ADVERTISEMENT

MSNBC Panel Says Trump Is a ‘Dictator’ Who's Owned by Putin: 'We Need a Revolution'

Deutsch suggests Trump will jail or harm MSNBCers

February 2, 2018

An MSNBC panel exploded on Republicans Friday, with guest Donny Deutsch calling President Donald Trump a "dictator" and calling for a revolution.

The panel on "Deadline: White House" was reacting to the newly released memo, written by House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R., Calif.), which was declassified earlier in the day and alleged surveillance abuses by the Department of Justice regarding a Trump campaign official.

The memo has drawn a range of reactions, but Deutsch said didn’t want to talk about it because previous information was enough to prove Trump is "owned by Putin."

"I don’t want to talk about the memo. We’ve got a dozen instances of clearly the Russians colluding in this election with top Trump officials. Two have already been convicted. We have a guy, a president who clearly is owned by Putin," Deutsch said.

He went on to say the memo exists to give Trump permission to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

"We basically now have a press release that's been put out, that's been twisted and mangled that now will give this president permission to fire Rosenstein who will now take over this investigation," he said. "Our democracy is under siege. People need to start taking to the streets. This is a dictator. This is not something to analyze anymore."

Host Nicolle Wallace said, "Yeah" as Deutsch was speaking, and he went on to say Trump should frighten anyone "if you are an American."

"This is frightening stuff. If you are an American, if you're somebody who is 80 years old and sitting at home and you've watched the greatness of this country, you should be terrified, and if you're a 12-year-old and the future is in front of you, this is terrifying. This is not time to analyze and pundit. People, we need a revolution at this point," he said.

Wallace then went on to say she knows a "former top intelligence official" who is "just as mad" as Deutsch. She also said Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) and his GOP colleagues are too "far gone" to do anything about it.

Jennifer Palmieri, former communications director for the Obama White House and the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign, agreed with Deutsch and said Republicans are "in cahoots" with Trump.

"They are now in cahoots with them," she said. "Donny is right, it’s extraordinarily dangerous what they are on pace to do."

Deutsch then said Russia is "our No. 1 geopolitical enemy," echoing comments made by 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney that Palmieri's former boss mocked. Deutsch emphasized how high the stakes are in this investigation.

"This investigation is trying to find out one simple thing: Did our number one geopolitical enemy have anything to do with our electoral process?" he said.

Guest Steve Schmidt then said Congress needed to have a stronger response to Russian actions.

"So the job of the Congress is to understand that an attack by the Russians on the Clinton campaign is, in fact, an attack on the United States of America and our elections process," he said.

Deutsch finished with a plea for people to resist Trump if he fires Rosenstein.

"I want to know what the people of this country are going to do if Rod Rosenstein is fired," Deutsch said. "We can't take this sitting down. Trump is winning. He's winning, kids. This crazy, wacky guy is winning, and a year into this he has already, not chipped, has cut away at the things that protect us. Half of this country thinks the media totally lies. At this point, 44 percent of this country doesn't trust the FBI."

Deutsch finished by saying that in a year Trump may be willing to exercise his power to hurt those on MSNBC who criticize him.

"Guess what? A year from now this doesn't change, maybe this table is in trouble we keep talking like this," he said. "I'm not being dramatic. This is what's happening, kids. I mean, and this guy is winning. This wacky, orange, poofy-haired guy is winning this game and we cannot depend on the Congress anymore. And if Rosenstein is fired, there needs to be people in the streets because it's getting in scary territory, kids."