[Berman:] Every shred of evidence points to a likely ass kicking in the fall. That remark a quote coming from one of many top Republican consultants on President Trump's chances of winning in November. My next guest got an inside look at what these strategists are saying about the president behind the scenes. Joining me now, former communications director for the Jeb Bush presidential campaign, Tim Miller. He's just published an article in "Rolling Stone" that explores the delimit. He's also a contributor to "The Bulwark." So people know, you are a self-proclaimed never Trumper but I still think you know some of the Republican secret handshakes which is why this article in "Rolling Stone" is so compelling because you talked to top strategists and asked them to level with you about the situation right now. What do they say about what they think the president's chances are and Republican chances are in November?
[Tim Miller, Contributor, "rolling Stone" Magazine:] Hey, John. Yes, I do I do know a couple of the secret handshakes and they still talk to me even though my status is a never Trumper. And what I heard is, I tried to talk to strategists who were working on Senate races, some of whom have put on the red hat and gone full MAGA, other of whom, you know, maybe privately harbor some dislike for the president. But the answers were the same pretty much across the board, which is, this is about as bad as it could get right now. The president's performance on the virus and the protests have brought down their candidates across the board. And right now they're looking at a very ugly November unless things rebound. But the problem is that they're stuck with him because the fact is that his ballot numbers above theirs in many cases and he's bringing them down with him..
[Berman:] So the polls are the polls. I think we all knew that the president's in a tough place right now. That was interesting.
[Miller:] Yes.
[Berman:] But what's really interesting is when you started asking them how they're going to handle it, given that the president might be such a problem with them. You asked them, OK, do you think it's worth splitting from him? And what did you find?
[Miller:] Nada. No. Never. I can't do it. And the answer was, you know, basically because the base voters of the president which is not the whole Republican Party, by the way, but about half of the party are with him so strongly that any sniff of distance from them means that they risk losing those voters. And so a number of strategists point to John Cornyn, for example, in Texas. They said he's quietly in trouble, which I think is off the radar right now. They said that the Cornyn is stuck with Trump. Even if he wanted to distance, which I'm not sure that there's any evidence that he does, but even if he wanted to he could because Trump is getting, quote, Saddam Hussein like numbers out in Lubbock, in west Texas, 25 percent of the state, and Cornyn is running like ten points behind him in that part of the state. And so if he does anything, even if he sniffs at criticizing the president, he risks losing these voters for whom loyalty to the president is the number one issue. As so as one strategist put it, you know, you have two options, you can either be on this hell ship with President Trump or in the water drowning. And so they all not only said that they're planning on sticking with him, but with one exception, they all said that they're not even talking about ways to distance him. It doesn't even come up as a possibility or something they're considering. That kind of even shocked me.
[Berman:] There's another interesting aspect to this and I think this is something that people need to hear.
[Miller:] Yes.
[Berman:] When you're talking to these Republican strategists, some of the president's antagonists or the president's targets are people of these strategists are perfectly happy to have as targets and antagonists. Can you explain that?
[Miller:] Yes, look, so here's the thing. I you know, because I tried to level with these, you know, strategists and say, hey, I mean why not distance with him a little bit? You know, why not, when he's gassing priests who are innocently protesting outside the White House, why not take that opportunity to step away? You know, why or, secondly, if you're not going to distance, why aren't you mad at him? Like when Mitt I was working in 2012 and when Mitt would mess up, and maybe the 47 percent thing, people got mad at him and got mad at the campaign. Why aren't you mad at Trump? The answer I got back from everybody is, Trump is Trump. You've got to deal with him. Who I'm mad at is John Berman and John Acosta for being mean to me. Who I'm mad at is the never Trumpers, like your friends at Republican Voters Against Trump and the Lincoln Project who are who are making my life harder. Who I'm mad at is the woke liberals who are who are, you know, making my friends and family think that I'm a racist for working for this party. I found that very interesting that they that even when even for strategists who night not find Trump to be their cup of tea when when you really dug into it and tried to figure out who is it that you're upset with, to a person, they're upset at the other guys and they're in line with Trump on that. And I think that explains, you know, a lot of the motivations and a lot of the kind of the anger that you see from Republicans on The Hill because they're frustrated with having with the media for holding them to account. They're not frustrated with Trump for putting them in this position.
[Berman:] I think that is
[Miller:] I think that's misguided, but that's what they all say.
[Berman:] It may be misguided but it is notable. I think it was important for you to find that out and bring it up.
[Miller:] Yes.
[Berman:] I do it didn't come out in the article, but I am curious
[Miller:] Yes.
[Berman:] This was written, and I imagine these discussions taking place over the last few weeks, when the pandemic, where it is
[Miller:] Yes.
[Berman:] Which is bad. But it's also getting worse. So what do these consultants do or think about if this continues to get worse? How do you run in an even worse situation than this in October and November?
[Miller:] Yes, maybe from lack of imagination, but, you know, once sentence as bad as it gets right now, I'm not sure that that's the case. It can always get you know, it's always darkest before completely black, as John McCain would say. I think these guys are stuck with him. I you know, at this point, they're pregnant. You know, they're past pregnant. You know, they're Trump kid is now running around just like, as a toddler now. And so, you know, I don't think they have any way out. You know, one said, look, what am I going to do in September, you know, after after my candidate said nothing, you know, during Charlottesville, after they said nothing, you know, when he's gassing protesters, said nothing about his mishandling of the pandemic, then I'm going to come out? You know, that's not going to seem that's going to seem disingenuous. And so I think the view is that these folks are stuck with him, with maybe a handful of exceptions of individual candidate who have their own personal brands, you know, and trust with voters. But, man, those are few and far between these days.
[Berman:] Tim Miller, we appreciate the discussion. It's a really interesting read. You will learn something by reading this full article. So everyone should go do it immediately. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
[Miller:] Thanks, Berman.
[Berman:] We've got a lot of news developing this morning, so CNN's coverage continues right after this.