GOP strategist Ana Navarro thinks it's about time for someone to have a little talk with President Trump about "taking his job seriously." "I think the solution is very simple: Start telling the truth. Start taking your job seriously, stop exaggerating, stop outright lying and then repeating it over and over and over again," Navarro said Tuesday on CNN's New Day. "I think the people around him ... need to tell him 'You are no longer the host of The Apprentice. You are not a used car salesman. You are the president of the United States.'"
Navarro's remarks were made in light of a recent CNN poll that revealed that just 24 percent of Americans trust the Trump administration, while 73 percent have some hesitations about its truthfulness. Navarro argued that if Trump is going to improve those numbers, he's going to have to start being more truthful. "We need to believe our president when he stands behind that podium and speaks to us," Navarro said.
But Matt Schlapp, a former political director to former President George W. Bush, disagreed with Navarro's "whole premise." He argued that Trump is "authentic" and attributed the credibility issue to the deep polarization of American politics.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But Navarro wasn't buying it. "This is not about policy disagreements," she said, pointing to Trump's baseless claims about voter fraud and his exaggerations about crowd sizes. Watch the exchange below. Becca Stanek
-
Political cartoons for January 19Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Greenland tariffs, fighting the Fed, and more
-
Spain’s deadly high-speed train crashThe Explainer The country experienced its worst rail accident since 2013, with the death toll of 39 ‘not yet final’
-
Can Starmer continue to walk the Trump tightrope?Today's Big Question PM condemns US tariff threat but is less confrontational than some European allies
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
