MSNBC's Michelle Goldberg explains why GOP's blame game shows they have 'a guilty conscience' on Kavanaugh

When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford came forward to talk about her harrowing sexual assault by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, she was treated with some respect by President Donald Trump and the GOP.

That appeared to change as the process continued, with Republicans like Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) basically adopting the strategy laid-out by a close Kavanaugh ally who suggested that Ford was assaulted by another man.

On Saturday, a MSNBC panel discussed why things changed.

"It's always been clear that this president is the face of white male backlash," said New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg. "Despite people's determination to pretend it was quote-unquote economic anxiety that propelled him into the position he's in, he understands his base, and their resentments, and their grievances, really, really well."

Goldberg then pointed out that there's "an abuser's logic" to the defenses of Kavanaugh by Republicans like Collins who supported him and claimed that they did so partly because they were confronted by angry protestors.

"They keep acting like, 'oh it was protestors,' or 'it was incivility,' or 'it was Michael Avenatti,' that made Jeff Flake or Susan Collins vote for this nominee," she said. "They were always going to vote for this nominee. They were determined to vote for this nominee."

Collins "wanted any excuse to get to yes," Goldberg said.

"The very fact that they're blaming Democrats suggests to me an element of guilty conscience—you don't blame other people for making you do something if you think that it was a blameless thing for you to do," she said.

Watch below.