The rise of Donald Trump is explained not so much by the hatred of Muslims, but rather the hatred of just one Muslim. The one who is not a Muslim.
Lawrence O'DonnellThis is someone [Michael Flynn] who is considered a loyalist and as we have watched this transition process unfold, again roiled by reports of turmoil, Donald Trump seems to be really focusing right now in this initial phase on loyalists.
Lawrence O'DonnellThe "New York Times" interview shows that the president Donald Trump believes he can get through the special prosecutor`s investigation of obstruction of justice with the simple words "I don`t remember". Jeff Sessions has been publicly attacked by the president. And in the middle of that attack, the president told all of his teammates who were in the Oval Office that day how he is going to testify when Robert Mueller asks him under oath if he kicked all of them out of the room when he asked to speak with James Comey alone.
Lawrence O'DonnellProbably about 35 percent of Donald Trump`s supporters do not believe that President [Barack] Obama is Muslim or that he was not born in the United States.Those Trump supporters are not white supremacists. But if Trump did not have the support of Obama haters who believe that the President is a Muslim, who believe that he was not born in the United States, Donald Trump would lose two-thirds of his support.
Lawrence O'DonnellI agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting that we can have, but I don`t think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening .
Lawrence O'Donnell