Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman has acknowledged that he should have challenged President Donald Trump during a recent interview when the president claimed his low approval ratings and voter dissatisfaction are unrelated to him personally. The acknowledgement is notable given the intensifying debate within political journalism over how aggressively interviewers should push back on false or misleading claims from elected officials in real time — a question that has grown more pressing as news outlets compete for access to the president.

Speaking on the MS NOW program — with anchor Eugene Daniels filling in for Katy Tur — Sherman reflected on the exchange, which took place during a Punchbowl News interview with the president. Punchbowl News, founded in 2021 by veteran Capitol Hill reporters including Sherman, Anna Palmer, and John Bresnahan, has built its brand around direct access to top lawmakers and power players. During that interview, Trump told Sherman: "I've had some great polls recently, real polls, but they're great polls." That assertion conflicts with most established polling, which places the president's unpopularity at historically high levels.

Trump went on to insist that voters' anger is directed at the Republican Party broadly, rather than at him. "Because a lot of them are very angry at Republicans, to be honest with you… I don't know, I mean, they're angry at Republicans, but they're not angry at me. They're not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans," Trump said.

"Let me tell you, my one regret from that interview… was not pushing back there because the president's approval ratings are not good," Sherman said. "My central takeaway from that was that he believes that voters are angry at Republicans. I mean, he also said they're not angry at him, which I think is not the truth. Obviously, I think they are angry at him. And I think polls continue to bear that out."

Sherman noted that even Trump acknowledged Republicans are absorbing the bulk of public discontent heading into the midterm elections — but attributed that only to the fact that Trump himself is not on the ballot.

Sherman suggested Trump appears to not fully grasp the potential consequences for his party. The midterm elections have long been a bellwether for voter sentiment on a sitting president's agenda, and the president's party has historically fared poorly in midterms — a pattern political analysts have observed for decades. "The midterm for a president in power when his party controls the House is historically bad… and Trump almost doesn't accept that," Sherman said. "He says, 'Well, I've done a good job. Why should I be? You know, why would it happen to me?' And that's his view. And I think that the winds are howling in his face. And in order to beat what is otherwise a historical trend something extraordinary would have to happen. And Republicans are effectively banking on having passed one tax cut bill. Plus, now they have a war which is tremendously unpopular."

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, also speaking on the MS NOW panel, argued that Trump should prepare for diminished influence over Congress after November. Steele served as RNC chairman from 2009 to 2011, a period that saw the Tea Party wave deliver major Republican gains in the 2010 midterms during President Obama's first term — a dynamic Steele has frequently referenced in his commentary.

"It's too late because voters have now made up their minds about you. This election is baked, people," Steele said. "I said a year ago the Senate would be in play. Why? Because I know my team. I know my team with this leader are going to do exactly what they've done to put themselves in the position where they squander the Senate, and they have no one else to blame but one person, and that's Donald Trump. And they're not man or woman enough to do that."

Steele went on to criticize Senate Republicans for confirming nominees he characterized as unqualified. "So how do you expect [Republicans] to do the principal thing?" Steele demanded. "Like, stop someone like [controversial AG nominee Todd] Blanche, along with [National Intelligence Director Jay] Clayton, along with other unqualified nominees that have come before them, that they've passed on. So, you've made the bed, baby. It's loaded with lice and ticks and all kind of vermin, and it's all yours."