A segment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” came to a sudden halt on Wednesday after co-host Mika Brzezinski suggested the raid on President Trump’s doctor’s office was conducted to hide evidence of a sexually transmitted disease.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle was on the show discussing a report that White House chief of staff John Kelly called Trump an “idiot” on multiple occasions.
“We know from Kellyanne Conway, unless you show true worship of the grand master wizard that is the president, then you’re outskies with him,” Ruhle said.
“I like this analogy from Stephanie,” MSNBC’s Elise Jordan replied. “You leave with the political equivalent of an STD, to talk about something Donald Trump worries about constantly.”
“It’s something that you just don’t get rid of easily,” she added.
Co-host Joe Scarborough then quipped about Trump’s infamous remark on the Howard Stern Show about STD avoidance being his “personal Vietnam.”
“Wait a minute, maybe that’s why they raided his doctor’s office,” Brzezinski shot back.
After a moment of awkward silence, Scarborough jumped in, quickly switching the focus to the next segment.
Scarborough in the past has raised speculation about other parts of Trump’s health, saying at one point that people inside the White House have told him the president has early signs of dementia.
In January, Dr. Ronny Jackson, who was the White House doctor at the time, took questions from the media regarding Trump’s first physical as president. He declared Trump was not only “fit for duty” but that he had passed a mental assessment typically given to older adults aimed at detecting early signs of brain issues.
Trump’s medical records and his White House physical did not include any mentions of sexually transmitted diseases, and during the hour-long press briefing with Jackson reporters didn’t didn’t ask whether the president had ever had one. Two women who claim to have had an extramarital relationship with Trump have said that he did not use a condom when they had sex.
Past medical records from presidents on this topic have varied, because the records aren’t required to be presented in a specific way or to disclose all information about a president’s health throughout his lifetime. One medical exam in 2001 from former President George W. Bush said that he had “no past medical history … of sexually transmitted disease.”
Exams from 2010 and 2014 of former President Barack Obama do not mention whether he ever had an STD. The White House doctor told reporters in a 1996 interview following former President Bill Clinton’s physical that he had tested negative for HIV in 1990 when he had undergone an insurance physical.
