MSNBC's John Harwood explains how Trump's 'disturbing' tweets show him trying to 'deny the reality that's closing in on him'

Donald Trump began his Thursday by declaring that he was "very excited" about the prospect of having a new White House counsel to replace Don McGahn.

As MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out on Thursday night, there's no reason to believe that Trump has lined up a new counsel.

"He's very excited about someone he has not named and we have every reason to believe he has not found," O'Donell said.

CNBC Editor-At-Large John Harwood responded by saying that these tweets were "disturbing" and that Trump has been triggered into acting from fear.

"That's what's so disturbing about these notes," he said. "He's playing out some sort of dialogue in his own head—it didn't make any sense to sit there and say I'm excited about someone that I haven't selected yet. he had other tweets where he was saying 'Oh yeah, I can't emphasize enough how fake the news is.' He talked about fake books. These are all transparent attempts by the president to deny the reality that's closing in on him."

Harwood also pointed to Trump's tweet claiming that great legal minds agreed with him that a special prosecutor should not have been appointed to investigate his campaign's contacts and possible collusion with Russian agents.

"That's not connected with consulting any legal minds, that's primal impulse on his part, of self-preservation, now that he's frightened," he said. "It's reality and it's getting closer to him."

David Frum echoed Harwood, and said Trump is behaving like a scared and piteous creature.

"It's like Gollum in Lord of the Rings, constantly reassuring himself, and stroking the precious and reminding himself that everything is going to be OK," he said.

Watch below.