The panel on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" dissolved in laughter on Monday after watching a clip of Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) claiming on Sunday that there was a "smooth" transition between the Donald Trump and Joe Biden administrations in 2020.
As the panelists laughed, "Morning Joe" regular John Heilemann suggested the North Dakota Republican should seek mental health care.
Speaking with NBC host Kristin Welker, Burgum stated, "Donald Trump, at the end of his term on January 20th, left the White House. We had a smooth transition," which led Welker to remind him, "Jan. 6 wasn't exactly a smooth transition."
Burgum, who is reportedly auditioning for the vice presidential slot with Trump, then attempted, "Well, I think we have to say that there was a smooth transition. As a governor in North Dakota today, I've been living under what I call the Biden dictatorship because of all the rules and regulations."
"Unlike every other transition of power in the history of the United States, this one had a riot at the Capitol where people died, so not that smooth," Heilemann dryly commented.
"And, you know, not only that, we have a president who is now -- a Republican nominee who not only continues to say the election was stolen, continues to contest it, but continues to talk about how these people that we're showing on screen right now are patriots, warriors for truth, that they were set up by the federal government. He promises now to pardon them if he gets back, including the ones who have been convicted and are currently serving time."
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"So, I mean, the lack of smoothness to the transition continues to this day nearly four years later," he continued. "I will say about Doug Burgum, a man who was once critical of Donald Trump, a man who was — said a lot of negative things about him when he ran for president that seemed sensible and tethered to the reality of the community, he is now a man who is openly pining for a job whose previous occupant, under the same boss, was nearly hung on the South Lawn of the Capitol."
"Now, if that's not — it's almost like kind of the definition of, if the only real thing you need to be vice president is to be ready from day one to be president, anybody who wants this job is kind of inherently disqualified from having this job," he joked. "Anybody who wants the job where the previous occupant was thrown to the wolves by the boss is someone who should be on a psychiatrist couch and potentially medicated, not considered ready from day one to the president of the United States, in my opinion."
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