Former Speaker of the House John Boehner unloads in a wide-ranging new Politico feature, calling Trump a shit show and commenting extensively on the state of his own party in a way that will have some Democrats realizing he is like Gandhi compared to what they're up against now ...

Politico asked Boehner his thoughts on disgraced former Speaker Dennis Hastert, who is now known to be a pedophile who paid hush money to keep that secret — and really got away almost scot-free when exposed:

Although nobody knew at the time, Hastert would become another in a long string of prominent congressional Republicans to be disgraced by scandal. In 2015, Hastert reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, acknowledging that he had delivered hush money to one of several male former high school students he had sexually abused. The Boehners, like others who knew him, were dumbfounded. “Denny Hastert was the nicest guy,” Debbie says. “But you know what? His wife never came to D.C.” Did they ever notice anything unusual, I ask? “Only his staff,” Boehner tells me. “He had more gay staff than anybody I knew — at a time when it was a bit unusual.” He pauses. “OK, fine. I didn’t care. But when all this stuff broke a couple years ago, it took my breath away.”

Speaking of taking breath away, check out his off-the-cuff assessment of Trump:

Before I said anything, he shook his head and muttered, “What a shit show.” But our most interesting exchange came in Green Bay, after a hearty meat-and-potato breakfast, when I raised the matter of this summer’s march in Charlottesville, and Trump’s equivocations. “I do not believe that he is a racist. I do not believe that he is a white supremacist,” Boehner tells me. “He has clearly done some things to lead people who never liked him to say those things about him.” So, I ask, how can Trump fix that? Boehner arches an eyebrow. “Is it fixable?”

More at Politico.