SO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, REPUBLICANS

This segment from Chris Hayes' show last night, in which he's speaking to Vanity Fair correspondent Gabriel Sherman about a conversation he had with a prominent Republican about Donald Trump, is incredible:

[The tweet containing the video has been deleted, for reasons unknown, but below is a transcript I completed before it was removed.]

GABRIEL SHERMAN: I just wanted to, you know, sort of put into context the conversation I had with a very prominent Republican today, who literally was saying that they imagine General Kelly and Secretary Mattis have had conversations about if Trump lunged for the nuclear football, what would they do? Would they tackle him? I mean, literally, physically restrain him from putting the country at sort of perilous risk. And that is the kind of situation we're in, so, yes—

CHRIS HAYES: Wait, that's a conversation you had with a very senior Republican—

SHERMAN: Yes.

HAYES: —musing about what they would do.

SHERMAN: [A person] who knows about — who is talking about these are the conversations that, they have very good authority, are taking place inside the White House.

First of all, I would bet a small fortune that the "very prominent Republican" who conjured this scenario is John McCain. No one is more invested in the idea of Republicans doing something heroic to save us from the worst of their party than McCain, and no one does more to keep that a fantasy than McCain.

Which brings me to my point: The only use in spinning imaginary tales like this is to keep suggesting to the country, like Rex Tillerson, that the entire Republican party is SHOCKED and APPALLED by Donald Trump, OH DEAR, and get everyone talking about that, instead of demanding that the Republican majority do something meaningful to check and balance their reckless president.

Even if I believed for one moment, which I don't, that Kelly and Mattis would tackle Trump if he reached for the nuclear football, that is not their job. No one elected them to make those decisions.

And if you have any doubt that the Republican Party has lost every last shred of commitment to a healthy democracy, consider what's actually being suggested here: That the United States President's decisions be overruled by former military commanders.

As I just wrote yesterday, even if we believe that Trump's decisions are terrible, it is a complete abandonment of our democratic principles to root for him to be thwarted and disempowered.

The Republicans could draw up impeachment papers for Trump at any time. Instead, they spin fairy tales about effective military coups, to avoid doing anything themselves.