Chuck Todd: Woodward’s Book, Op-Ed Raise Question Is Trump in Control of His Own W.H.

‘It’s not every day that we have words and phrases like these thrown around so freely here in Washington’

RUSH EXCERPT:

TODD: "Good Sunday morning. It’s not every day that we have words and phrases like these thrown around so freely here in Washington. Constitutional crisis, 25th Amendment, sleeper cells, polygraph examinations, nervous breakdown, orange jumpsuit, an administrative coup d’état. But that’s what happened this week when we were treated to two disturbing accounts of White House dysfunction. A one-two punch describing top officials working quietly to thwart a president they see as uninformed, unprincipled, and perhaps unhinged. First came Bob Woodward’s book, Fear: Trump in the White House, describing aides so unnerved by President Trump’s impulses that they have even taking to swiping papers from his desk to prevent him from signing them. One day later, the New York Times printed an extraordinary anonymous op-ed essay in effect confirming Woodward’s reporting, that senior officials are working secretly to frustrate the president’s worst inclinations. Quote, “Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening, and we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.” In other words, the call is coming from inside the house. Much of this isn’t shocking. We knew about the chaos from Michael Wolff, from Omarosa, from our own reporting. What we didn’t know was the degree to which the senior staff was working at odds with the man who hired them and who the voters elected. And it raises the question: is President Trump in control of his own White House?"

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