MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell savaged Donald Trump for his baffling answer to a “simple” question from a reporter about the new “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center in Florida.
On The Last Word on Tuesday night, O’Donnell unleashed a scathing takedown of the president’s mental fitness after Trump went on an off-topic rant after being asked about about the timeline for detainees at the makeshift migrant detention facility deep in the Everglades.
Trump was touring the facility, which is expected to hold up to 3,000 migrants as part of his administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The site earned its nickname due to the presence of alligators, crocodiles, and pythons in the surrounding wetlands—an environment the administration claims will deter escape attempts.
O’Donnell aired footage from Trump’s press conference Tuesday, which showed the president being asked by a Fox News reporter whether there was an expected time frame that detainees will spend at the center—days, weeks, or months.
Rather than answering the question, Trump launched into a monologue about his affection for Florida.
“Watch this stunning exhibition of the emptiness and total dysfunction of Donald Trump’s mind that is worse than anything ever seen in the mind of any president of any country.”
“This was a simple question,” O’Donnell went on. “Couldn’t be simpler. Watch Donald Trump’s repeated inability to understand that simple question.”
Instead of addressing the detention center or the detainees, O’Donnell pointed out that Trump had seemingly interpreted the question as being about his own personal schedule in Florida.
Trump answered: “Look, this is my home state, I love it. I love your government. I love all the people around. These are all friends of mine. They know them very well…I feel very comfortable in the state. I’ll spend a lot of time here.”
O’Donnell paused the clip and said: “That’s right. Donald Trump thought the question was, how much time are you going to spend in Florida? That’s what a lot of 79-year-old guys get when they move to Florida. How much time are you going to spend in Florida?”
“The rest of the answer gets even worse. I stopped it there to spare you hearing the actual sound of the banality of Donald Trump’s creeping dementia and his cruelty,” he said.
The host went on to read Trump’s full response, noting that the president veered into commentary about his Palm Beach residence and taxes.
“He’s not there,” O’Donnell said. “There’s a character named Donald Trump with a red hat and orange makeup who shows up at these events, and words come out of his mouth, but he’s not there.”
“His mind, as exhibited from that response to that very simple question, does not work. And that is a crisis for the United States of America.”
O’Donnell linked Trump’s waffling to his administration’s policy efforts.
“We are living with the banality of cruelty, and we are feeling it. That is the pain,” he added.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump said Tuesday that being deported is the “only way out” of Alligator Alcatraz, which will soon hold “some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.”
“We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation,” the president said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters last week that the facility was built in response to a request from the federal government.
“Clearly from a security perspective, if someone escapes, there’s a lot of alligators you’re going to have to contend [with]. No one is going anywhere once you do that. It’s as safe and secure as you can be,’ the governor added.
