Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on millions protesting against Trump’s agenda

Geoff Bennett:

Millions of people took to the streets throughout the country this weekend to protest President Donald Trump's agenda as the government shutdown enters its third full week with no clear resolution.

For more, we're joined by our Politics Monday duo. That's Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

It's always great to see you both.

Tamara Keith, National Public Radio:

Hello.

Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report:

Good to be here.

Geoff Bennett:

So, some seven million people, according to the organizers, they protested, demonstrated across some 2,500 cities. The president dismissed this weekend's massive protests. You see the images there from this past weekend. He dismissed them as a joke, saying that the people involved were not representative of the country.

Take a listen to what he had to say.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: I think it's a joke. I looked at the people. They're not representative of this country. And, by the way, I'm not a king. I'm not a king. I have worked my ass off to make our country great. That's all it is. I'm not a king at all.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA):

Congratulations. They didn't burn any buildings down. That's a big achievement for the left to have some kind of gathering where they don't have looting and riots and burn a building down.

Geoff Bennett:

Again, some seven million people, 2,500 cities. This clearly aggravated him a little bit.

Tamara Keith:

Yes. And part of President Trump's power in this second term has come from an air of invincibility, of inevitability, of having power and being able to use it.

And what these demonstrators showed, mostly what they showed each other, is that they aren't alone and that there are people who actually do oppose the president. He has — by sort of saying, ah, this isn't a big deal and all of that, he is — and also putting out a video, an A.I.-altered — or not altered, an A.I.-created video of himself flying a fighter jet with a crown on his head, much like a king, dropping what looks like excrement on protesters, he's trying to downplay something that is real and is a part of America.

Obviously, it's not all of America. It's not his part of America. He has repeatedly, by — during the government shutdown, for instance, saying, I'm going to defund Democrat things and Democrat states, to use the phrasing that he has used, he is essentially saying he's president for a different America.

Geoff Bennett:

And, Amy, it's not at all surprising that the president would dismiss these protests.

At the risk of defining them based on what the president had to say about them, I mean, what did they show? What did these demonstrations show?

Amy Walter:

Well, part of the frustration that Democrats have right now is with their own party. When we look at approval ratings of the Democratic Party and why they're so much lower than they have been in the past and lower than opinions about Republicans is that it's Democrats who say, we're not feeling so great about our party.

Part of the reason is that they're not winning. And they feel like, we keep losing. He keeps getting everything that he wants. The only way that I think Democrats will feel as if they're winning is to actually win something. And that — we have our first upcoming elections in about two weeks. New Jersey, Virginia have governor's races.

There's a ballot initiative in California, of course, on redistricting. That's an opportunity, if Democrats do sweep all three of those, for Democrats to feel as if they actually are making some difference in terms of where the voters are. It may not be where the social media is.

The other thing to note is that when you look at all the special elections that have taken place up until this point, many of them very small legislative districts, very low turnout, still, Democrats have been out performing how Harris did in those same areas by 15 points.

So when it comes to who shows up and vote, it may look very different from who shows up on social media, who shows up at rallies. And those are the numbers that really start to matter when it comes to the impact that it will have on governing and politics.

Geoff Bennett:

I want to come back to this issue of redistricting.

But, Tam, as we said, the shutdown is entering week three. Republican senators are set to meet with President Trump at the White House tomorrow to hold the line, as they say, as the shutdown drags on. Any sign that the Trump strategy here is shifting, evolving?

Tamara Keith:

No. No, there's not. There's no sign that anyone's strategy is evolving.

The House of Representatives is not in session this week once again. Just they haven't been in session all month while this government shutdown is happening. It is a government shutdown like none I have covered before, and I have covered many of them before. There just isn't any negotiating happening.

Nobody's looking for the off-ramp yet, and I think I may have said almost exactly the same thing last week. It's just stagnant.

Geoff Bennett:

Yes.

Well, if the shutdown continues to sort of play out as it is, and if Americans, more Americans, start to feel the pain — we already talked about this sort of wave of anti-Trump energy. When it comes to redistricting, can the GOP just redraw their way to victory, to change these maps and basically lock in victories?

Amy Walter:

So, when we look at The Cook Political Report at all the different things that are coming together, and I'm talking specifically about redistricting that's happening today in many of these states, there are simply more states where Republicans can redistrict than Democrats can.

At the end of the day, right now, we're saying somewhere between five and eight seats that we think that Republicans can net from this entire process. So that means, in order to win control of Congress, Democrats would need, instead of just winning three seats, they need to win eight to almost a dozen seats. That's important.

But I think about redistricting in this way. What Republicans are doing is each one of those districts is like a sandbag that they're building. They're kind of building a little wall here. And in a not-so-big storm, that may be enough to protect them. But if the political environment is really bad, like a Category 3 or 4 storm, even all of those sandbags may not be enough, because, remember, there are a lot of states that aren't redistricting.

And that's where many of these competitive seats are that Republicans currently hold, New York, New Jersey, Arizona.

Geoff Bennett:

And, Tam, as we wrap up our conversation here, let's talk about the demolition work that has started on the East Wing.

There were a couple of photos that were published by The Washington Post and then The New York Post that really just stopped us in our tracks, because you see there, active demolition work happening on the East Wing. If you were to take a private tour of the White House, this is where visitors would go. As you can see, it's being torn apart as the work begins on the $250 million ballroom that the president intends to build.

He had said before that the demolition work or rather the renovation work would not in any way affect the existing White House structure. That is clearly not true.

Tamara Keith:

The president seems to not believe that the East Wing is part of the White House. The White House has been emphasizing, the president is emphasizing, oh, the East Wing, it's been redone many times before, essentially saying that is not the most historic part of the White House.

This is a massive project. This is something that President Trump has been talking about wanting to do since at least as far back as 2010, when he was just a developer out on the outside. It is one of many things that he is doing to try to put an indelible stamp on the physical plant that is the White House.

If you look at the Rose Garden, which is now a patio, that looks a lot like the pool club at Mar-a-Lago, he is making this White House in an image that is very much a Trump establishment. And the ballroom, initially, they had said it would seat 650 people. Now they're saying 900. The president is saying 999.

So the project seems to have expanded and certainly it is — the demolition is happening and it's real.

Geoff Bennett:

And much like everything else with President Trump, he can do this unilaterally. There's no oversight, no public comment period. He just says, we're going to start the demolition on Monday, October 20.

Tamara Keith:

And because it is all being funded by private donors, including many who he celebrated at the White House last week at an event, it does not stop because the government is shut down because it is private funding.

Geoff Bennett:

Amy, I see you nodding your head, taking it all in.

Amy Walter:

Yes, exactly.

(Laughter)

Geoff Bennett:

OK, Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, our thanks to you both.

Tamara Keith:

You're welcome.

Amy Walter:

You're welcome.