CNN’s Bernstein: ‘The wheels are coming off the presidency’

CNN’s Carl Bernstein declared Friday that “the wheels are coming off the presidency” and called the current state of affairs at the White House “unlike anything I have seen in 50 years in Washington.”

Bernstein, the veteran journalist of Watergate fame, provided his perspective during an interview on CNN’s morning program, “New Day.”

He said there’s a sense from “people in the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill” that “the wheels are coming off the presidency.”

{mosads}He added that those closest to the president, including White House chief of staff John Kelly and leaders of the military, are trying to “constrain the president from his own inclinations to say wild things, to act irresponsibly.”

“It’s almost as if there’s a protector around the president. He’s constantly complaining, going into rages about the [Russia] investigation, about disloyalty among his aides. It’s an extraordinary situation, unlike anything I have seen in 50 years in Washington,” Bernstein said.

The 73-year-old former Washington Post investigative reporter has been a staunch critic of President Trump, referring to him as an “authoritarian,” a “bigot” and an “American neo-fascist” in past interviews. 

Bernstein contended later in the interview that the military is now in control of the presidency. 

“George Washington resigned his commission so we could have civilian control of the military, and now we have military control of the presidency,” he told anchors Chris Cuomo and Poppy Harlow. 

“This is not what our system was meant to do. At the same time people are counting on the military leaders, [Defense Secretary James] Mattis, [national security adviser H.R.] McMaster, et cetera, to keep the president from doing wild things. 

“The president is going up against the recommendations of his own national security apparatus on the Iran deal. This is a sense the president is the president of his base.” 

Trump indicated Thursday evening he is close to announcing his decision on whether to decertify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement negotiated under the Obama administration in 2015. 
 
“You’ll be hearing about Iran very shortly,” Trump said.  
 
“We must not allow Iran … to obtain nuclear weapons,” the president said during a Thursday meeting with military leaders.