President Donald Trump's first weeks in office are showing him to be "a stable, sensible world leader," who trusts the American people will judge him on the "results" of both his foreign and domestic policies, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said Sunday.
Ruddy told CNN's "Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter" that the problem is not Trump, who he said is "battle tested," but with the White House not showing "the amount of order that we need to see."
"I think there's a lot of weakness coming out of the chief of staff," Ruddy said, referring to Reince Priebus who he described as a "good guy" and "well intentioned."
"But he doesn't know how the federal agencies work," Ruddy argued. "He doesn't have a real good system. He doesn't know how the communications flow. … I think the president is not getting the backup he needs in the operation of the White House, sometimes the pushback that he needs, which you would have with a stronger White House chief of staff."
Ruddy also took issue with the CNN show’s earlier guests. Ruddy rejected the view of New York magazine contributor Andrew Sullivan that Trump has exhibited behavior that's "bonkers" and "unstable," calling the comments "over the top."
"Are you guys really connected to reality?" Ruddy asked host Brian Stelter. "To believe, as Andrew claimed, that because [Trump] got the murder statistic wrong, that therefore he's a pathological liar, and therefore he's mentally unstable, I really think that's over the top."
Rather, Ruddy noted that Trump at the age of 30 went into New York real estate and rose quickly to the top. He then went into television and had an unheard of 14-year-long hit TV show, and then two years ago decided he wanted to be president. He then ran and won.
"If he's crazy, he's crazy like a fox," Ruddy said. "So I would not underestimate his abilities."
Ruddy said he believes many Americans are turning off cable news outlets "because they feel — I don't know if it's fake news as much as it's bias news."
"Look what he does," Ruddy added, detailing Trump’s foreign policy record so far: "He's reaffirmed NATO, he's issued caution to Iran, he's reaffirmed the special relationship we have with Britain, he's reaffirmed the One China policy with China."
"These are signs of a stable, sensible world leader," he continued. "I think you're going to see more of that. … That will be a sign of how he's going to behave on domestic policy and really he wants to be judged by his results. He's a business guy."
Ruddy also refuted a New York Times report that Trump was having a hard time adjusting to the role of president.
"He is telling me he loves the job," Ruddy said. "I think he's fitting in fine. I think he's put a really good team in the Cabinet. They're just starting to get settled in. We're not even a month into this yet."
"Nobody ever really held the press accountable for the things they do and the mistakes they do," Ruddy added.
"I think he's extremely well-informed ... he likes to access a lot of information. He doesn't just watch cable news. He watches entertainment programs, he watches a lot of sports… and listens to different points of view. The previous president didn't watch much and lived a little bit in a bubble, but nobody talks about that."
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