'He refuses to work': Al Franken explains why he's the 'polar opposite' of Trump
Sen. Al Franken, D-MN, speaks to NBC News (Screen capture)

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) told NBC's John Harwood this week that President Donald Trump, like himself, came to politics as an outsider, but that Trump has refused to educate himself about his position or to really do any work at all as president.


At one point in the interview, Harwood commented on how Franken made the transition from TV comedy to politics and said that voters have become accustomed to him, much as they are becoming accustomed to Trump.

"Wait a minute. You lumped me in with Trump? Take that back. Take that back, John Harwood. You're not taking it back," Franken said, mock-bristling.

"I'm just saying voters get conditioned to what they see in front of them in politics," said Harwood.

"Well, no," Franken said. "One of the reasons that I comfortably won the second time is they saw that I worked very hard, paid attention to them, to Minnesotans, and paid attention to policy and did my work. Donald Trump is the opposite. He doesn't work. He doesn't know how policy works. He won't do his homework. He refuses to work on anything that matters. So, I consider myself a polar opposite of him. I mean, I really do."

He added, "And the fact that we are both in a branch of show business — he was in reality TV. A human cannonball was in show business, you know? A rodeo clown's in show business."

Watch the video, embedded below:

Al Franken: Donald Trump refuses to work on anything that matters from CNBC.

The full interview:

Minnesota Senator Al Franken sits down with John Harwood and dishes about Trump, Saturday Night Live and running for President from CNBC.