Haberman reveals why Trump ignores his own team’s plea to stop voter revolt

President Donald Trump looks towards the demolished East Wing of the White House at the White House in Washington, D.C., January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

During a Monday morning appearance on MS NOW, author and journalist Maggie Haberman revealed that President Donald Trump's own team pleaded with him to address voter anxieties, but he has so far seemed content to ignore them as the midterms approach.

Haberman, fresh off the success of her Trump administration exposé, Regime Change, appeared as a guest during the latest edition of Morning Joe, where host Joe Scarborough pressed her about the president's evident disinterest in engaging with voter concerns, even as polling indicates that his approval numbers are cratering even in the traditionally conservative South.

"What I don't getis you look at those numbers inthe Deep South, -31 in Georgia,-25 in North Carolina, that'sjust for a guy from the Deep South, that's staggering to methat he's that low, even -22 inTexas. I didn't think I wouldever see that," Scarborough said. "And yet thepresident seems so oddlydisinterested. He's, as you said a couple of weeks ago, he'sfocused on construction projects and vengeance. Henever got out and campaignedfor the big, beautiful bill, asrepublicans called it. Hedoesn't talk aboutaffordability without mockingand ridiculing it. The thingthat I mean right now, my bigquestion is why is he sodisengaged from the fact there's an election coming up?"

In response, Haberman discussed a piece of internal polling that she and co-author Jonathan Swan obtained while writing their book. Conducted by Trump's "main pollster" Tony Fabrizio, and circulated to many of his advisers, which "was very clear on wherethe voters are on the economy."

"And it was... a warningthat Republicans and thepresident need to be honest,'HONEST' in all caps, about wherethings are," Haberman explained. "It's the end ofAugust. I don't think that thepresident has really turnedthat honest view around."

Haberman added that, for all he likes to tout economic success, discussion about the economy "bores" Trump, which is a well-known fact about him by those who have worked around him during his time in Washington, D.C. Now, despite the looming midterm disaster waiting for Republicans, Trump is more interested in doing the things he wants to do, rather than what he ought to do.

"This politicking,domestic politicking bores him," she added. "It was more interesting to himwhen it was rallies that wereabout him. It was moreinteresting to him when he wasfighting for what he would saywas survival, when he was very realistically facing prisontime during the first campaign,if he did not win, which he wasopen about with people inprivate conversations. And nowthis is the part where he wantsto do what he wants to do. Youknow, you and I both know,Joe, that often the questionwith him that people will askis, why does he do X, Y, Z? Andthe answer is often because hecan."

Haberman continued: "He has told people, and wewrote about this in the book,that he is proud Republicansdon't do as well when he's noton the ballot. He doesn't wantto get impeached again. Theydon't want a lot of oversight.He's not looking at this theway they did in 2018 or 2019. In 2018, he was sort ofindifferent to the fact thatDemocrats were probably goingto take the House and what thatcould mean for him. He has madevery clear he's going to pardonany number of people who havecome within a certain number offeet of the Oval Office. Idon't expect we are going tosee this government comply withsubpoenas in any meaningful way. And so the intensity of itfor him is very different thanit is, you know, for otherpeople in his government whodon't necessarily have the sameprotections."

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