“Morning Joe” pushed back against former President Donald Trump on Monday after he told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over the weekend that he is the only 2024 candidate who can “prevent, and very easily, World War III” and that he would settle the Russia-Ukraine war in “no longer than one day.”
In response to Trump’s claim, Willie Geist pointed out that one “big reason” why Russia has not taken over Ukraine is because of the “strength of NATO” and the United States and Europe’s support of the organization.
“His administration officials and people who worked alongside him said he wanted to pull the United States out of NATO, which would’ve effectively made it dissolve,” Geist added.
Former White House press secretary and MSNBC host Jen Psaki also touted the work of the Biden administration to “rebuild the frayed NATO alliance.”
“[Trump] didn’t hide his love for Vladimir [Putin], as he called him by his first name, or Russia,” Psaki added. “He is an admirer of the crackdown on freedom of speech, on freedom of the press, on the spreading of disinformation. It is a model in some ways of how Trump has continued to run for president and continues to spout lies and disinformation when he has public forums like he did at CPAC.”
Charlie Sykes, founder of “The Bulwark” warned Geist and Psaki that there can be “no illusions” about a potential second Trump term.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people who voted for him in 2016 and thought, ‘OK, well, he will be more prudent and presidential. He will sense the gravity of the office.’ You can’t have that illusion. This is a man who tried to overthrow the U.S. government to keep power,” Sykes said. “There will be no guardrails, there will be no guidelines, his administration will not be staffed by people who will push back against him, it will not be staffed by people who will tell him no.”
He emphasized that during Trump’s first term, he “did not know necessarily where all of the levers and buttons of power are” or “what he could get away with.”
“Now he does, which makes him fundamentally and exponentially more dangerous when he comes back in and people should have no illusions about that,” Sykes added.
Watch the full “Morning Joe” segment in the video above.
