MSNBC analyst John Heilemann on Thursday said he is "virtually certain" that if a poll was taken on the question, 10 percent of President Donald Trump's supporters would say he can do anything he wants, including killing their parents.
Heilemann appeared on "Morning Joe" and was responding to another poll when he said he would like to see a pollster test his question about how many people in the Republican Party believe it would be okay for Trump to "dissolve their own grandparents."
"I'm virtually certain if it was a Donald Trump-related question you would get like 10 percent that would be like 'Donald Trump has the power to do whatever he wants, including kill my parents,'" Heilemann said, prompting a visibly uncomfortable panel to peer over at him.
"I'm being hyperbolic. Don't everybody look so appalled ... There are some people who – to Noah's point – that they just hear the question as the media is trying to test my loyalty to Donald Trump, and if it's a question about whether Trump has the authority to do anything, they will say 'yes' no matter what that thing is," Heilemann said.
Co-host Willie Geist came to Heilemann's rescue and said the polling question was his version of remarks Trump once himself made. Trump said during his 2016 presidential campaign that he would be able to shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not losing any voters.
"That was where I was trying to get to, although bringing it a little closer to home to make it their own parents and grandparents," Heilemann said.
"This show got dark real fast," Geist joked.