With most of the national press focused on consequences, motives or potentially sensitive national security leaks surrounding the Donald Trump federal charges, Joy Reid got into the deeper psychology of the indicted former president's classified documents collection that, when you hear the MSNBC host out, doesn't sound at all far-fetched.
"The ReidOut" host opened Wednesday night by wishing Trump a happy 77th birthday, "you twice-indicted, twice-impeached found-liable-for-sexual-asault former president - I'm sure it's been an interesting one: a day of reflection about what matters in life."
Family, good health and community?
"I mean, or not," Reid continued. "This is Donald Trump we're talking about, so what mattes in life are things: gold toilets, celebrity tchotchke collections, gold bathroom chandeliers, gold in the gold ballroom - or the Shauquille O'Neal sneakers he bragged about to a Wall Street Journal reporter back in 2015."
(That story is true, and the whole exchange was clipped in the segment, all of which is worth a watch above.)
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It was all a setup for Reid's crack conclusion that Donald Trump just likes stuff.
"But we've always known this about Trump, right? - that he's kind of a weird, old hoarder guy with the taste level of a mega millions lotto winner from the 1980s, mashed up with that guy you went to high school with Who still wears the letter jersey from his 11th grade football championship."
The boxes, and the documents they contained, were no more than souvenirs.
"That explains why he would leave office with a mania to cling to icons of power," Reid said. "Trump sees classified documents same way he sees Shaq's shoes - the ultimate trappings of presidential fiat! Evidence that he held that powerful office and no one can forget it! . he clearly literally wanted to hang on to them, kinda like Gollum and his Precious only it's, 'My my boxes!'
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