Chuck Todd: Trump’s ‘Desperation’ Shows He ‘Expects To Lose’

On NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, host Chuck Todd said President Trump’s suggestion that the date of the November election be moved was “the most un-American and un-democratic of suggestions” and “had the scent of a president who was seeking a distraction from the terrible economic news, a president whose desperation makes him even more unpredictable.”

In his tweet, the president tried—without evidence—to connect mail-in voting (which has been ramped up due to the coronavirus’ impact on public gatherings) with voter fraud. As he opened Meet the Press, Todd said that suggestion—which was quickly condemned even by Republican supporters of the president—showed Trump to be “a president who expects to lose…a man who believes the more the virus spins out of control, the more his presidency does, too.”

If President Trump watches the Sunday morning shows—or any broadcast and cable news beyond his favorites on Fox News Channel—he certainly can’t be liking what he sees. In recent weeks, the president’s handling of the pandemic, his refusal to pay respects to Congressman John Lewis, and his assertions—in the face of facts—that “we are winning the fight against an invisible enemy” have led to unusually critical commentary about an American president.

Last week, on his MSNBC show MTP Daily, Todd noted that Trump’s “fixation” on voter fraud seemed focused on creating doubt in the minds of voters about the results of the 2020 presidential election. “This will be catastrophic for our nation,” Trump said, saying the ‘real’ results of the November vote may not be known for months, years—if ever.

“What would he be saying if he were leading in the polls right now,” Todd said. “Ask yourself that question.”

Fox News Sunday’s one-on-one interview with the president made news for Chris Wallace’s tough questioning, including pressing Trump on his claim that he had done very well on a cognitive test that led to weeks of ridicule.

And two weeks ago on Meet the Press, Chuck Todd opened the broadcast by saying “we are the richest country in human history with an unmatched medical infrastructure and a literate, educated populace, yet today we stand uniquely helpless among industrialized countries in the fight against Covid-19. A world that once looked up to us to do the impossible now averts its eyes over our failure to do the possible.”