Politico reporter 'stunned' by extent of GOP ‘intellectual dishonesty’ in support of Trump's national emergency
Politico's Jake Sherman/MSNBC screen shot

Politico's Jake Sherman admitted on Tuesday to MSNBC's Katy Tur that he was "stunned" by the sheer "intellectual dishonesty" of Republicans falling into line behind President Donald Trump's national emergency after spending the better part of Barack Obama's presidency railing against executive overreach.


"We should expect if Mitch McConnell is doubting the outcome, it's probably not going to be a good outcome for him," Sherman said, setting the stage. "I think it's nearly certain or certainly very likely that the president is going to be rebuked. At the same time, it's not going to be veto proof. This emergency declaration, at least in the Senate, is not going to have a veto proof majority."

"But I think it is fair to say," Sherman continued, that "over the last decade, Republicans have been not singularly focused but certainly very, very focused on the fact that the Obama White House overused its unilateral authority."

"Now we're seeing President Trump use its unilateral authority to an extent we've almost never seen before," he went on. "And Republicans are falling in line by and large in a way that's just frankly intellectually dishonest, based not on my standards but where they set the standards over the past decade. That's been a little stunning for me personally to see."

"If Barack Obama did this, Republicans would be absolutely down his throat," Sherman said, with a laugh. "Just a huge dose of intellectual dishonesty from members of Congress who set the bar. They set the bar, not me, not you."

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