstruct: “Look, from Berkeley to the Beltway, this country’s really divided, and the intense pressure on every Democratic senator now, even ones who are up for re-election in two years in states Donald Trump won, is going to be, ‘Do not give him 60 votes. Do not let the filibuster be broken.’”
He didn’t seem concerned that Democrats were acting like Democrats.
At the end of the segment, while promoting a new Showtime documentary looking at the success of Trump’s presidential campaign, Halperin admitted that voters “understood what his appeal was, better than the pundits, in explaining this is why the country is gonna vote for Donald Trump.”
Here is a full transcript of the February 2 discussion:
7:14 AM ET
HODA KOTB: Mark Halperin is here with us with some analysis. Hey, Mark, how are you?
MARK HALPERIN: Good morning.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: DeVos Nomination in Jeopardy; Trump Education Pick May Not Have Enough Votes After GOP Defections]
KOTB: Last night a big deal for the administration, Rex Tillerson was sworn in, so that's the good news. The Democrats are holding up some votes and there is some question about Betsy DeVos. Read the tea leaves for us, do you think she will get confirmed? What do you see?
HALPERIN: Well, they've got no margin of error as Hallie [Jackson] said. 50 votes exactly, with the Vice President there to break the tie. The White House is confident that while they lost two Republican senators, they’ll keep the rest of them. Most presidents lose at least one nominee. If President Trump gets her through, he probably will get everybody through. That will be unusual, but she can't afford to lose a single other Republican senator right now.
LAUER: Let's talk about Neil Gorsuch, the President’s pick for the Supreme Court. You heard Chuck Schumer, he said, “Hey, do not change the rules in the Senate. This guy needs 60 votes one way or another.” Is he going to get 60 votes anyway? Are enough Democrats going to cross over to make that nuclear option a moot point?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Battle Brewing Over Supreme Court Pick; Trump Calls for “Nuclear Option” if Gorsuch Not Confirmed]
HALPERIN: It hangs in the balance. Look, from Berkeley to the Beltway, this country’s really divided, and the intense pressure on every Democratic senator now, even ones who are up for re-election in two years in states Donald Trump won, is going to be, “Do not give him 60 votes. Do not let the filibuster be broken.”
LAUER: So you think we're headed toward that nuclear option?
HALPERIN: I think that one’s on the razor edge, too. If Mitch McConnell can avoid changing the senate rules, if he can get 60 votes, that’s his strong preference. This game's not over yet. Right now, I don't think he'll get to 60. Can Donald Trump and other outside groups put pressure on Democratic senators in conservative states to vote for him?
KOTB: Mark, it was interesting, though. With cameras rolling, Trump said to Mitch McConnell, basically, don't hesitate to go nuclear. What does that say for how everyone's going to be getting along?
HALPERIN: Well, it says that right now Donald Trump is governing as a Republican president, not as an independent. And if he does a scorecard of his first few weeks in office and says, “Am I living up to my goal, my promise to unite the country?” Right now he’s not. He is in the barricades with Mitch McConnell and other Republicans on these confirmation fights. He's got a whole agenda, separate from getting people confirmed, that involves trying to appeal to Democrats. That’s going to be tougher to do the longer these confirmation fights dominate the discussion.
LAUER: You’ve got a big special coming up Friday night on Showtime. You, like everyone else, were covering this campaign over the last 18 months and sometimes it felt like events were moving at a million miles an hour. What you're doing now I think is really fascinating. You slow the pace and you get the benefit of hindsight to look back at the race as a whole. How has it changed your opinion of what happened?
HALPERIN: The film on Showtime tomorrow night, Trumped, covers the whole campaign and it will remind you of some familiar events, but a lot of stuff that people haven't seen. I think the biggest thing is listening to the voters. I went to so many Trump rallies, you'll see Trump voters talking in this film from all over the country. They knew he was gonna win, and more importantly, I think in listening to them, I didn't pick it up clearly at the time, they knew why. They understood what his appeal was, better than the pundits, in explaining this is why the country is gonna vote for Donald Trump.
LAUER: Let me just tell people, this is fascinating. You can see Trumped tomorrow night, it airs on Showtime. Mark, thank you very much.
HALPERIN: Thank you both.
