Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Chris Murphy shares what he has learned from a trip around the world visting a diverse range of allies: "The world is freaked out."
MIKE BARNICLE, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Senator, last week I was in Berlin and I was with a group of people, fairly top of the house from India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, and they were all universally concerned about the erratic nature of this presidency in dealing with specifically allies around the world. Wondering where it is all going. And seemingly indicating that this was weakening our position in the world, America as a nation to look toward. Do you pick up on that? Do you hear anything about that from our allies?
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: Yeah, as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, I have foreign leaders coming into the office every week. I’ve traveled since the inauguration to speak to leaders in Europe. And you know, the world is freaked out right now. Because they see American leadership vanishing before their eyes. And it is frankly not just the erratic nature of the Trump administration.
You know, one day you have Nikki Haley coming out and talking about Russia being in Ukraine. Two days later the President of the United States casts doubt on whether the Russians have ever invaded Ukraine. One day we’re against the One China policy, the next day we’re for it.
It’s also the State Department seems to be in the process of being eviscerated. The Daily Briefings are gone. We’re not communicating our values to the world. There’s been no nominee for Deputy Secretary of State or any of the Assistant Secretaries. American just seems to be fundamentally withdrawing.
And this is at a moment when we live in a multipolar (PH) world where you know frankly it’s pretty easy to accept an offer from China or from Russia to be your pal if the United States isn’t on the playing field. So it’s a really critical moment right now. And it’s hard for many of us to understand why the president doesn’t see the reality of what’s happening.
