While President Trump visited the National African American Museum of History and Culture Tuesday morning, MSNBC took the opportunity to bash the president for his word choices as evidence that he was mentally ill. On top of that, MSNBC analysts stated that Trump had ran out of chances with the black community and admitted this visit wouldn’t change any opinions about him.
Louise Mensch, a former conservative member of the British parliament-turned left-leaning political analyst, first responded to Trump’s speech with dismay. Talking about his speech patterns and emphasis on visitor numbers, Mensch decried the president as clearly in need of “a mental health checkup.” Mensch touted Nancy Pelosi’s call for Trump to be “diagnosed” as “bang on the money” and “a matter of security.”
LOUISE MENSCH: As a matter of fact, I think it shows the president needs a mental health check up, I genuinely believe that sounded so bizarre and so ridiculous and one thought just flowed into another with no logical sense at all. It's a matter of national security if the president is not in his right mind. I think Nancy Pelosi who said this, who said that we need to know if the president has been diagnosed with something is bang on the money. Because that was a joke and it wasn’t a particularly funny one.
Anchor Stephanie Ruhle joked back, that Trump’s doctor called him “the most healthiest president” “of all time” before Mensch demanded again that Trump be evaluated.
RUHLE: Are you forgetting that his doctor said he would be the most healthiest president in the planet, universe of all time?
MENSCH: When asked about his mental health, his doctor would not vouch for his mental health and made a reference to Reagan. I would like to know if the president has been diagnosed with something and I am not kidding.
Later in the hour, Ruhle asked liberal radio host Zerlina Maxwell if this visit meant anything, because of what Trump said to American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan during last week’s press conference. Ruhle, like many in the media, characterized Trump asking Ryan if she was “friends” with members of the Congressional Black Caucus as racist, even though Ryan admitted she was friends with some members of the CBC. Lifezette even reported that Wikileaks emails show Ryan actually tried to connect the Clinton campaign with the CBC in 2015.
Regardless, Ruhle used the incident as evidence of an unpardonable sin that tainted today’s visit to the museum.
RUHLE: Whether today is a beautiful gesture or not, it was just five days ago that he turned to April Ryan, and basically intimated, “You, there, you friends with the black people?” I mean, that's a lot to swallow.
Maxwell responded that Trump had lost his chances with her and “large swaths” of Americans over his comments so this visit was “essentially meaningless.”
ZERLINA MAXWELL: It's those moment that make today's photo-op essentially meaningless. When he's off script and in that instant moment, he's offending a black person or a Jewish person who is asking a question as a journalist in the press conference. In those unscripted moments, we see the real Donald Trump. I'm sorry but I'm not going to give him a chance at this point. I think that he's lost the respect of large swaths of the American people because of what he said and what he’s done. He can't just say we are going to fix all inner cities. Not all black people live in the inner cities. So you are already offending us. In your effort to say how you’re going to help us. If you don't fully understand the black experience and the lived experience of black people and black women specifically and how that intersects, then you are dead on arrival. You are not going to make any change.
RUHLE: Louise, I even hate putting it out there. What if he's making mistakes in the public, which is what we knew. Many people who voted for him said I appreciate the fact that I see his crazy right out there in the open. I know what his ugly is. He's not a career politician that just says the right thing. What if this is an ugly ugly start? But maybe could there be something redeeming here? Because the fact of the matter is, whether you voted for him or not, this is the president we’re living with and we want to thrive in the next four years.
Mensch responded that the “redeeming” part would be Trump’s “impeachment.”
MENSCH: Something great could happen it’s called impeachment. When that happens, I think it will be fantastic. Trump, I think would be surprised if he was sitting in the studio now. He thinks of himself as a good guy. He's confused. I genuinely believe he's sick. I think all the negativity comes from Bannon from Milla and from those people around him who did talk about the Jews and the Holocaust on Twitter. In great contrast to this President, Vice President Pence, he was in Europe and he said we must never forget the terror of the Holocaust, the Jews and other people, putting the Jewish people first. He picks up NATO. He's very much pushing this anti-Bannon agenda. If you want something short of impeachment, getting rid of Steve Bannon’s influence around this president would be job number one.
Maxwell and Mensch both campaigned for Hillary Clinton prior to Trump’s win. Maxwell worked as the Director of Progressive Media for Clinton’s campaign. Mensch tweeted support for Clinton (before deleting these tweets) and sued Wikileaks after emails revealed she pitched an ad for Clinton’s campaign before publically supporting Evan McMullin for president.
Calling Trump crazy has been nothing new. Many in the media have openly wondered if he needed a psychological evaluation, from Joy Behar to Matthew Dowd.
