President Donald Trump's presidency has so numbed Americans to outrage that the former director of national intelligence barely caused a ripple by describing the chief executive as a Kremlin "asset," according to panelists on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
James Clapper, who oversaw intelligence services under the Obama administration, suggested Russian president Vladimir Putin -- a former KGB officer -- was "managing" Trump as if the president were an "account" he had recruited.
"That is a stunning moment," said Richard Haas, a veteran diplomat and longtime president of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Only if we're so super numb do we not just say, 'Holy cow.' We're living in a moment that something like that by a responsible person could be said and people just brush it off and go on to the next thing."
"Morning Joe" didn't address Clapper's comments until nearly 90 minutes into Tuesday's program, after reporting on apparently ignored FBI warnings to Trump about Russian efforts to infiltrate his campaign and a lengthy discussion of Democratic senators urging Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to reconsider his resignation.
"Every day something else happens that makes us question, what does Putin have on Trump?" said host Joe Scarborough. "Every single day something happens that just doesn't make sense."
Haas agreed, and said the dynamic has been playing out in public for two years.
"We don't understand what motivates, what is behind the benign, sanguine -- whatever you want to call it -- behavior toward Russia," Haas said. "At the end of the day, that's got to be at the end of the road -- what motivates, what explains what can't be explained in normal, strategic, foreign policy terms."
MSNBC analyst Mike Barnicle said Americans were growing inured to the constant violations of political norms, less than a year into the Trump presidency.
"You mentioned numbness, the numbness that comes to this everyday aspect of this presidency, and it's also exhaustion," Barnicle said.
He pointed to a Washington Post report that Trump considered rescinding his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court over perceived disloyalty -- but Barnicle said that outrageous claim would likely float past without a stir.
"The level of exhaustion and numbness in this presidency on an everyday basis is incredible," he said.
