Morning Joe pounds Fox News for comparing Mueller to Stalin -- and shames conservatives for watching

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough blasted Fox News for broadcasting "Nazi" attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller -- and shamed their audience for lapping it up.

The "Morning Joe" host singled out Newt Gingrich for condemnation for comparing Mueller, a decorated war veteran and respected former FBI director, to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin during Sean Hannity's program.

"I want Republicans on Capitol Hill, I want the people who run Fox News to look at that tape," Scarborough said. "Now, I know Newt and I've liked Newt, but I want Newt to look at that tape again and I want him to ask himself, and I want Fox News to ask themselves, and I want Republicans on Capitol Hill to ask themselves, and I want conservatives across America to ask themselves are you comfortable with a spokesperson, a lackey for the president of the United States comparing the men and women of the FBI who protect us every day, comparing them to Nazis who slaughtered upwards of 12 million.

"Newt, are you really comfortable comparing the FBI to Joseph Stalin?" he continued. "I ask those leading Fox News, I ask Republicans on Capitol Hill, conservatives across America, are you really comfortable attacking law enforcement officers and personnel who were protecting your children against the next ISIS terror attack on American soil, comparing those FBI agents to Joseph Stalin, a man who killed between 25 and 40 million of his own people?"

He said the rule of law protects against dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, and he hammered Gingrich and other Trump apologists for attacking democratic institutions that act as a safeguard to authoritarianism.

"We have a rule of law, we have a United States Constitution, we have legal procedural safeguards, we have the Bill of Rights," Scarborough said. "Every one of those safeguards given to us from our founding fathers, each one was checked off, and there is a federal judge, Newt Gingrich, somewhere in New York City that you are also comparing to Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler because they signed off on the warrants."

"When you start comparing Robert Mueller to Stalin or Hitler, you are not attacking Robert Mueller, you are attacking the United States of America, you are attacking the United States Constitution, you are attacking the genius of our founding fathers to make sure that for over 240 years those sort of abuses haven't happened here, and they're still not happening here," he added. "You owe Robert Mueller an apology, you owe the men and women of the FBI an apology -- and you owe the American people an apology."