'They feel it': Strategist says Republicans know their darkest fear has come to pass

Democratic James Carville said the nation is clearly losing patience with President Donald Trump, and even Republican voters are finding themselves less and less beholden to the man — even if they are loathe to admit it.

He said on his Wednesday “Politics War Room” podcast that many Republican and MAGA voters appear to be bidding a fond farewell to Trump as they cast their eye to a new cult leader.

Nowhere was this clearer, said Carville, than in the South Carolina primaries this week, as State Sen. Darline Graham failed to clinch the primary after Trump offered her a full-throated endorsement. Now she faces a second grueling run-off against Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, a conservative hard-liner who had previously run for governor.

Republican voters expressed doubt about Graham in earlier surveys, with one Trump voter saying “she has a master's and she's helped people that are blind and she's a lovely woman advocate. But I don't feel like she has the experience.”

“With Trump, it's kind of like he wants her to take his place because I almost feel like he feels like he can just mold her into doing whatever he wants,” complained another Trump voter. “… It was kind of like, ‘well, let's get her in there and, you know, she'll do what I want.’”

Carville himself acknowledged in conversations with Republicans that Graham appeared to be a “hard” sell after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster temporarily appointed Sen. Lindsey Graham's younger sister to the GOP senator's seat following his unexpected July death.

He added that Trump’s endorsement appeared to deliver diminishing returns as the president’s popularity continued to crater.

“The most under covered story in American politics today is Trump’s Republican approval numbers. They keep falling,” said Carville on Wednesday. “I think it’s coming in at 80 now in most polls, which is significantly lower than 95. For the last 10- years it’s been Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, and the country is starting to turn away from him.”

His polling numbers are down but he’s just becoming less relevant in peoples’ minds and I think that applies to Republican primary voters in South Carolina. I think every day his endorsements lose a tenth of a point of influence,” Carville added.

“It sure did in Minnesota,” said show co-host Al Hunt, referring to the crash and burn gubernatorial campaign of Trump endorsee Mike Lindell.

“They can feel it,” said Carville. “Even the Trump MAGA people, they’re becoming less attached.”

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