MSNBC host says covering Trump has 'exhausted' him, will take a break from show

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell says he is "exhausted" by covering President Donald Trump's spirited second term and must take a break from his evening show.

The 73-year-old liberal host has helmed his own show on the progressive network since 2010 after being an executive producer and editor on the Emmy-award winning political show "The West Wing."

'I thought it was day 92. It turns out it's day 52, Rachel. And I’m exhausted.'

O'Donnell made the announcement of his break from the nightly show after signing off in a discussion with fellow host Rachel Maddow.

"This is day 52 — I thought it was day 92. It turns out it's day 52, Rachel. And I’m exhausted at day 52, and so I’m going to take next week off. And I’m telling you that now because I know you don’t like it when I just drift away,” O’Donnell said.

“I’m just taking next week off, then I’m going to come back and go with you all the way to the 100 days," he added.

O'Donnell is a relentless critic of Trump and his policies. He opened his show Friday with a critique implying that the president is mentally impaired.

“And so America is, at this hour, completing the 52nd day of having a president of the United States whose brain does not work,” he claimed. “Donald Trump’s brain is broken, badly damaged, as he exhibits every day.”

MSNBC has seen some growth in ratings since Trump's election victory, but it still falls far short of the ratings bonanza at Fox News.

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