As part of a Vice News Tonight special on President Donald Trump‘s first year in office airing Friday night on HBO, Republican pollster Frank Luntz spoke to a focus group of Trump supporters. The conversation quickly devolved into yelling and conspiracy accusations, much to Luntz’s chagrin.
Frank Luntz started his focus group by qualifying that every person in the room voted for Trump. Luntz told the group, “Some of you voted for him for different reasons. Some of you did not like Hillary Clinton. Some of you loved him. Some of you think he has done much better than you expected. Some of you think that he has disappointed you. Did you vote for Trump because of where he stood on the issues, or because of his attributes and character traits? How many of you voted on the issues?”
One of the participants claimed she didn’t get the change she was looking for. Her biggest gripe was that she hasn’t gotten the health care she wanted. One of the members reminded her that it wasn’t Trump’s fault, health care fell apart because of Congress’ inability to get repeal and replace Obamacare.
Another member of the group chimed in, “Jerusalem’s the capital of Israel.”
How many of you would vote for him again?
Every person but one raised their hand.
“I’m not one of the cult members who thinks everything he does is wonderful,” focus group member Paul Allen Kroll, an electrician, said. “Trump was right. He could literally kill somebody on Fifth Avenue, you would still love him.”
“Hillary’s already killed people,” another group member shot back.
One of the members pointed out that because of Trump, black unemployment is historically low. He also pointed out the high unemployment numbers during Obama’s presidency.
The electrician, Paul Allen Kroll, quickly jumped to racism as the reason he pointed out that black unemployment was high under Obama.
One woman spoke out about his “nasty” tweets, yet said she’d still vote for him again.
An educator stepped up to say she thinks his tweets are “brilliant.” She then went on to say, “I think he’s the best president we’ve ever had.”
“In one year?” Luntz asked incredulously.
“In one year,” she replied.
"I think he's the best president we've ever had."
"Hold on—hold on. The best president we've ever had?"
"The best president we've ever had."
"In one year?"
"In one year."
See our special on Trump's first year, tonight at 7:30PM on @HBO pic.twitter.com/Ixytyyd4xF
— Colin Jones (@colinjones) January 19, 2018
h/t Mediaite