Democrat Representative Eric Swalwell said that the Democrats lost the 2016 election because they are out of touch with voters, not at the hands of Russia’s alleged interference or James Comey’s actions, on MSNBC Sunday.
Kasie Hunt, the host of the show, said to the congressman, “Democrats are essentially saying, ‘we can’t talk about impeachment, that’s a losing argument for us in the midterms, we have to let the investigation run its course’… we can’t do this if we don’t have support”
The representative from California’s fifteenth district responded by changing the conversation to the 2016 election.
Rep Swalwell said, “We’re missing the message that the voters sent in 2016, cause I still think that absent Russia, absent James Comey, we probably still lose.”
He went on to say, “There are a lot off people who felt disconnected from opportunity that they weren’t doing better, that their kids weren’t going to do better than them and if were only focused on [Russia and Comey] were not talking to those voters.”
The comment took responsibility for the Democratic loss in 2016, instead of blaming it on the alleged Russia meddling in the election and Comey’s letter to Congress a week before the election.
The show host pushed back on Swalwell’s remarks, asking, “I take your point but do you think you need to find some sort of middle ground messaging on Mueller and Russia that maybe it’s not impeachment but right now you’re basically saying ‘we can’t talk about impeachment let’s talk about other things’?”
The Democrat representative responded by saying, “It’s about corruption.”