MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said President Donald Trump had agreed to meet with Kim Jong-un as a distraction from the Stormy Daniels scandal -- and his co-host said the porn star payout showed why he could not reach a deal with the North Korean leader.
The "Morning Joe" co-hosts warned that nothing would come from the verbal invitation Trump accepted without consulting the State Department or diplomacy experts, because the move was one of his impulsive reactions to the news cycle.
"He just makes a decision on tariffs because of Hope Hicks, and he makes a decision on North Korea because of Stormy Daniels," Scarborough said. "People can deny that all they want, but if you're doing that, you're in the tank for Donald Trump, because it is painfully obvious that that is what's going on."
He said the meeting was a short-term decision that carries potentially devastating long-term consequences.
"He did not want the Washington Post to have the words 'Stormy Daniels' on the front page today," Scarborough added. "Guess what? He succeeded, and he succeeded by lying about a letter that didn't even exist, and now he's telling the truth, and fools rush in."
Scarborough believes the meeting will actually take place, but he has no confidence in the president's ability to reach any sort of agreement with North Korea on its nuclear program or any other issue of substance.
"We've been seeing this guy on the national stage now long enough to know that so often it's just all talk, it's all bluster," he said. "He talks about the art of the deal, the deal never comes through. All bluster about the wall -- there's not going to ever be a deal for the wall."
Scarborough said the president would likely walk into the meeting unprepared and treat it as another television spectacle or business opportunity.
"He'll do what is easy, he won't read a one-sheet on North Korea, he won't figure out how the United States has been fooled the past four presidents have been fooled, since 1994, or the past three presidents," Scarborough said. "He does the easy things, and if he can get him at Mar-A-Lago, even better."
He is horrible at making deals," Scarborough added. "That's why the man ended up $9 billion in debt."
Brzezinski stepped in to twist the knife.
"He can't even make a deal with a porn star," she said. "He doesn't even sign the papers of the deal that he struck. Think about that."
