Senior Republican aides confided this week that President Donald Trump's puzzling statements over the last few days have left them confused.
According to Politico, GOP aides on Capitol Hill and at the White House have been unable to explain why Trump unleashed a string of baffling claims over a 24-hour period in interviews with Bloomberg, CBS News and SiriusXM radio.
The president claimed that President Andrew Jackson was very angry about the Civil War and could have prevented it, even though Jackson died 16 years prior. Trump said that he was considering breaking up the banks and establishing a gas tax. He said that he would be "honored" to meet with North Korea dictator Kim Jong-Un, and then said that "nobody's safe" from North Korea's nuclear weapons. And to top things off, Trump praised the high approval ratings of Philippines strongman President Rodrigo Duterte.
Politico reported that White House officials insisted there was "no broader strategy" for scheduling the interviews.
"They were not helpful to us," a senior administration official explained. "There was no point to do all of them."
Republicans on Capitol Hill, however, were dumbfounded.
"I have no idea what they view as a successful media hit," one GOP consultant told Politico.
"He just seemed to go crazy today," a GOP aide lamented.
