Donald Trump is the president in title only.
So says MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, who used his platform on “Morning Joe” Friday to single out chief adviser Steve Bannon as the ultimate source of executive power in the White House, based on Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris accord on climate change.
Bannon and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have reportedly feuded with one another for influence within the administration, with Kushner having the upper hand after the chief adviser botched several high-profile efforts, including numerous executive orders and the rollout of health care reform. Based on Trump’s Thursday decision, however, it would seem Bannon has regained his status.
“What we saw yesterday is that ... Time Magazine was right,” Scarborough said, referring to Time’s February cover, which prominently featured Bannon and reportedly upset Trump. “Steve Bannon is president of the United States.”
“Donald Trump doesn't know anything about policy. Donald Trump doesn't know anything about politics. Donald Trump doesn't know anything about anything.”
“Donald Trump doesn’t know anything about policy. Donald Trump doesn’t know anything about politics. Donald Trump doesn’t know anything about anything,” he continued. “You listen to him talk about any topic, and he wanders from sentence to sentence.”
“Steve Bannon is now the president of the United States and that was more clear yesterday than ever before,” he added.
“Morning Joe” opened the segment by replaying clips from both Trump’s inauguration address and his Thursday announcement on the Paris Agreement. In them, Trump describes America ― and its economy ― in ruinous terms, portraying it as having plummeted while the rest of the world flourished.
Scarborough wasn’t buying it, noting we’ve been “the top power in the world” for the past decade, not “43rd, 44th, 45th.”
“It’s stupidity. It’s ahistorical,” he said of Trump’s statements. “It’s a lie that Donald Trump is telling to himself and to his supporters.”