Trump biographer explains why the president’s prime-time address is all about his cult -- not national security

Trump biographer Tim O'Brien told MSNBC Tuesday that the president's scheduled Oval Office address on what he claims is a "crisis" on the U.S.-Mexico border was nothing more than "raw propaganda" and an effort to get around Congress's refusal to give him $5 billion for a wall.

"It was Republicans who were weighing in on how much money they did or didn't want the president to spend on a vanity project that had nothing to do with national security, building the wall," O'Brien said, after host Stephanie Ruhle noted that Trump couldn't get what he wanted from his own party.

"The Constitution gives the Congress the power of the purse," he continued. "If they elect to give the president money for a project he wants, he can then spend it. He is not constitutionally entitled to do an end run around the entire Congress to raise money to shore up a campaign promise and foster a cult of personality."

"I don't think this is messaging or a PR blitz from this White House, this is raw propaganda," O'Brien added, and said Vice-President Mike Pence, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, and DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen were just as guilty of telling lies to the American public.

"The crisis is not on the southern border," he said. "The crisis is in the White House."

Watch the video below.