Much talk about this new Vanity Fair article, which paints Trump as deeply incapable and unraveling in his White House isolation. While on one level it's so much blather, it is significant when Beltway insiders like the Morning Joe crew keep talking about this because it increases pressure on Senate Republicans.
"You want to step back as you read this piece about the president of the United States being contained, being bubble wrapped by people around him so he's not a harm to himself and others," Willie Geist said.
"We've gotten so deep into the Trump thing, the Trump years already, that this feels like a story that we've seen a few different times. But again, this is not normal. This is crazy that we're talking about putting the right people in place to contain the man sitting in the Oval Office right now.
"I would just add the 25th Amendment, still a lot of people tweet about it, shout about the 25th amendment, remains a long shot. It's the clause that would have to be invoked by the Vice President and the cabinet. That's a long way to go to ask the Vice President and the president's own cabinet to remove the president of the United States," he said, cautioning people.
"Even then, it goes to vote of the House and Senate," Joe Scarborough said.
"And I haven't seen any much courage at all coming from Republicans. But Mike, you have Bob Corker saying in this guy is basically unfit. You have 55, 56% of Americans saying the guy is unfit. We're talking about World War III from leaders. You got one of his oldest and most trusted and subservient friend saying he is shocked and stumped by Donald Trump's behavior. You hear it from Republicans behind the scenes.
"The conclusion is, objectively, from a lot of these sources, especially, will you hear it even more after yesterday, the president seemed even incapable of understanding the oath of office that he took to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He is not well in the traditional sense of what you want your president to be, and more and more people are finally playing that conversation."
"You play back these conversations and conversations elsewhere and conversations privately conducted in the Senate or among congress people, and you realize in my lifetime we have never spoken about a sitting president in the United States this way," Mike Barnicle said.
The only situation they could come up with was Richard Nixon.
"Maybe Nixon in the final days. Maybe Nixon in August of 1974," Scarborough said.
"You have to think of the transformation that's taken place because of the office and the investigations swirling around this president that probably keep him up all night and already his obsession with himself keeps him up all night," Mika Brzezinski said.
"This is a man that hasn't slept much. He came into the White House obsessing about the pictures and walked us around the crowd size. This is a guy that's so obsessed with himself. That's how it started. Think about the months in office and the toll on his brain. I could see how he would have a complete breakdown, also the DHS position. That's cabinet level, right?"
She said she doesn't think Jim Kelly is leaving. "He's getting his troops in place."
They also noted how his adult children and his wife aren't doing anything to keep him stable.
It's like he's a rescue animal and they just can't get him to go on the paper.
