‘Malignant narcissist’: Ex-CIA director slams Trump as DOJ faces retaliation claims in Comey case

0:01 So from your vantage point as the former director

0:01 of the CI what is the danger to the American public?

0:05 What is the danger to our national security of having a president

0:09 who is supposed to be focused on keeping all of us safe,

0:13 spending so much of his energy instead keeping himself safe?

0:17 Well, because the presidency is a 24-7 job.

0:20 I worked for six presidents and they

0:22 all took their jobs and responsibilities seriously.

0:25 But Donald Trump seems to continue to just pursue his own self

0:30 entitlement in terms of what it is that he wants to do.

0:33 And so the danger is all of these issues related to our domestic situation,

0:38 in terms of the growing cost of living, you know,

0:41 the skyrocketing cost of gas and fuel, the Iran war, other issues.

0:46 He is in fact just focusing on the things that really matter to him.

0:51 He exhibits all of the traits, in my mind, of a malignant narcissist.

0:56 A malignant narcissist is somebody who has

1:00 a pathology in terms of dishonesty, lying,

1:03 self-aggrandizement, entitlement, paranoia,

1:06 but also inflicting cruelty on taking delight, in fact, in that.

1:11 We see it in authoritarian leaders around the globe

1:13 over the past century that these are individuals who actually

1:17 enjoy this cruelty as we see what's happening with Jim

1:20 Comey and what he's doing to other individuals as well.

1:22 And that's, he's focused on that as opposed

1:25 to really trying to roll up his sleeves and figure

1:28 out how are we going to get out

1:29 of this affordability crisis that we're in right now?

1:32 How are we going to get out of this Iran war

1:33 that was so unnecessary and is affecting not just the U .S.

1:37 economy, but global economy.

1:38 He is focused on the things that really don't matter to the average American,

1:43 which is why this is so dangerous, that he continues to just have this authority

1:47 and this power that he wields and with Republicans,

1:51 your former friends on the Congress who continue to allow him

1:55 to go down this road at the expense of American interests.

1:58 It's just reprehensible.

2:00 It's reprehensible and it's crazy and the American people are clocking it,

2:03 for lack of a better term.

2:04 If you look on not just social media but the polls,

2:06 we talked a lot about the polls in the 7 a .m.

2:09 hour.

2:10 p .m., goodness, goodness, goodness, it's the NyQuil, y'all.

2:14 On the 7 p hour, and the polls are just bad for Trump.

2:17 Like, the people, they don't feel good about what's going on.

2:20 They don't feel good about his job.

2:22 We all see it.

2:23 There are people that are like, why is he doing this?

2:26 Can't someone get rid of him?

2:28 Well, the answer is no, not really,

2:30 because he has a Congress that is unwilling to check him.

2:33 And I know we're not thinking the people

2:36 that are doing his bidding and they won't

2:38 even tell him that the shoes are too big are going to invoke the 25th Amendment.

2:42 So it's just like there's a hopelessness, I think,

2:44 that people are feeling about the current state of what's going on.

2:48 And can we find some hope for the people?

2:51 Where is the hope, Director Brennan?

2:52 Well, I like to think that some members

2:54 of the Republican party are going to come to their senses.

2:57 But as you see the polls shifting,

2:59 I do think a lot of these individuals in Congress are going to be looking

3:02 after themselves and their political prospects and realize

3:04 that Donald Trump is dragging them down, that he's continuing to go GO DOWN

3:08 THESE ROADS THAT ARE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO THEM,

3:10 COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, EVEN COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO HIM.

3:14 AGAIN, ONE OF THE TRAITS OF MALIGANT NARCISSISTS IS NEVER ACKNOWLEDGING MISTAKE.

3:19 ALWAYS STAYING ON THE OFFENSE.

3:20 THAT'S WHY WE'RE HAVING in such a problem with Iran right now.

3:23 He made a big mistake in terms of this operation against Iran.

3:28 He's not going to acknowledge that.

3:30 He's not going to dig himself out

3:32 of this hole because he's saying we're We're winning.

3:34 We're winning.

3:35 So this is a real personality problem here that he

3:38 is not going to come to terms with reality.

3:41 And unfortunately, the people around him in the White House,

3:44 the Republicans in Congress continue to just applaud him

3:47 and tell Tell the emperor that he's fully clothed.

3:50 He's fully clothed when he's not.

3:52 He's butt naked, and that's the problem.

