Demonstrators rally in support of Donald Trump outside the US embassy in Pretoria in February after he accused South Africa of persecuting Afrikaners. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
President Donald Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles is still mitigating fallout after her profile in Vanity Fair. Speaking about it on CNN one commentator said that it's clear Wiles is trying to do damage control after she and the White House "betrayed" the MAGA base.
During a panel discussion Wednesday, Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky said "nothing is going well for" Trump this week.
"And the biggest issue here that I think is not going well for him is that Vanity Fair is the epitome of the coastal elites that he has been deriding for his movement for the last ten years. And if you're some MAGA person who believed in Donald Trump and thought that Donald Trump was standing up to the MAGA elites for you," she began telling Trump followers.
"What you realize after reading that article is that every single person in Donald Trump's inner orbit rushed to pose for Vanity Fair, rushed to talk to Vanity Fair, rushed to suck up to Vanity Fair the same people that host the Oscar parties, the same people that lunch at Michael's, the same people who have no time for your typical MAGA adherent," she continued.
Looking directly into the camera, Roginsky told Trump's followers, "He betrayed you, MAGA. Like — he betrayed you. Look at me. He only wants to get in with the same coastal elites that he derided. And you saw that when you saw all of these people posing for these flashy, wonderful, Oscar-worthy photographs like they were George Clooney and Amal Clooney. It's a joke."
Political commentator S.E. Cupp explained that for Wiles, every moment she and the team spends with a reporter is another chance for them to "step in it."
"We can remember this doesn'tusually work out well, becauseevery second you spend with areporter is another opportunity," Cupp said, noting the more comfortable a subject becomes the more likely they are to let their ego fly free.
"It's hubris.It's feeling like I'm smarterand I can control thisnarrative, not in 11 interviews.You can't," Cupp said.