Jonathan Martin calls Trump’s missteps an “own goal” on “Morning Joe” as voters head to the polls

Donald Trump “frittered away” his chance to make Democrats a minority party by failing to build on the inroads he made with traditional Democratic voters in the 2024 election, according to a veteran Washington journalist.

Jonathan Martin of Politico made the remarks while appearing on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” on the morning of election day. Speaking on the Tuesday panel, Martin described Trump’s missteps as an “own goal.”

Martin, a longtime Washington insider, first turned to the Republican effort to redraw congressional districts and the fallout over the Voting Rights Act. He suggested the party could pay a price at the ballot box.

“I think they’re [Republicans] going to lose seats that they otherwise wouldn’t have lost because of that effort to redraw districts and because of the Voting Rights Act,” Martin told Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. “It’s just, it’s one of the most own goals in modern American political history.”

He then argued that the redistricting push was not the biggest mistake. The larger problem, in his view, was what Trump did with the voters who backed him two years ago.

“And Joe, real fast, the biggest own goal, though, is Trump frittering away his 2024 coalition,” he emphasized. “Maybe the biggest missed opportunity in modern American history. Black voters, Hispanic voters, young voters, his own party. He’s obviously losing his own party. He could have broken the back of the Democratic coalition going forward if he had just nurtured what he won in 2024.”

Martin concluded that the damage had already been done, and that it had happened quickly.

“Instead, he’s lost almost all of it in two years,” he added.

The comments came as Americans headed to the polls on Tuesday, giving the panel’s analysis added weight as a snapshot of how some political observers view the current standing of both parties.