Chuck Todd: GOP's "Give Us More Time" Message Concedes Voters Aren't Feeling Any Benefits From The Trump Agenda
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/09/25/chuck_todd_gops_give_us_more_time_message_concedes_voters_arent_feeling_any_benefits_from_the_trump_agenda.html

Podcaster Chuck Todd argues that the recent messaging from JD Vance, John Thune, and Tim Scott reflects an acknowledgment that voters are unhappy with the current economic environment.

CHUCK TODD: There's three leaders recently, J.D. Vance, the vice president, John Thune, and the Senate Republican leader, and Tim Scott, who is running the NRSC, the campaign arm for Senate Republicans. And they all made comments this week that were some form of, just give us more time. It's not over yet. Nobody was talking about the polls are wrong.

There's nothing to see here. Things are going swimmingly. And it's, in some ways, the talk, the chatter you're getting out of Scott, Vance, and Thune actually is a form of desperation.

Let me get into the details a little bit. So J.D. Vance earlier this week is out there telling voters that, look, there's more work to do. It's going to take more time to recover.

I've heard this messaging before. And that Republicans need the support of the American people to, quote, finish the job. So think about, and his words here were, more work to do, take more time, finish the job.

Now on one hand, it's a form of humility, right? It's admitting this is a Trump, right? Trump could not accept the premise that things aren't working at the moment.

Vance in his own way is accepting the premise. He gets it. Hey, people aren't feeling good.

They don't like this economy. He's trying to say, hey, we're trying to fix it. And in his, with, you know, kind of, you know, this was a couple of weeks ago, he was directly trying to say, this is still Biden's economy.

Nobody's buying that anymore. Now everybody understands, no, the Iran war is what has really accelerated what is this inflationary environment. But it's the closest form of humility you're going to get out of the Trump West Wing, right, is what Vance is doing.

But it is also an admission, right? If voters were already feeling the benefits of the Trump agenda, you wouldn't have to tell voters to give it more time. You'd be saying, look around, look at what we did.

You're better off. Instead, Vance's argument is essentially, we know you're not feeling it yet. Just give us another chance.

And he's not alone, right? John Thune talked about the Trump agenda and the big, beautiful bill as, you know, Republicans have set us up for success. That's future tense.

Doesn't mean we're feeling the success yet. And it was, this was with Sean Hannity. He's talking to the base and he cannot bring himself to essentially pretend things are better than they actually are.