Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s "Morning Joe," speculated again about President Donald Trump’s mental state during a lengthy monologue on Friday morning.
"So my take is this," Brzezinski began. "It’s blunt, fair to say, but – and I’ve been there before and I did it when it wasn’t cool to do and I’m going to do it again – He’s not well. That’s the bottom line. There is no way anyone who knows Donald Trump, but has not bought in in some way, could watch him last night and not come away with the feeling that the president of the United States is completely unhinged and getting worse by the day."
Brzezinski then cited Omarosa Manigault-Newman, Trump’s former aide and a past contestant on "The Apprentice," as evidence. "It's interesting that a former reality TV star and colleague of Trump is releasing a book with the title Unhinged. And this is a woman who knew him during his reality show days very well and then went with him to the White House. And in it, she describes a reaction to a man that she had known for over a decade who is in a state of mental decline."
A news release for Manigault-Newman’s book, set to hit the shelves in August, claims it will offer "a stunning tell-all and takedown" of the Trump administration. Manigault-Newman, whose resignation was announced in December of 2017, reportedly upset senior Trump administration officials by using the White House pick-up and drop-off service for personal trips, which is not allowed. She claims she resigned, although other sources said Chief of Staff John Kelly fired her. Multiple reports indicated she had to be forcibly removed from White House grounds.
"I know that the dangerous blustering bigot on the stage last night is even more boorish and less connected to reality than he was ten years ago," Brzezinski continued. "Donald Trump is not well, and everyone close to him says it. They're all scared of what he's going to say or tweet next. His Republican dupes know it, and yet no one, seemingly, will do anything about it, not the people who can."
Donny Deutsch, former host of CNBC’s "The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch," agreed with Brzezinski, and referred to a past interview he did with Trump. "His cadence, his eyes, he was a different guy, and I would ask everybody to go and look at some old interviews with Donald Trump. He's not just younger; his entire mannerisms; his entire way of speaking is different."
The hosts and guests of "Morning Joe" have routinely questioned Trump’s mental health since he took office. Last September, Brzezinski asked MSNBC senior political analyst Mark Halperin if the president had a "stability issue." In November, co-host Joe Scarborough ranted about Trump being "mentally unfit" for office. Their critiques of Trump's mental fitness have continued despite the White House physician determining in January that the president did "exceedingly well" on an assessment designed to test for cognitive dysfunction.