Howard Dean: Many Don’t ‘Consider Trump a Legitimate President’

Former Vermont Governor and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean claimed on MSNBC Thursday that President Donald Trump’s values are so far removed from those of Americans that many people do not view him as a “legitimate” president.

A partial transcript is as follows: 

DAVID GURA: Let me ask you other messages being sent to the world, particularly when it comes to Saudi Arabia. Your reaction to the president’s statement?

HOWARD DEAN: I actually think there is a dichotomy between what people think of America and what people think of Trump. I think people are beginning to understand that Trump does not represent American values. He doesn’t even really represent the values of most people who voted for him. I think most people don’t actually consider Trump a legitimate president. He was obviously elected and all this business. But, he does not represent American values. George W. Bush did represent American values and our numbers went down as a result. Trump is so far off the screen about what people know about America that I don’t actually think — he’s doing damage to our place in the world and our economic clout for sure — but I am not entirely sure that people don’t divorce Donald Trump from the United States of America.

SUSAN DEL PERCIO: How do you expect someone without any core values to represent our country’s values is how I would put it and I think when you look at the asylum issue, I think it’s also important to look at where he is preventing people from coming into this country are from and where they are from. He doesn’t like people from that part of the world. He is only concerned about doing what’s in his best interests and to help himself. That, I think, goes to the governor’s point about how we’re viewed around the world. He only cares about making a dollar, therefore it’s okay for Saudi Arabia, according to him, to take actions that they had because we have a deal with them based on financial need.