Donald Trump's decision to pull the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to be his next ambassador to the United Nations, coming as it is at the same time he is fending off a firestorm over the security breach known as "Signalgate," is a sign that his administration is reeling.
That is the opinion of MSNBC's contributor and longtime Beltway insider Chris Matthews who claimed the president is coming close to following the same path as disgraced President Richard Nixon.
With "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough pointing to Trump's admission that Stefanik needs to remain in the House due to the GOP's thin margin, he made the point that Trump's claims of a mandate are falling apart.
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"The Republican agenda is extremely unpopular, they are crashing the economy in real-time and House Republicans are running scared. What happened to their so-called mandate? Well, Chris Matthews, they didn't have a mandate –– they won by like one and a half percentage points," the MSNBC host prompted his guest.
"You know, he's got a couple signs of weakness," Matthews replied. "Stefanik going back to the House is a big sign of weakness. He's worried about points, a couple seats in New York, especially where there's going to be some back and forth."
"But I also look at his performance," he continued. "Last night, Peter Alexander had one hell of a report last night, he pointed out in the evening news that Trump is very angry at [national security adviser] Mike Waltz, about Signal. And he has got to be angry. And the president has to be angry right now that somebody screwed up the worst week he's had."
"And why did that person do it?" he proposed. "l'd want to know who did it and why they did it. –– are they on somebody else's team? I wouldn't understand why he'd come up with a name, Jeffrey Goldberg, right in the middle of these other guys, right? Why would you do it?"
Matthews went on to compare Trump's attempt to downplay the Signalgate debacle to Watergate, saying it appears the president is headed down the same "cover-up" path that derailed Richard Nixon's presidency and led to his resignation.
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