Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin unloaded on Donald Trump in light of a bombshell report from the New York Times that documents the alleged tax fraud that led to the president's fortune.
Though the report alleges that Trump's father's tax-dodging greatly benefitted the president, Rubin noted during the MSNBC panel that a key part of his base won't believe it.
"There's a certain element, of course, that doesn't believe facts and they don't believe facts that the New York Times or the Washington Post or MSNBC or other mainstream outlets come up with," she said. "So for his true core base, those people have drunk the Kool-Aid a long time ago, they're not going to be dissuaded or upset by this at all."
For the rest of the world, however, the report offers powerful insights into Trump's world — including his psyche.
"Donald Trump is probably the neediest person on the planet," Rubin said. "He constantly needs reaffirmation. he constantly needs to be told what a success he is, constantly has lied about his wealth."
The Times report, she noted, reveals why: "Because he didn't do it on his own."
"His father was a genius, his father made millions and millions, perhaps billions — but Donald Trump really hasn't done anything," the columnist said.
"This is part of the explanation for his neediness and his penchant for exaggeration and for falsehoods," Rubin concluded. "He's built a world that is completely divorced from reality because the reality is he's not that smart or he's not that successful and he lost a lot of money over the years."
Watch the entire discussion below via MSNBC:
