MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough thanked author Michael Wolff for opening a wider discussion into President Donald Trump’s apparent mental decline.

The “Morning Joe” host has been trying to sound the alarm about the president, whom he’s known for years, but he said political and journalistic norms had kept the topic buried.

“I’ve written twice in my column a quote about one of the people closest to Donald Trump during the campaign saying he’s got early stage of dementia,” Scarborough said. “He repeats the same stories over and over again. His father had it, and it’s getting worse, and not a single person who works for him doesn’t know it. He didn’t think he was going to win. Twice the Washington Post would not let me put that in my column. I salute them for having a high bar, but we’re at this moment, and until your book came out, this was something we were not allowed to speak about.”

Wolff, whose new book Fire and Fury contains numerous examples of Trump associates questioning the president’s fitness for office, said White House staffers are alarmed by his tweets — whether or not they’ll admit it to reporters.

“Everybody sees the president’s tweets,” Wolff told MSNBC. “The whole White House goes into a spasm when he tweets.”

He said White House officials like chief of staff John Kelly try to ignore them and focus on their own jobs, which often involve covering up for the president’s weaknesses.

“Everybody in this White House — and I keep saying this, there’s 100 percent because it is 100 percent of the people closest to the president, to Donald Trump, believe that there is something wrong here, something fundamentally wrong, something that scares them,” Wolff said.

The author said White House staffers feel no loyalty toward the president, and many of them hate one another, but they feel duty-bound to remain on the job.

“As a matter of fact, if there is any reason they stay in the White House now, it’s because they’re scared (and) they believe they have a responsibility to the American people,” Wolff said.

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Unhinged from billionaires and corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

We need your support to deepen our investigative reporting. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.

Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

We need your support to keep producing quality journalism and deepen our investigative reporting. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.