so this is the textbook case of the republican trump trap, where a candidate like ron desantis performs for a republican primary audience, but then, puts himself at risk. let s say he makes it through, let s say donald trump goes to jail, and ron desantis becomes a republican nominee. then he has to face general election voters, and explain why he thought it was okay with donald trump did, and that it s the justice department, and law enforcement that is actually wrong here. that is what happened to candidates in the midterm elections in 2022. that is why they lost. because they were to align to donald trump. they were perceived as being too radical. so desantis is trying to signal to trump, i m okay, i m one of you. but that can end up costing him if he actually makes it. and to carlos s point, is there really a risk of true manga dying hearts actually saying, no, this is not a politicization of an administrative arm like the doj?
it s not a surprising move, but one that gave an opening to his rivals who gathered for a big early test at the iowa state fairgrounds over the weekend. ron desantis, mike pence and nikki haley all hammered the former president. does it show they re willing to stand up to trump, or are they falling into a trump trap by responding to what he has to say rather than focusing on issues of their own? robert gibbs is former white house press secretary under president obama and msnbc political analyst. david jolly is back with us, and nbc s vaughn hillyard joins me here after a weekend in iowa covering this growing field. okay. never a dull moment when you get all those candidates together this early. tell me about iowa. at this cattle call event they were echoing off one another and didn t have to worry about the big man being in the corner of the room to go yell at them or send his fleet of maga supporters to run to the other side and shut them down. there were no shouts of trump in the r
trump. just as trump s legal issues grow more precarious, his political challenges are also growing more complicated. his republican opponents testing new ways to take him down, but do they risk focusing too much on the former president? we ll explain the trump trap coming up. take a look at this. u.s. and chinese warships coming heartstoppingly close to coming close to the coast of taiwan. both sides warning a military confrontation would be a, quote, disaster for the world. we re on the verge of a decision that could drag the country into uncharted territory as new clues indicate we could soon find out if special counsel jack smith is going to do something that s never been done before, charge a sitting or former president with a federal crime. nbc news learned that the grand jury investigating donald trump s handling of classified documents will be back in session this week after they ve been on hiatus. in fact, nbc news has confirmed
vision and message, it did not play well for them i wonder if you think that thi will play well for republica voters and a primary, even i it does, if it plays in general and leads th opportunity for a candidate we have not yet seen to step into the race with an actua positive vision of this amazin country and that movement? alicia, this is the trump trap that republicans keep falling into you re right to look back at the 2022 elections to clea lessons from all of this what happened in 2022? yes, this would work wit republican based voters. those voters are motivated b fear, by anger and those voter turn out in a republican primary and elect candidates who could not connect with centrists and swing voters i the country. these messages of fear and hatred and anger, they d
this is the trump trap that republicans keep falling into. you are right to look back a the 2022 elections to glea lessons from all of this what happened in 2022? yes, this does work with republican based voters. those voters are motivated b fear, by anger, and thos voters turnout in republican primaries and electe candidates who could not connect with the centrist an swing voters in this country these messages of fear, of hatred, of anger, they d motivate some voters they don t motivate the type of voters who actually decid elections. republicans from ron desanti nicotine alien everyone in between are falling into the trap again they are following donald trum even when they are running against him. it is a poor strategy. it s a strategy which is doome