This is gonna leave a mark. Steve Schmidt opened this discussion with "The male ego is such a delicate flower." And it went downhill for Trump from there. Ouch.
--transcript--
STEPHANIE RUHLE: It's an amazing story. I've said before as a general proposition the male ego is a delicate flower. What this shows is that there is one flower more delicate than all the others. The insecurity, the thin skin -- you are comparing President Trump to a delicate flower.
STEVE SCHMIDT: A delicate flower. Such a sensitive ego. It's remarkable. He took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states. This wasn't an attack on the clinton campaign. An attack on the elections process is an attack on the sovereignty of the united states of america. The evidence in the intent is plain and from a national security perspective, this is how foreign powers, some of them hostile, manipulate this president. Give him a nice red carpet, throw him a big parade, pat him on the head.
RUHLE: A dance show.
SCHMIDT: Scratch him behind the ears because nothing overwhelm this is titanic ego, this supernova of narcissism. Not duty, not country, not the security of her people. This is a remarkable story because it offers such insight to how his ego overwhelms his duty to protect and strengthen the country.
RUHLE: Could one make the argument then his ego and lack of response to clear evidence that there was Russian interference, doesn't that propel collusion beliefs? Doesn't that hurt his own son, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, who appear to be in the hot seat or at the very least the crosshairs of the Mueller investigation. Doesn't that make an argument that pushed the appointment of special prosecutor Robert Mueller?
SCHMIDT: There's a substantial lack of evidence to suggest there's room in his heart to care about anyone other than himself across this first year of the presidency. I don't think that's part of his calculation here. What we know is the ego on him is so powerful that it opens up a wormhole, if you will, into this alternate reality.
RUHLE: But it makes it worse for Don Jr. And Jared. When we get these denials after denials after denials for the president, that's why people believe there's more smoke.
SCHMIDT: There's 330 million of us in this country. It makes it worse for all of us. This was an attack on the election process of our democratic republic and he has done nothing to secure our process of how we pick our leaders for the next presidential election. It's an abomination.
