'Much worse situation than we ever were in Watergate' as Trump runs wild: historian

A prominent historian warned on Sunday that President Donald Trump has created a situation much worse than what the country faced during the Watergate scandal of the 1970s.

Garrett Graff, author of the Doomsday Scenario newsletter, joined Emma Vigeland on "The Majority Report" to discuss the Trump administration pushing the U.S. towards authoritarianism. Graff argued that Trump's "speedrunning abuses of power," such as deploying federal troops to cities across the U.S., have "fundamentally changed" the country.

Vigeland noted that there are some similarities between the Trump administration and former President Richard Nixon's administration, and asked Graff to compare the two moments in history.

"We're in a much worse situation than we ever were in Watergate," Graff said. "I say that because of what we've seen from the actions of the other two branches of government...both of which are also obviously under the control of the Republicans at this point, where they are aiding and abetting the national slide towards authoritarianism."

Graff argued that Republicans who were in office during Watergate realized their first duty was to the Constitution, not to the president. That doesn't seem to exist in the current Republican party, he added.

"Over the course of this year, we have seen Congress not care when the president takes prerogatives to ignore congressional law," Graff said. "The Supreme Court under John Roberts has written Trump effectively a blank check as president for immunity for criminal actions."

Watch the entire clip below or by clicking here.