Trump put the GOP’s 'worst nightmare' on display during latest campaign visit: NY Times reporter

During a panel discussion on MSNBC Friday afternoon, a New York Times reporter said Donald Trump's antics and comments during a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Thursday was a chilling reminder of what to expect if he becomes their 2024 presidential nominee.

Speaking with host Andrea Mitchell, the Times' Jeremy Peters pointed to the former president's physical embrace of a Jan 6th rioter Micki Larson-Olson, a QAnon supporter who was convicted last year of unlawful entry for her part in the siege of the Capitol.

For his part, Trump told the assembled reporters that Larson-Olson, who has called for former Vice President Mike Pence to be executed for treason, that he thinks she is "terrific."

"He [Trump] did lose New Hampshire in the general election in 2016 and in 2020; he did win the primary in 2016 there. What else did we hear?" host Mitchell asked.

"What you are hearing is a lot of the worst nightmare of Republicans who wish that Trump would move beyond 2020 and stop making his third bid for the presidency all about himself," the Times' Peters replied. "Polling has shown time and time again that when he sticks to his message about the economic strength and prosperity that the nation experienced when he was president, when he sticks to his messaging on the peace that, you know, we are not at war, Russia wasn't as war with Ukraine, the world was a more stable place. I mean these are all arguable points."

"But those are much more effective with voters and much more -- less backward-looking than the messaging around the so-called stolen election," he continued. "He can't help himself. You are going to continue to see this whitewashing of the history of what happened on January 6 and the 2020 presidential election."

"Trump has not figured out how to effectively attack President Biden, because, what pollsters and focus groups will tell you is, people don't hate Joe Biden," he continued. "Trump and the hard right insist that he is this contemptible criminal and it doesn't connect. That kind of messaging doesn't work beyond the hard-core Trump base."

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