On Saturday's AM Joy, the MSNBC show at one point looked like a caricature of itself as frequent guest Fernand Armandi actually made the incendiary claim that the Republican party is a "domestic terror group," and then asserted that voters should not only vote them out, but "consider possibly afterwards locking them up."
The Democratic pollster -- known for making wildly over the top statements on the show -- made his hyperbolic comments about locking up Republicans not in response to any sort of charges of legal wrongdoing, but instead in response to simply having a policy disagreement about how to handle the CHIP program.
The rest of the panel behaved as if the off the wall remarks were simply a normal conversation as no one commented on his absurdity, with even Republican panel member Katon Dawson just calmly responding that he believed the CHIP program would be renewed.
Host Joy Reid set up the discussion by recalling the debate over whether to renew CHIP. She then turned to Amandi and posed: "We know that Florida has a large abundance of people who are on CHIP. In a state like that, can the members of Congress from Florida afford not to renew CHIP? And why haven't they pushed for it?"
The frequent liberal guest began his cartoonish analysis:
It's an excellent question, Joy, You know, Florida and many other states would be decimated -- Florida's children, other children. And I think it leads to the question: Is it any surprise that the party that is pro-pay-for-play, pro-Putin, and now with Roy Moore, pro-pedophilia, the fact that they're anti-children, is that any surprise? I don't think it is. And I think, Joy, this is emblematic -- this CHIP scenario where you mentioned nine million children -- children -- without health insurance.
He then added:
I think if you take a step back, one has to ask themselves -- and I think the American people should ask themselves the broader question: What has the Republican party in the last 10 years done to help the American people? What have they done? This is not a political party -- this is a domestic terror group. And I think what the American people should consider when they ask themselves that question -- with a party that has done nothing to help the American people -- is to vote them out and consider possibly afterwards locking them up, Joy.
Unfazed, host Reid turned to Dawson and posed:
You know, I'm going to go to Katon that. I'm sure Katon has thoughts on that. Katon, I know you're not a fan of the Affordable Care Act, but can the part really, you know, get away with the idea of not renewing this program? It's nine million kids.
Dawson seemed to barely notice the outlandish statement that he was reacting to as he calmly began his response:
I would predict to you that the party or the politicians will find a away to make this palatable and affordable. And the already have addressed it in the House. It's pretty tough to leave nine million children behind, and that won't happen
