Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook Had a Really Rough Appearance on Morning Joe (Video)

This morning, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook appeared on Morning Joe, where he was peppered with questions about Syria. It did not go well, at all:

this is humiliating pic.twitter.com/9ohPUUeqq3

— Gary Tasteman (@ByYourLogic) September 21, 2016

There are a couple ways to read this. The first is that Mook looked vastly unprepared, and, as the hosts repeatedly said, did a very poor job speaking on Clinton’s behalf…since he is, after all, her spokesman. As Scarborough said, “we love you buddy, but what are you here for?” That’s a valid reading.

The other interpretation is that the question was loaded as hell—is Clinton mad that Obama didn’t follow up on her aggressive posture toward Syria when she was Secretary of State? Not only are they asking Mook to outline her policy on a potential war, but also to second-guess Obama at a time when they can’t afford to alienate any of his voters. So maybe, as stumbling and equivocating as he looked, Mook actually did a good job by not letting himself get pinned down and taking a bullet for the campaign?

Even if you subscribe to that later theory, though, there had to be a better way to handle the interaction than immediately reverting to a character I’m calling “Clueless McChuckles.”