White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney thinks the impeachment process will turn into a huge political victory for President Trump, according to a new report.
In a senior staff meeting last week, Mulvaney reportedly said he believes the president could win 45 states in 2020, three sources who heard his prediction told Axios, noting that “he wasn’t joking or even exaggerating.”
- Mulvaney also believes that the longer the impeachment process drags on, the better it is, politically, for Trump, these sources added.
- Mulvaney did not stipulate which 5 states he thought Trump would still lose when he made these comments, a source who heard them said.
- His view appears to be based more on instinct than polling data. I have seen no polling that supports his prediction, and at this early stage, responsible polling analysts are extremely wary of predicting which party will benefit more from impeachment in 2020.
- But it's possible Mulvaney is echoing the ebullience emanating from the Trump campaign. They are raising breathtaking sums online by telling supporters to give money to help Trump fight the Democrats trying to impeach him. (Axios)
SCOOP: Mick Mulvaney has said in numerous recent meetings that he thinks Trump could win 45 states in 2020 after the impeachment process — a magnitude of landslide that few if any pollsters would dare predict. https://t.co/eUAWNUa5MW
— Axios (@axios) October 6, 2019
While the reports makes clear that "Mulvaney's view is far from a consensus in Trump's orbit," many Republicans believe the fundraising surge is a good sign for the GOP about where voters stand on impeachment. Brad Parscale, Trump's re-election campaign manager, said "the sudden flood of donations to President Trump’s reelection effort provides undeniable evidence that this impeachment gambit represents a massive miscalculation."
Indeed, in Michigan, the impeachment push is already backfiring among voters. And polling shows Trump's approval rating has jumped to its highest level of 2019.
Still, as Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told ABC News recently, "impeachment is unpredictable" and no one knows at this point how the chips will fall.
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