MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell on Tuesday discussed what he called “the biggest October surprise” ever: the revelation earlier in the day that Donald Trump, as president in 2020, secretly gave COVID tests to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his personal use when they were scarce in the U.S.
The news came via Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book, War, excerpts of which were published Tuesday by CNN and The Washington Post.
The anchor of The Last Word noted that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has already turned that information into an ad, which shows that headline beside various clips of Trump saying many nice things about Putin and bragging that he gets along with him very well.
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“The shocking, breaking news of the morning is the biggest October surprise of the 21st century,” O’Donnell said, adding that the revelations “would have crushed any presidential candidate prior to the Trump era and Donald Trump.”
The Post, reporting on that excerpt from Woodward’s book, noted that Putin told Trump not to reveal he had provided him with COVID tests.
“I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me,” Putin told him, according to the book.
Also included in the Watergate reporter’s book is the fact that Trump has had as many as seven phone calls with Putin since leaving office in January 2021.
O’Donnell added that this reporting would still harm any Democratic presidential candidate—showing the vice grip Trump has on his party.
“Donald Trump has converted the Republican Party into the Trump Party, and has appeared to have established a lock on 47 percent of the vote in this country, which, if properly distributed by that curse on American democracy, the Electoral College, could win Donald Trump the presidency,” O’Donnell said.
“Without the Electoral College, Donald Trump would have vanished from politics in November 2016,” he continued. “Thanks to the Electoral College, the person Bob Woodward calls ‘the most reckless and impulsive president in history’ is still with us.”
Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, agreed with O’Donnell, saying Tuesday at a campaign fundraiser in California that the Electoral College “needs to go,” according to a pool report. He also acknowledged that a national popular vote for president would likely not happen anytime soon.
