There is "considerable evidence" that Washington doesn't think President Donald Trump is suited to serve as commander in chief, veteran journalist Carl Bernstein, a frequent critic of the president's, claimed Wednesday night.
"There's considerable evidence that there's a consensus developing in the military, at the highest levels, in the intelligence community, among Republicans in Congress, including the leaders in the business community that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is unfit to be the president of the United States," Bernstein told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "That's the undercurrent."
Bernstein said he's been hearing increasing talk in Washington about Trump's "emotional and mental stability," and his presidency is a "dangerous moment in our history."
"Trump is under siege," Bernstein said. "Also from a special prosecutor, his family is under siege from a special prosecutor. But more than anything else, I think there's a sense among military, congressional, business leaders that he's in a kind of freefall, and he may not have many parachutes left except for his base to land safely, and that's awful thin cushion."
The United States has "never seen anything like this," Bernstein continued. "We don't know where it's going. We're in a presidential crisis of leadership, because his moral authority is gone with these constituencies that are essential for him to govern."
Bernstein also said that he's spoken to military leaders, who he did not name, and they "believe this president traffics in racism."
"We're talking about a military in this country that's 30 percent non-white, 40 percent non-white if you include Hispanics in the definition," Bernstein said. "They have no use for what they are seeing. They have given up on this president."
The chairs of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have issued separate statements condemning racism following a white nationalist rally that turned violent over the weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia in a move The Los Angeles Times reported was made to distance themselves from Trump.
Bernstein also this week posted his claims on Twitter, calling on reporters to investigate how "pervasive such talk may be."
He repeated his call to reporters on CNN Wednesday night.
"Donald Trump knows the peril of where he's in, because he is cognizant of what he is facing, that he now knows that things are closing in on him, that he has lost the constituencies, the business leaders that he had to fire, as it were, or dismiss from an advisory council before," said Bernstein.
"Whoever heard in the history of this country, Republican largely business leaders saying 'oh, no, I've got to quit this council and then the president disbands the council?'" Bernstein told Cooper. "We are in territory we've never been in, and what we're hearing, and all reporters need to check their sources and find out what people on the hill, the military, the intelligence communities are saying."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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