MSNBC Contributor Asks Who Donald Trump Is Good For, Other Than 'Skinheads' and 'the Far, Far Right'

MSNBC contributor Donny Deutsch questioned who is benefitting from the policies promoted by President Donald Trump aside from "some skinheads and people on the far, far right."

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe Friday, Deutsch spoke about the impeachment inquiry hearing and asked how Trump's support numbers align with his policies.

"The other thing I want to ask that's interesting with these people who continue to support him. Who is Donald Trump good for now? Other than some skinheads and people on the far, far right, if you look at what's happening economically, if you look at the trade war...basically he's not going to get any legislation through, you start to go where is that — who's making up that 38, 39, 40 percent. Of course, even if you go back to the basic kitchen table issues, is he really working for anybody at this point?"

Critics, including researchers documenting the far right, have said that Trump is emboldening white nationalists. The rebukes date back before the start of Trump's campaign, when the president disparaged Mexicans while announcing his presidential run.

His response to the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, prompted an outpouring of criticism. After a gathering of neo-Nazis, white-supremacists and alt-right figures—at which counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed—Trump said "you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides."

His denigration of countries like Haiti, immigration policies and recent comment that four Democratic congresswomen of color should go back to their own countries, have further fueled allegations of racism. (Three of the four Democratic congresswomen targeted by Trump were born in the U.S.)

While Trump's inflammatory comments have inspired white nationalists, his dealings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are at the center of the impeachment probe.

On Wednesday a Hill-HarrisX survey said Trump's approval rating hit 49 percent, its highest figure of 2019. And some voters who back Trump appear to be doubling down in their support of him, with the amount of Republican voters who say they strongly approve of Trump's job performance increasing by 12 percentage points since last week, according to Quinnipiac.

But at the same time, support for impeaching Trump has risen. A polling calculation from FiveThirtyEight showed that 46.5 percent of Americans support impeachment while 44.8 don't support it.

Some Republicans have vocally backed the president and his claims that the impeachment inquiry amount to a witch hunt, and few have dissented against his rage at the probe and claims that led to it.

Trump has pushed to discover the identity of the whistleblower, and a few are starting to push back against Trump's attacks against the anonymous whistleblower who filed a complaint about the president's July 25 call with Zelensky.

"Whistleblowers should be protected," Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst said on Thursday while speaking at a town hall in Iowa. "I stand with [Senator] Chuck Grassley on this. We have laws in place."