How we know Donald Trump is freaking out about his disastrous poll numbers

September 23, 2026 - Jen Psaki points out that the last time Donald Trump lost his cool and tried to ban a member of the news media from the White House he had just been clobbered by a blue wave midterm and his political power was at a nadir. Polling shows him to be even worse off now than he was then. Jim Acosta, former chief White House correspondent for CNN who successfully challenged being banned from the White House in Trump's first term, joins to discuss why Trump's bad news makes him angry at the news media.

Jen Psaki explains that despite the importance of the visit to the United States by China's President Xi, the fuss Trump made to greet Xi was not covered by the TV press pool because of Donald Trump's decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Jay Carney, former White House press secretary, joins to discuss. 

Rep. Jamie Raskin joins Jen in the studio to talk about the many ways Donald Trump violates the U.S. constitution, from tearing apart the White House to attempting to interfere in states' elections.

To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.