CNN chief national correspondent John King says Republican sources are reacting with disbelief to President Donald Trump's latest bid for self-enrichment.

Trump recently claimed inflation is "totally in control, and we've done a great job," while adding that "I haven't done a good job with is explaining it to people."

Pushing back on that framing, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said Thursday that "costs are not down. They're up. They're rising faster than they were when he took office." The president's approval numbers, Cooper added, suggest a growing number of voters "simply are not buying what he is selling the way they did at the start of his second term."

Citing the latest financial filings, Cooper said cryptocurrency ventures are putting more than $1 billion a year into the president's pocket, and he asked King whether voters are noticing how much Trump is enriching himself while in office. Trump's crypto ventures include World Liberty Financial, a platform he launched with his sons, and the $TRUMP memecoin released days before his January 2025 inauguration — projects that have drawn scrutiny from ethics watchdogs over the overlap between the presidency and his private business.

King said on Thursday's broadcast that it is not just voters who are noticing Trump's schemes — in early returns, some are beating down doors to vote against them.

"Among the most loyal Trump voters, I was texting a bunch of them today. Remember, a lot of them don't see these stories. They watch and live and breathe in the MAGA media ecosystem that doesn't tell them bad things or questionable things or ethical things about the president of United States," King told Cooper. "I texted our CNN story to several today. One said, 'this guy is out of his mind,' but then five minutes later texted me back: 'are you sure this [story] is legitimate?'"

The account, King said, struck at least one recipient as so improbable that the voter needed reassurance it was not "fake news."

King also recounted a conversation with a voter in the closely contested state of Georgia who said she had "invested in two of Trump's crypto funds and lost about $20,000."

"She blames the president for that, and she's mad at the Republicans," said King. "Now she's planning to vote Democrat for Senate in a very big race there in Georgia."

"The most important group, Anderson, are those Republicans who voted for Trump maybe twice," King added. "Or they voted Trump, Biden and then back to Trump because they thought he would fix the economy."

Those voters, according to the people King had been in contact with, say the president "is not focused on what they care about most. They think he's just lost, that he's doing things that are all about him and not about them."

Democrats, meanwhile, are energized this election cycle, King said.

"When you talk to Democrats, 'grift' is a word that comes up often, and they are highly motivated by it. Don't get me wrong: 'affordability' is the biggest issue in this election. But Democrats who already didn't like Trump think he is using his office to enrich himself. And they are highly motivated. And they say that's the reason they will run through a brick wall to vote on Election Day," King said.

Source: Alternet