Video: Howard Dean Tells MS NOW 'No Normal Country Would Elect Somebody Like Donald Trump,' Says Democrats Must Rehab Their Party and Calls for Hegseth's Removal

Breitbart posted a clip of Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, on MS NOW's "The Beat" on Thursday. We relied on Breitbart's transcript, not the video.

The line. Dean said: "No normal country would elect somebody like Donald Trump as president of the United States." He said it as part of an answer about rebuilding his party. "A lot of this is going to be rehabbing the Democratic Party," he said. "In some ways, we got ourselves into this." He said the country was not "a normal country" because Democrats "had forgotten how we had to touch average Americans who were struggling," and added, "We have a ways to go."

On Hegseth. Dean said some Trump appointees "need to be removed" and named Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom he called "completely incompetent." He said he does not favor "a wholesale purge of all these malcontents," and that he wants the focus on the armed forces, which he said Hegseth is "making a mess" of.

On legislation. Dean said Democrats should "focus on legislation" and put bills on Trump's desk "as soon as we possibly can" to address what he called the "terrible beating" working-class people have taken on health care.

Why it matters here. Dean, a former presidential candidate, is arguing against a purge while the party's new committee chairs talk of subpoenas. We have covered Democrats' investigation plans and the Hegseth impeachment talk. His remark about the country is the one Breitbart chose for its headline.

What we could not check. We did not watch the video, so we cannot judge tone or what came before or after. We did not verify his claims about Hegseth or about the effect of Trump's policies on health care costs. We saw no response from the White House or the Pentagon.