Trump Rants & Raves, Hits Rock Bottom Approval, Gop Blames Biden for Economy: a Closer Look

-JD Vance hit the campaign trail despite record low approval ratings and only made things worse for Republicans. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is obsessed with how hot a GOP candidate is. For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look." ♪♪ Donald Trump's been hitting the campaign trail almost entirely in deep red states like Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Alabama because he's so unpopular everywhere else. This week he was in Kansas campaigning for GOP Senator Roger Marshall, who's in a tight re-election contest that's essentially tied, which is crazy. Kansas hasn't elected a Democratic senator in almost a hundred years. A hundred years! The last time a Democrat from Kansas was sworn in, they were shown around the building by a young Mitch McConnell. [ Laughter ] [ As McConnell ] "Oh, here's a good place to park your horse and buggy." [ Laughter ] But Trump would have you believe he's only spending time in Kansas because people there love him, not because of the polls, which are fake. -I'm going to Kansas because I won it by a lot. And the great senator, and he's a great senator, Roger Marshall, he's one of the best senators. He's, uh, I think he's tied or up by a little bit according to polls. Look, the polls are fake, but according to polls. So I want to make sure Roger Marshall gets in. -If the polls are fake and you're not worried, why are you running there to campaign? You're like a guy running out of a burning building screaming, "The fake fire alarm is at it again!" The real issue here is that Donald Trump might no longer be able to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake, be it polls or anything else, as evidenced by this video taken Monday, where he seems to be waving at someone before boarding Marine One, only for the camera to zoom out and reveal that no one was there. [ Laughter ] My god. When the helicopter pilot saw that, he probably wanted to call in a new flight plan. "Hey. Yeah, this is Marine One. We're gonna scrap Kansas and head straight for the Whispering Pines Retirement Home." Now, Trump was probably waving to the people doing construction on the White House ballroom. We're getting a White House ballroom? Huh! I feel like -- I feel like he should have said something about that. But that doesn't make the camera work any less hilarious. And we have been getting some sitcom level camerawork lately. Just a few weeks ago, MS NOW zoomed in on Katie Britt during the Jack Smith hearing when she realized how badly things were going. -I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where Caitlin Clark was playing, uh, right around that time. And the marshal service was there with me. -I mean, that's probably the same face she made when she saw President Trump wave to no one. [ Laughter ] The point is, Trump loves -- he loves going to rallies. One, because unlike on the helipad, he's not the only one who can see the people. And two, he gets to talk uninterrupted. And he's landed on an interesting way of describing his performances at those rallies. -We had an amazing rally last night. Kansas. I think Roger Marshall was helped a lot last night. I've done a lot of rallies in the last week, and I guess we're up to 10 or 11, and it's not easy to stand up there for two hours ranting and raving. -You know -- -[ Laughter ] -You know, you don't have to go for two hours. They're rallies. They're not feats of endurance. You're the only one who wants to treat these things like dance marathons from the 1920s. And if you think it's hard to rant and rave for two hours, try listening to someone do it for two hours. Every Trump rally feels the same as if someone walked onto the subway and said, "I have a lot of ideas about stuff!" immediately followed by an announcement saying. "Attention everyone, we're currently being held due to a signal delay. We apologize for the inconvenience and enjoy the ranting and the raving." The polls have made it clear that a top issue for voters right now is the price of gas. 71% say it's too high. But the GOP has a plan. They're going to fix high gas prices by ending the war in Iran and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. And I'm just kidding. They're blaming Joe Biden. -That's actually the biggest reason why gas prices are so high is because when Joe Biden was president, we had about 20% of American refining capacity that went offline. We're slowly bringing that online, but it does take a little bit of time. -You guys have to stop talking