-As he continues to deal with the aftermath
of his disastrous response to the humanitarian crisis
in Puerto Rico, President Trump is now also
dealing with an internal crisis --
a simmering feud with the Secretary of State.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
After his tour of Puerto Rico, where he chided Puerto Ricans
for throwing the budget out of whack
and tossed paper towels into the crowd
like he was at the free-throw line,
Trump did what he always does -- bragged about his performance
and made up a bizarre and completely unnecessary lie
about how unprecedented his trip was.
He told reporters on
[ Laughter ]
You think this is the first time a sitting President
has visited hurricane victims?
This isn't even the first time
[ Laughter ]
You were just in Texas and Florida a few weeks ago.
Remember? Oh, no! You
[ Laughter ]
This is turning into "50 First Dates,"
but for hurricanes.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
In a way, though...
In a way, though, Trump is right.
This is the first time a sitting President
has embarrassed himself this much
while trying to comfort the victims of a natural disaster.
For example, after he threw supplies at hurricane victims,
the crowd literally had to tell him to stop.
According to the "Washington Post"...
[ Laughter ]
My God.
Our President had to be told not to throw cans of chicken...
[ Laughter ] ...at hurricane victims.
I wouldn't be surprised if he only built Trump Tower
so he could drop pennies off the roof.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Of all...
[ Cheers and applause ]
Of all Trump's missteps in Puerto Rico, there's one that is
perhaps the most embarrassing and also the most revealing.
At the church where supplies were being handed out,
he encountered a church member
giving out water purification tablets.
Basically, these tablets turn dirty water
into clean drinking water, and not only could Trump
not believe it worked, he couldn't believe
they were giving it away for free.
Here's how that exchange went, according to the "Post"...
Trump genuinely cannot contemplate doing something
out of the goodness of your heart.
He just assumes it must be a scam.
[ Imitating Trump ] So you give them the dirty water,
but you say it's clean?
[ Normal voice ] No, it's clean.
[ Imitating Trump ] Oh, so you clean the water,
but then you sell it for double the price?
[ Normal voice ] No, we give it away for free.
[ Imitating Trump ] Oh, I get it. So while they're
drinking the water, you go around
and steal all their wallets? [ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] But this -- this is yet another reminder
to the evangelicals who support Trump.
He doesn't understand church. [ Laughter ]
[ Imitating Trump ] What's Jesus' cut, 20%?
That's very good. That's a lot of cans of chicken.
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] But after embarrassing himself,
insulting the people of Puerto Rico,
and repeatedly bringing up the financial cost
of the recovery, Trump out of nowhere
seemed to throw Puerto Rico a potential lifeline.
Right now the government of Puerto Rico is dealing
with an economic crisis and billions of dollars in debt
bought up by hedge funds and other Wall Street firms
who have blocked any attempt to allow Puerto Rico
to restructure its debt or declare bankruptcy.
But as Trump was leaving the island on Tuesday,
he seemed to suggest he might support
forgiving Puerto Rico's debt completely.
-We're going to work something out.
We have to look at their whole debt structure.
You know, they owe a lot of money
to your friends on Wall Street, and we're going to have to
wipe that out. That's gonna have to be, uh,
you know, you can say goodbye to that.
I don't know if it's Goldman Sachs,
but whoever it is, you can wave goodbye to that.
-Well, that would be easy. I've been waving goodbye
to things since you became President.
Bye, Constitution! Bye, good night's sleep!
Bye, half the people I know on Facebook!
[ Cheers and applause ]
But forgiving Puerto Rico's debt
would be a truly transformative step.
It would go a long way to alleviating the suffering
of Puerto Ricans and make up for many of Trump's missteps
in handling the crisis, so naturally,
his budget director, Mick Mulvaney,
went on TV the next morning to tell people,
"Don't listen to the President."
-The President seemed to suggest that he is open
to wiping out the Puerto Rican debt.
Is that to be taken seriously on its face?
-I wouldn't take it word for word with that --
-Agreed. No one should ever take Trump word for word.
It's far more fun to take his words
and then put them in an order that you find interesting.
-I have Wall Street friends. I have a lot of money.
I have butt hole. I have butt hole. I have butt hole.
Goodbye.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ] -Very proud of that.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Of course, the President isn't content to botch
just one crisis, which is why he's in the process
of botching another -- North Korea's nuclear program.
