McCaskill: Trump ‘Knows Our Country Better Than We Do’ — His Appeal to Anger Won

MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill, a former Democratic U.S. Senator for Missouri, said Wednesday on “Morning Joe” that President-Elect Donald Trump knew our country better than Democrats.

McCaskill said, “I think we have to acknowledge that Donald Trump knows our country better than we do. I think he figured out that anger — and frankly, fear — were way more powerful than appealing to people’s better angels. That anger and fear were going to work in this election. Whether you’re afraid of immigrants or afraid of people who are trans, he figured that out. And I think we all thought everyone’s better angels would prevail. Turns out, the better angels went on vacation when Donald Trump came down the escalator. And they haven’t returned.”

She added, “By the way, his persecution, majority of America believes he was persecuted not prosecuted. There’s no question that our grip on hey, we got to make those same rules apply to every American, no matter who you are, turns out that’s not true. America believed, majority of Americans believed he was a victim in those prosecutions, not a perpetrator and I think that’s something that will be talked for a long time. Books will be written about it. The assassination attempt helped. Where he made up the most ground, first with hispanic voters, knowing how he’s talked about hispanic people in this campaign, let that sit for a moment. The second one was in fact in urban areas, he did much better, that was the second area he did much better and the last one was young voters. The Democratic Party was so sure that young people would reject this guy because they see a different America than he does, turns out he appealed to their grievance and their anger and their fear just as much as he was appealing to white folks in rural America that aren’t college educated.”

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