George Will exposes the 'terror' Republicans face after the Trump-Putin summit

Conservative columnist George Will bashed Republican senators who accept President Donald Trump's about-face on accepting evidence of Russian election interference.

The ex-Republican blasted the president Tuesday in the Washington Post as a "sad, embarrassing wreck of a man," and he ridiculed GOP lawmakers for defending Trump for siding with Russian president Vladimir Putin against U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

"I think the president this morning is saying, 'You see, I told you the truth is overrated, because I told you the truth in Helsinki,'" Will told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

The president read a statement Tuesday attempting to walk back his doubts about Russian election interference, although he still questions whether Kremlin agents hacked state election systems and Democratic organizations.

"He had to spend yesterday taking back what he really meant to say and what he, in fact, did say," Will said. "It's hilarious to see Sen. (Marco) Rubio and then Sen. (Rob) Portman come out and use the word clarified as to what the president just did."

Will said GOP lawmakers are scared to stand up to the president because they're "terrified" of Trump and his supporters.

"Republicans on Capitol Hill are terrified," Will said. "They have individual terror and collective terror. The individual terror is that they will be individually attacked by the president, thereby costing them a third of their vote. The collective terror is, that if Congress seems to turn on the president, Republicans in Congress, he will attack congress thereby depressing the turnout, thereby costing them the House, certainly, and perhaps the Senate."

Will said the president's insecurities were bottomless, and that explains everything about his behavior.

"I think he is the most insecure human being I've ever seen," Will said. "I think you have to understand him, you have to understand he feels out of his depth in every situation he's in. He just doesn't understand the vocabulary of American government. He doesn't understand the conversations that are going on around him. It's like a 12-year-old in a room with people who specialize in quantum mechanics -- he just is lost at all times."

He also suggested that Trump appeared to be financially beholden to Putin -- and possibly others.

"The fact that he decided never to release his tax returns, we come to the conclusion -- we don't know what he's hiding, but obviously he's keeping something secret," Will said. "Obviously, he's hiding something, which licenses, it seems to me, responsible speculation about what he might be hiding."

Will said the president's decision to meet privately with Putin, without any advisers or secretaries present, was highly suspect.

"He's keeping something secret from Americans," he said. "It's reasonable to speculate why that is so."