A panel on MSNBC’s Morning Joe argued Monday that falsehoods from President Donald Trump and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk are contributing to the Democratic Party’s declining popularity.

The discussion followed the release of a CNN/SSRS poll showing that Democratic favorability has dropped to 29%, a 20-point decline since January 2021.

During the segment, host Mika Brzezinski asked former MSNBC host Chris Matthews about the party’s poor standing.

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Matthews suggested that right-wing “lies” were influencing public perception and criticized Democrats for failing to counter them.

“Well, you could have seen them the night that [President Donald] Trump addressed the Congress and you watched the Democratic Party. They seemed like they weren’t there,” Matthews said.

“They were sort of vacant. They weren’t saying anything with their manner. They never questioned the facts. They let the president lie about Social Security and say that we’re giving benefits to people who are 160 years old or to their grandchildren.”

During Trump’s March 4 congressional address, Democrats attempted to push back by holding up signs reading “False” and “That’s a LIE!” according to USA Today.

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Matthews also claimed that Musk has spread misinformation about government benefits.

“We allowed Elon Musk to go on television and tell everybody that we’re using Social Security as a lure to bring people into the country illegally, that we’re giving them benefits, which we’re not,” he said.

“We’re giving them to illegal people in the country who came in illegally. We give it to them. Lie after lie after lie, and said nothing. I’ll tell you, [Democratic strategist] James Carville, who said the Democrats should stay silent, may be partially right.”

He went on to argue that the party lacks an effective response strategy.

“But where he’s wrong is you have to have a fact-checker. There needs to be a war room. Remember, in 1992, remember how [former President] Bill Clinton won that election because he had a war room,” Matthews said.

“He and George Stephanopoulos were down there in Little Rock, and they were checking every fact, and nobody checks the facts anymore. And the lies are getting through to the American people.”

Brzezinski agreed, sharing her own experience overhearing positive comments about DOGE policies at a baseball game.

She called for a stronger Democratic response to counter what she described as disinformation.

“I also agree on the fact-checker, Chris Matthews … there’s a lot of possum that should be played. This is theirs, okay? This is theirs,” she said.

“And as we get to the midterms, take a look at what Trump owns here, not to get muddled in with it. But at the same time, I do think there should be a war room, a central command and a person, a voice, a figure who can call out the disinformation and perhaps the laws that are being flouted at the same time.”

Polling shows that public support for the Democratic Party continues to slide.

The CNN/SSRS poll found that only 63% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents approve of the party, reflecting a nine-point drop since January and an 18-point decline since the start of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

An NBC News poll released Sunday further underscored the party’s challenges, revealing that just 27% of registered voters hold a positive view of the Democratic Party—the lowest percentage recorded in NBC’s polling since 1990.

Meanwhile, 55% of registered voters reported a negative perception of the party.

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