Anti-Trump Podcaster Levels Surprising Backhanded Compliment at President on CNN

PoliticsGirl podcast host Leigh McGowan hit President Donald Trump with a backhanded compliment in a debate on CNN about the president.

McGowan joined CNN’s Table for Five panel on Saturday and the discussion turned to the new book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, which was written by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan and gives an inside look at administration.

One bit from the book includes Trump allegedly handing the authors a paper declaring he is more powerful than murderous dictators like Adolf Hitler. The president reportedly claimed the paper was written by an historian, but after some digging the reporters found it had been authored by David King, a business associate and caddy of retired golfer Gary Player.

Attorney Arthur Aidala argued Trump was merely publicly reflecting on his powerful position, instead of doing so privately.

“Other people are more humble. They do it behind closed doors. They do in their bedroom,” he said.

“Yeah, but no one in their right mind is going to say, ‘Hey, guess what? A presidential historian wrote this about me. And he’s a golf caddy,’ ” journalist Cari Champion threw out.

“I think you’re totally right, but I also think that, yeah, I mean, you sit in bed and you’re like, there are so many important figures in history, which ones do I want to be like?” Abby Phillip told Aidala.

Aidala continued defending Trump, noting how he moved a portrait of former President Ronald Reagan closer to his desk in the Oval Office.

“There are obviously good guys and bad guys. Why is he so fixated on the bad guys?” Phillip asked.

Trump, 80, does not “assess” his position, McGowan argued before adding that Trump is “one of the few” presidents who hasn’t “visibly aged:”

I do not think Donald Trump lies in bed — and I think he might be one of our only presidents that doesn’t lie in bed at night and assess how he’s doing. I don’t think he’s self-critical at all. I don’t think he has that about himself. I think that’s why he’s one of the only presidents that hasn’t visibly aged while doing the job. If you look at every other president that goes grey because I’m sure it’s a lot to take in. He is not. He is having a good old time.

While Aidala pushed back on the aging comment, but Champion agreed, adding, “He’s having the time of his life.”

“He’s starting wars. He can send army men. He can do this. People say, ‘Yes sir, no sir,’ ” McGowan continued. “They have parts in that book that say that his aide follows him around and tells him nice tweets and shows him nice letters and glowing reviews and things that say you are all that matters to me. Like, he’s thrilled.”

Watch above via CNN.

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