New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan told the hosts of MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday that those in the White House are “much more invested” in President Trump now than those who were in his cabinet during his first presidential term.
“It is a White House that is much more invested in him,” Haberman explained, noting, “He is operating on gut instinct in a way that surpasses really anything that we saw in his first term, and a lot of what we’ve seen is some of what he was hoping to do in term one.”
Haberman and Swan stopped by “Morning Joe” this week to promote “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump,” their new investigative non-fiction book about the behind-the-scenes decisions, structure, actions, controversies and beliefs guiding Trump’s second presidential administration.
When asked about the book’s biggest themes, Haberman told “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough, “It is a story of hubris and buying into the idea that this one person actually could do things that nobody else could, and you are sort of seeing the bill coming due for that right now in Iran.”
“This is somebody who is uninhibited, who is operating on pure gut, who sees himself as this world figure,” the journalist added. You can watch part of her and Swan’s “Morning Joe” interview yourself below.
Haberman said that, unlike Trump’s first term, his cabinet is now made up of people who have been “radicalized” by his unlikely return to office.
“This is a group of people who genuinely believe in him. These are people who, in many ways, got radicalized by the investigations into him, by the assassination attempts that he faced,” Haberman observed. “They were in these court fights with him, and watching him still win — and watching him win overwhelmingly — and watching their data prove to be right, basically informed their view of how they were going to function.”
Haberman and Swan’s book has been a hot topic of conversation in June. That has been the case ever since reports were published stating that Trump is “furious” about the journalists’ direct quoting in the book of meetings in the White House’s Situation Room about everything from the war in Iran to the current administration’s handling of the Epstein Files.
White House officials told Axios in an incendiary report earlier this month that they believe Haberman and Swan may have obtained leaked, recorded audio from the Situation Room meetings in question. The two journalists shut down “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart Monday when he questioned them about the source of the Situation Room quotes in “Regime Change.”
“We appreciate you. We’re not going to talk about sourcing,” Haberman politely but firmly told Stewart.