3:55 And it exposes the country to a whole lot of hot mess,

3:59 particularly when, as we We know 13

4:01 service members have already lost their lives.

4:04 When you're spending untold billions of dollars a week for a war

4:10 that is sucking the economic life out

4:12 of families and communities around the country

4:14 and so you have these these realities uh that are hitting close

4:18 to home that we've talked about over the last hour um how do

4:22 you assess that from your from both a global perspective um as someone

4:28 who who you know has talked to and and spent times uh time

4:32 in other parts of of the world um that are also being buffeted

4:36 by these these economic realities as some of our guests have already noted.

4:41 It's going to be a little bit,

4:43 recovery is going to be harder for our friends maybe in Europe and in the Middle

4:47 East and elsewhere than maybe for us because of how our economy is structured.

4:51 But nonetheless, people are going to be impacted how

4:54 does that how does that play in the storyline

4:58 of future um oligarchies future uh you know people

5:04 heads of state WHO WANTED TO SUDDENLY BECOME AUTHORITARIAN,

5:08 TO SEIZ ON THE DISCONTENT THAT IS GOING TO BREW OUT

5:12 OF THESE PLACES IN THE FUTURE BECAUSE OF THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURNS?

5:16 I THINK THE REAL IMPACT IS THAT OUR FRIENDS,

5:19 ALLIES, AND PARTNERS ARE MOVING AWAY FROM US.

5:22 THEY REALIZE THAT WHAT DONALD TRUMP REFLECTS

5:25 IS A SENTIMENT WITHIN THE UNITED STATES,

5:28 WHICH IS THIS AMERICA FIRST, WE'RE GOING TO USE OUR MUSCULARITY AGAINST others.

5:32 And so I think they're going to be hedging their bets.

5:34 Also I think some authoritarians, and this is why I think we saw Viktor

5:38 Orban being pushed out by the polls because they see

5:41 that these corrupt individuals are dishonest and they are

5:44 advancing their own interests and the interests of their cronies.

5:46 And all of the individuals here,

5:48 the billionaires who are profiting from a lot of these corrupt deals

5:53 and the way that the Trump administration has been able to use this.

5:58 This economy in order to, again, enrich itself.

6:02 This is what I think a lot of people

6:03 now are looking at and seeing the failings of corruption.

6:06 And I'm hoping that it's going to be evidence at the polls,

6:09 not just here in the United States, but places around the globe.

6:12 We talked about James Comey, but I want to make sure we talk about Jerome

6:14 Powell lest he feel left out of the retribution campaign.

6:17 This is Janine Pirro saying just yesterday that that case is ongoing.

6:22 Take a listen.

6:24 We talk about it, but I don't know what he finds.

6:39 What if he finds nothing?

6:40 Let me tell you something.

6:40 When I was a D .A., Child Protective

6:42 Services would come in and say we found nothing.

6:44 It's often that I could go in and say you found nothing, but I found a crime.

6:49 I pose the question to the table,

6:51 but Director Brennan, you can take it for a minute.

6:53 How much are we watching America's next top attorney general?

6:57 To what extent is this about Pirro just like Blanche auditioning for a role?

7:02 I think they're all auditioning right now.

7:03 I think they're trying to demonstrate that they're willing

7:05 to do things that even Pam Bondy wasn't willing to do.

7:08 So whether it's Jim Comey or Jerome Powell

7:10 or others who are on that target list,

7:12 I think we're going to continue to see these efforts in order to impress

7:16 Donald Trump that they will do his bidding for him irrespective of the law,

7:22 of ethics, of conscience, of what is good government.

7:24 But the rule of law right now is really in sort of crisis situation.

7:29 The system of justice quite frankly in the minds of many is broken.

7:32 Thankfully there are some judges and some prosecutors and members of the U .S.

7:36 attorney offices who are holding firm.

7:38 I'm hoping they will continue to do so.

7:40 And I do think with Trump's approval rating going down and down and down

7:45 I think more and more people are going to see he's not your long-term bet.

7:49 You know his heyday is behind us and now they're

7:52 going to start distancing themselves from us but you have

7:54 people who are willing to stay with them right

7:56 to the end and whether you're Todd Blanche or Jean Pirro,

7:59 you really have to be thinking about how you've just ruined your reputation.

8:03 Now these were individuals who actually spent their careers

8:07 in law but yet they're willing to give all of that away just in order

8:12 to get Donald Trump's approval and it's again unconscionable.