Following the closure of President Trump’s first foreign policy trip abroad, the cast of MSNBC’s Morning Joe were unanimous in their assessment: complete disaster. “I don’t really care what politicians are saying about a trip they know was a complete disaster,” co-host Joe Scarborough complained to foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, “You look at the President’s actions, you look at the gestures–” “He’s the ugly American,” fellow co-host Mika Brzezinski chimed in.
Scarborough further lamented, “If somebody can find a more disastrous foreign trip since Kennedy's 1961 summit with Khrushchev, I'd like to know because this was a disaster.”
Mitchell wasted no time in voicing agreement with the two hosts over the impact of the visit:
ANDREA MITCHELL:You know, the European relationship, 70-plus years of the NATO alliance and the boorish behavior is just so extraordinary, capped by his refusal -- bad enough to not explicitly say that he was committed to Article 5, to the mutual defense treaty at a commemoration for 9/11 which was the only time in history that NATO did declare Article 5, to come to the defense of the United States of America, and to not commit to the Paris climate accords--
BRZEZINSKI: It’s awful to look at.
MITCHELL: --Its just so shocking. That's the thing and he has until June 1st, he's going to make some decision this week, but the fact that they are wrestling with this, and we saw General Mattis saying over the weekend,well, he's taking it in. He's learned a lot. Everyone trying to give him running room. But he's not going to be bullied into it by his staff. That's for sure. And, for all of their bragging about Riyadh and what they did – and it was an interesting experiment in Riyadh, but the fact that they ignored the Sunni sponsored terror and then to go to Europe which has just experienced terror and see the reluctance to sign on, and the fact that he refused to lecture the Saudis and the other Arab leaders, but did lecture his NATO allies in Europe is just stunning.
Members of the panel then proceeded to each provide their own damning verdicts of how Trump had fundamentally destroyed the U.S. reputation abroad before Scarborough completely lost it. “Look at the handshake,” he screeched at a video of President Trump shaking hands with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“He looked like a thug, he looked like a goon. You look at the handshake. You look at this. Just, what a thug. What an embarrassment -- he's mauling him like an idiot! Like an absolute idiot! Just, what an embarrassment to the United States!”
Does anyone remember this sort of outrage occurring when Obama traveled abroad to apologize to the world for the sins of the United States? Did it happen when he broke U.S. diplomatic protocol and bowed before the King of Saudi Arabia? How about when he later made outreaches to the Iranians despite their active involvement in providing supplies and arms to terrorists fighting American forces? The fact that the mainstream media continue to display such double standards demonstrates their absolute ignorance over why people voted for Trump in the first place.
Here are the excerpts from the May 30 exchange:
6:12 AM
JOE SCARBOROUGH: And so Mika, there was a lot of fallout this weekend about that foreign trip. In a tweet president trump called his trip a great success. Talked about hard work and big results and that was echoed also by Republican congressman, including Bob Corker, which was a bit of a surprise, who said it was executed to near perfection. It wasn't.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: It was horrible
SCARBOROUGH:--He added that president trump should be commended for the trip's success. James Mattis also defended the president's tough talk. But, Andrea Mitchell, I don't really care what politicians in Washington, D.C. are saying about a trip they know was a complete disaster.
BRZEZINSKI: Embarrassment.
SCARBOROUGH: You look at the president's actions. You look at the gestures ---
BRZEZINSKI: He’s the ugly American
SCARBOROUGH: --- you look at the bullying of him pushing the newest member out of the way to get in the front of the picture, you look at that awkward handshake with Macron. But more importantly you have Angela Merkel and her opponent saying America treated us horribly. We can no longer depend on the United States of America. Europe is going to have to worry about itself. This is -- I said yesterday, I really I'd be hard pressed for anybody -- if somebody can find a more disastrous foreign trip since Kennedy's 1961 summit with Khrushchev, I'd like to know what it was, because this was a disaster.
ANDREA MITCHELL:You know, the European relationship, 70-plus years of the NATO alliance and the boorish behavior is just so extraordinary, capped by his refusal -- bad enough to not explicitly say that he was committed to Article 5, to the mutual defense treaty at a commemoration for 9/11 which was the only time in history that NATO did declare Article 5, to come to the defense of the United States of America, and to not commit to the Paris climate accords--
BRZEZINSKI: It’s awful to look at
MITCHELL: --Its just so shocking. That's the thing and he has until June 1st, he's going to make some decision this week, but the fact that they are wrestling with this, and we saw General Mattis saying over the weekend,well, he's taking it in. He's learned a lot. Everyone trying to give him running room. But he's not going to be bullied into it by his staff. That's for sure. And, for all of their bragging about Riyadh and what they did – and it was an interesting experiment in Riyadh, but the fact that they ignored the Sunni sponsored terror and then to go to Europe which has just experienced terror and see the reluctance to sign on, and the fact that he refused to lecture the Saudis and the other Arab leaders, but did lecture his NATO allies in Europe is just stunning.
SCARBOROUGH: Just like we said last week, Willie, he's far more comfortable hanging around autocrats, whether they are in Turkey or in Russia, wherever they are, than he is with democratically elected leaders in the west.
WILLIE GEIST: He certainly was much more deferential in that speech in Saudi Arabia than the one he was at NATO. We saw that video, Richard, of President Macron the handshake where he sort of left President Trump hanging there. A lot of people read into that. Macron came out yesterday and said, 'Yeah, I was actually sending a message by not walking up to the President of the United States first.' But, in terms of Angela Merkel's comments, obviously it was a domestic political event, what would it take for her, the leader of Germany, our great ally, to go out and say that in public? What do you think happened behind the scenes to drive her or that put her in that position?
RICHARD HAASS: What I think came together Willie--Because this can't be exaggerated. You could hear the tectonic plates of history move the other day. This was big. I think it was a combination of just policy difference after policy difference from Russia to trade to climate, you name it. Just fundamental differences on llongstanding areas where the United States and Europe had been mostly in parallel. What Andrea was getting at, the refusal to talk about Article 5 coming against the backdrop where he called NATO obsolete. Basically what Mr. Trump has succeeded at doing is making conditional what for so long for generations was unconditional. And then, thirdly, it's the personal, the conversations, they're not going well, to say the least. That's not what these people expect of an American president.
SCARBOROUGH: Look at the handshake. He looked like a thug, He looked like a goon. You look at the handshake. You look at this. Just, what a thug. What an embarrassment -- he's mauling him like an idiot! Like an absolute idiot! Just, what an embarrassment to the United States!
BRZEZINSKI: Optics matter and so do the actual conversations and I think--
SCARBOROUGH: If it were followed by positive conversations, you could just say that he was awkward.
BRZEZINSKI: But for Merkel to say what she said shows that they see no talent, that they see absolutely nothing behind the eyes they can work with.
