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Robert Reich: Former GOP Lawmaker Said Trump Is ‘Fritzing Out’

Unnamed Republican predicted president will be gone before midterms

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Monday shared a transcript of a conversation with a former Republican member of Congress. (Win McNamee/Getty Images file photo)
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Monday shared a transcript of a conversation with a former Republican member of Congress. (Win McNamee/Getty Images file photo)

It isn’t any secret that Robert Reich would love to see President Donald Trump leave office. Now he says Republicans would, too.

In a post on his website and Facebook page, Reich shared a transcript of a conversation he said he had with a former GOP member of Congress, in which the unnamed lawmaker said Trump is “fritzing out.”

The economist and former Labor secretary under President Bill Clinton, has an active social media presence, often sharing his opinions on the Trump administration through blog posts and videos. In the post shared Monday, Reich said Republicans are afraid Trump will hurt them in the 2018 midterm elections as well as in 2020.

The ex-GOP lawmaker didn’t hold back in his assessment of Trump’s administration, calling it a “banana republic,” according to Reich.

Reich’s anonymous source alluded to a Republican Party that regrets aiding Trump.

“They planned to use Trump’s antics for cover, to get done what they most wanted — big tax cuts, rollbacks of regulations, especially financial,” the source said. “They’d work with Pence behind the scenes and forget the crazy uncle in the attic.”

Republicans are upset about Trump’s behavior, especially his tweets about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his hiring of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, the former lawmaker said. (The transcript was posted before Scaramucci’s removal was announced Monday.) 

The source also said Republicans are maneuvering behind the scenes to put up another candidate for president in 2020.

Meanwhile, Trump is worried his Cabinet is plotting against him, according to the transcript.

“Twenty-fifth amendment!,” the ex-lawmaker told Reich. “Read it! A Cabinet can get rid of a president who’s nuts. Trump thinks they’ve been preparing a palace coup. So one by one, he’s firing them.”

But the source made clear that Trump’s Cabinet will not overthrow him.

“It’s ludicrous,” he said. “Sessions is a loyal lapdog. [Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson doesn’t know where the bathroom is. That’s my point. Trump is fritzing out. Having manic delusions. He’s actually going nuts.”

The former GOP lawmaker said it is only a matter of time before it becomes apparent to everyone that Trump is “off his rocker.”

“That’s where the twenty-fifth amendment really does comes in,” he added.

And it could come sooner than predicted, the source added.

“My betting is he’s out of office before the midterms,” he said. “And Pence is president.”

Reich has posted conversation transcripts with a source he identified as a former Republican member of Congress in the past, including one in the days leading up to the 2016 election. In that post, the unnamed lawmaker called Trump a “maniac” and said most Republicans thought he was “deplorable.”

“But they’re not gonna speak out,” the source said at the time. “Some don’t want to end their political careers. Most don’t want to risk their lives. The Trump crowd is just too dangerous. Trump has whipped them up into a g*ddamn frenzy.”

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