The international community has been desperately pursuing
every diplomatic angle to avoid what would certainly be
a catastrophic war, and Trump's own government
has been working with the U.N. Security Council,
China, and even through back channels
of North Korea itself to resolve the conflict peacefully.
So once again, Trump threw all that out the window
when he tweeted out of nowhere over the weekend...
So all the careful diplomacy and bargaining and angling
just goes out the window with one tweet.
It's like everyone is playing an intense game of Jenga,
and Trump is the rambunctious golden retriever
barging through the doggy door. [ Laughter ]
Also, I wouldn't be too concerned
that Rex Tillerson is expending a lot of energy.
He looks like the guy sitting in a rocking chair
outside the corner store who says...
[ Elderly Southern voice ] Storm's a-comin'. I can feel it
in my knees. [ Laughter ]
[ Applause ]
[ Normal voice ] So Trump has once again undercut
the diplomatic efforts of the Secretary of State,
which has happened so many times,
that Tillerson apparently threatened to resign
over the summer,
according to a report yesterday from NBC News.
But the fact that Tillerson threatened to resign
is not the most damning part of the story.
That, of course, had to do
with what Tillerson called Trump behind his back.
-At a meeting at the Pentagon
with the President's National Security team,
there were cabinet officials, White House officials.
The President attended. He left.
The group was gathering. There were a number of people around,
and the Secretary called the President a moron.
Wow. And Tillerson has that great Texas accent,
so you know he really stretched it out.
[ Southern accent ] That guy is a
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] Now, obviously, this story was based
on anonymous sources, and the State Department denied it,
which is why MSNBC did their own reporting
on exactly what Tillerson said
and issued an important clarification later that day.
-My source didn't just say that he called him a moron.
He said "an effing moron."
[ Laughter ]
-This story keeps getting better and better.
Seriously, I can't wait for the next update.
Oh, here it is right here. "Sources have further clarified
"that Tillerson called Trump a 'straight up nose-pickin'
"'mouth-breathin', missed-a-belt-loop...
[bleep]
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Tillerson, of course, was forced to issue a statement
at a hastily arranged press conference yesterday,
where he took the extraordinary step of trying to assure
the American people that the President is not,
in fact, a moron.
-Let me tell you what I've learned about this President,
whom I did not know before taking this office.
He loves his country.
He puts Americans and America first.
He's smart...
-Man, to think a guy's a moron and then be forced
to publicly say he's smart.
I guess when your name is Rex,
you're gonna be good at rolling over.
[ Laughter ] Good boy, Rex! Good boy!
[ Applause ] Oh, stay away from the Jenga!
[ Applause ] Now, yesterday, while he was
in Las Vegas, Trump was asked about the Tillerson story
in his comments afterwards and could not stop himself
from attacking the media.
Watch as he keeps saying "thank you"
as if to stop talking and then continues to ramble.
-Yeah, I'm very honored by his comments. It was fake news.
It was a totally phony story. Thank you very much.
It was made up. It was made up by NBC.
They just made it up. Thank you all.
-Do you have confidence in him? -Thank you.
-Total confidence in Rex. I have total confidence.
Thank you very much, everybody. [ Camera shutters clicking ]
-You can almost see the angel and devil on his shoulders
wrestling for control.
[ Devilish voice ] Say it was fake news!
[ High-pitched voice ] No, say thank you and leave.
[ Devilish voice ] Call it a phony story!
[ High-pitched voice ] Walk away and don't throw chicken cans!
[ Devilish voice ] Throw the chicken! Throw it!
[ High-pitched voice ] No, throw the paper towels
but not the chicken!
[ Devilish voice ] Throw the chicken,
but wrap it in paper towels so they think it's soft!
[ Cheers and applause, whistles ]
[ Laughter ]
We're in a truly extraordinary situation where the President
is fighting with his own Secretary of State,
as he faces multiple foreign policy challenges.
In fact, cabinet officials are apparently now so concerned
about the President's volatility that several of them have forged
an agreement to quit if Trump tries to fire one of them...
Jesus, so three cabinet officials have to ban together
to deal with their out-of-control boss.
They're treating him like he's Dabney Coleman in "9 to 5."
[ Laughter ]
And before you say that was a dated reference,
they were all at the Emmys! [ Laughter ]
So this is the situation we're in.
Cabinet officials are forming suicide pacts
to protect each other from the President.
The President is volatile, unstable, incompetent.
In other words... -A moron.
-No, that's not it. -An effing moron.
-Yeah, that's it. This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]