Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says the most appropriate label for Donald Trump is “weird.”
When asked during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday morning whether she thinks the Republican presidential nominee could be a fascist, Albright responded “It’s hard to label him anything except weird,” to laughs and cheers from the audience.
Albright, who was secretary of state during the Clinton administration, said she is troubled by Trump’s claim that his calls for the Russians to find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails were “sarcastic.”
“The fact that he can even say that is sarcastic is a sign of his complete lack of understanding,” Albright said. She said Trump’s statements could have international political consequences, and said “even sarcasm, or maybe especially sarcasm, shows a distain for the complexity of a situation.”
When asked whether she has ever heard a presidential candidate speak so flatteringly of a foreign dictator like Vladimir Putin, Albright responded, “Never.”
“I don’t know whether they are channelling each other or what,” she said.
Trump indicated this week he might pick and choose which NATO countries to defend, but Albright said in response, “I think that’s kind of blackmailing allies.” She also said she was skeptical of Trump’s “America first” approach to foreign policy.
“America first doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “America is exceptional, we are an indispensable nation, but we have to operate with others.”
