Washington Free Beacon editor in chief Matthew Continetti told MSNBC's Steve Kornacki on Monday that Washington, D.C. is in a frenzy over President Trump, likening the city's reaction to an "immune system going out of control."
Kornacki previewed the segment by talking about Continetti's column from Friday in which he discussed how the establishment media and Democrats are trying to break Trump's presidency before it is even a month old. He asked Continetti to explain what he meant by Washington's "allergic reaction" to Trump.
"Just as your body kind of gets inflamed if you have an allergy and you're exposed to the allergen, I think that's how Washington is responding to Donald Trump," Continetti said. "There's no secret [that] Washington, both Republican and Democrat, had real problems with Trump in many parts. Even the Republican Party opposed him quite fiercely during the campaign."
Continetti said the political establishment in Washington, D.C. is reacting to Trump's style, which did not change after he was sworn in as president as some had hoped.
Kornacki asked Continetti to explain what he meant when he wrote that D.C.'s discomfort stems from Trump's embodiment of "nation-state populism."
"Well, I think it's a nationalistic philosophy ... That's what Trump means by [the phrase 'America First']. He doesn't mean the historical baggage associated with the phrase. He just means simply that he's looking out for the country first, putting its interests, and also the interests of the native people of America, rather the citizens of America, before outsiders," Continetti said.