about Joe Biden. Most people don't even remember that he was president. Biden probably doesn't even remember that he was president. If you went up to Joe Biden today and asked him what it was like being president, this is the face he would make. [ As Biden ] "Ah! What? Who, me? Oh, you got the wrong guy, Jack. If I'm president of anything, it's the Amtrak Fan Club." If we remember Joe Biden for anything, it's for being vice president. You know, the guy who used to do finger guns behind Barack Obama at the State of the Union. That's my Joe Biden, riding shotgun with Obama acting like he's in the owner's box at a Dallas Cowboys game. [ As Biden ] "Hey, Gary, you son of a bitch. If the Commanders score, you're buying brewskies!" Also, this is such a shameless lie. You want us to believe that a spike in gas prices that started in March of 2026 was because of a drop in refining capacity under Joe Biden, whose presidency ended in January 2025, and not because of the Iran war that Donald Trump started in February of 2026. That's like walking out of a bathroom and saying, "Hey, everyone, I think some guy clogged the toilet 14 months ago. Yeah, 14 months ago, it wasn't me. It was some other guy." And they're like, "What guy?" You're like, "That guy over there. I'll wave to him." [ Laughter ] [ Cheers and applause ] "You guys saw him, right? You guys see him? Just me?" The Trump team promised the Iran war would end quickly, and Vance himself said high gas prices would be a temporary blip. And now voters are furious. So what happened? -The war in Iran has gone on much longer than I think a lot of people expected. Certainly people in the administration. I have really just one big question on Iran. Why haven't we won decisively? -Well, Tony, I would say in some ways we have won decisively. -No, that's not how it works. If something is decisive, it can't be true only in some ways. You either win decisively or you haven't won decisively. "Some ways" doesn't apply to all words. If you went to an ultrasound and your doctor said, "You know, in some ways you actually are pregnant." [ Laughter ] You definitely want to know all the ways you weren't. You'd be like, "Is it a baby or not?" He's like, "Oh no, it looks like you just had a big lunch." [ Laughter ] But that's Vance's whole thing. It's his only skill, to lie without shame. The problem is voters are catching on and they really don't like it. -Just take a look at J.D. Vance's net favorability rating. You go back to the beginning of his vice presidency. You could see it right here. He was three points above water, but down he goes to -15 points. The lowest number on your screen among Republican vice presidents is J.D. Vance's -15 points here. Mike Pence was actually above water, +1. So J.D. Vance, by far the least popular Republican vice president at this point in a vice presidency. -Oh my God, J.D. Vance is less popular than Mike Pence. And don't forget, Republicans tried to kill that guy. In some ways, it doesn't surprise me that Vance is so unpopular. He's got the integrity of a used car salesman and the charisma of a wet ham. Dude's got -- [ Laughter ] I didn't think, I didn't think we were going to show a picture of wet ham. [ Laughter ] But it does -- I mean, it's pretty close. He's a horrible campaigner. This is actually -- thank you. This is something he actually said. JD Vance actually said last month during a rally in North Carolina. -Because we need somebody who will fight back against the fart left, we need Michael Whatley in the United States Senate. Now, you may not have even heard that, but I actually -- I usually don't misspeak, but I just called them the fart left, not the far left. That -- I promise that was an accident. So the fake news who will accuse me of bad language, I promise I did not mean to call them the fart left. I meant to call them the far left. -First of all, you think that's bad language, you (bleep) dip-(bleep)? "Fart left"? You're like a seven year old doing stand-up at an open mic night. "Uh. Knock, knock. Who's there? Fart. Fart who?" [ Blows raspberry ] "Oh, does that trigger you libs?" Say what you will about Trump, but at least he's got better material than this. If he wanted to accuse someone of farting, he would just do it. [ As Trump ] "RFK, you ever sit next to that guy on a flight?" It's no bargain. His diet's roadkill and creatine. It smells so bad. I started wearing a mask. One time, he came up to me, big RFK, strong RFK, tears pouring from his dead eyes onto his plateful of skunk meat. And he said to me, he said, 'Mr. President, sir...'" -[ Fart ] [ Laughter ] The point is -- that's the same sound it makes when you shuffle wet ham. [ Laughter ] The point is, high gas prices are killing Republicans in the polls, which is why Trump is desperately scrounging for diesel anywhere he can get it, even if it means betraying our allies. -President Trump saying he's made a deal with Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel fuel to the U.S. -Now, the Trump administration is hoping an injection of diesel will help bring down prices. But experts say that immediate release of 300,000 tons of diesel would have a very little effect or impact on prices long term. -President Trump came into office with a mandate to work for the American people. And this is good for the American people. And, you know, bringing these diesel prices down. -You guys are the ones who made them go up in the first place! It's not a brag to say you're bringing them down. That's like coming home to your spouse and saying, "Good news. I ended things with my assistant, Lisa." And she's like, "You were cheating on me with Lisa?" And you're like, "Yes, but now I'm not cheating on you. You're welcome. Oh, hold on, I gotta take this. It's Jennifer." Maybe I'm being too harsh. Let's hear from Vance, the GOP's secret weapon, the guy Republicans are trusting to turn their fortunes around. Maybe JD has a more convincing message about how the Trump administration is handling the economy. -The Democrats talk a lot about the affordability crisis in the United States of America. And yes, there is an affordability crisis, one created by Joe Biden's policies. You don't turn the Titanic around overnight. -Yeah, you remember the Titanic, the ship that famously turned around. [ Laughter ] That thing was a (Bleep) Tilt-a-whirl, just... I'll never forget the scene where Leo had to hold Kate over the edge right before she puked from the spinning. You can just feel the desperation radiating off the Trump team. Things are bad. Trump doesn't want anyone to ask him about it, and if you do, he'll snap at you the way he snapped at reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. -Sir, on Ukraine, do you believe that -- -Shh. We -- no, no. Wait. Wait. -Do you believe -- -Wait! Listen to you. Hey. I'm not playing. You better, you better, I don't know who the hell you are, but you better be careful. -You own a lot of golf course-- -Wait, wait, wait. Quiet. Quiet! What's wrong with you? Are you a sick person? -Alright, first of all, "Not that I know of" is a very funny response to the question "Are you a sick person?" [ Laughter ] It implies that you could be a sick person. You just don't know it. -[ Laughter ] -Not that I know of, but I am choosing to spend my time here with you, so who the (bleep) knows? Second, you can't ask someone else if they're a sick person if you describe yourself as ranting and raving. I mean, were you trying to yell at him or were you trying to connect? [ As Trump ] "Are you a sick person? Because I'd love to add you to a text chain I started of like and sick minded people." Trump's much calmer and much happier when he's at one of his rallies, like when he's campaigning for GOP Senate candidate Jon Husted. Trump's been talking at length about the ways in which Husted will improve the lives of Ohio residents. Wait. Sorry, I read that wrong. Trump keeps talking about how (bleep) hot he is. -I don't do this with men very often. I started examining his body because I didn't know he was a great athlete. And I looked and I watched up and down. I looked at his ass. I stood right over here and I examined his ass. I never did that with... No, I never did that with a man before. I examined his ass and then I looked at his shoulders. I looked at his feet. I looked at his hand. I looked at his jawline. I'm studying his body. I've never studied the body of a man before. But I looked at his ass. And then I looked at his legs and in my -- I said, his ass is -- It's like -- it's like a pile of muscle. -You maybe want to talk about gas or grocery prices, something people actually care about, or you just want us to vote based on the tightness of a candidate's ass? Because if you want to go down that road, Dems got some hunks, my man. [ Cheers and applause ] Donald Trump and JD Vance are crisscrossing the country to campaign for Republicans. But there's just one problem. Nobody likes them. They're both wildly unpopular. Vance thinks he's helping Republicans by blaming Joe Biden and comparing the economy to the Titanic. But in reality, he's just reminding people that he's a giant -- -Ass. This has been "A Closer Look." [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