MSNBC hosts call Trump voters selfish for voting according to own interests, beliefs

While pondering why President Donald Trump's overall approval rating has remained steady despite all the controversy surrounding his presidency, MSNBC hosts pointed to his voters' selfishness as the reason.

During an interview with liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, co-hosts Stephanie Ruhle and Ali Velshi speculated that Trump holds his supporters because they're only interested in their own benefit.

“While we could find or do find the president’s constant lying or lawlessness or reprehensible behavior morally unacceptable, a lot of people vote pretty selfishly, and they say, ‘What’s going to give me more money in my pockets?’ ” Ruhle said.

What do they mean?

During the segment, the co-hosts began the conversation by asking Steyer how they should view and discuss Trump's loyal support. In asking the question, however, they both loaded the conversation up with blanket assumptions about Trump's base, as Velshi piled on to Ruhle's initial point.

“Or what’s going to make abortion illegal, or what’s going to make sure that my Second Amendment rights stay the same, and clearly, that adds up to enough people that the president still has [the support of] something akin to 40 percent of the electorate in polls," Velshi added.

The implication of their comments is that conservatives who vote in favor of conservative issues are voting "pretty selfishly," however, they did not address whether the same was true of liberals who vote for liberal causes.

What was Steyer's take?

Steyer pointed to the economic part of the equation, saying that's what people care about and that, despite what the Trump administration might say, most people are struggling.

"When people talk about a successful economy, and that things are good, actually, for 80 percent of Americans, this isn't working, at all," Steyer said.

What do the numbers say?

A recent Gallup poll contradicts Steyer's claim that the economy "isn't working" for Americans. According to a poll taken between Aug. 1-12, 50 percent of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the economy, while 47 percent disapprove.

"In the six times Gallup has measured Trump approval on the issues, the economy has either been his best issue or tied for his best (with terrorism, which was not included in the current survey)," wrote Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones.

(H/T The Hill)