MSNBC's Mika warns Trump is leading his fans into fascism: 'They are being desensitized to lies'

MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski warned President Donald Trump's horrifying Montana rally was one of the clearest examples yet of looming fascism.

The "Morning Joe" panelists were shocked and disgusted as the president attacked one his predecessors, George H.W. Bush, and then Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) -- and turned the #MeToo movement into a punchline to insult Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

"It really just turns my stomach," said Republican strategist Susan Del Percio. "It's painful to watch. This is the president of the United States going after people for a punchline. That's disgraceful. We should expect more, and just to add on that, he attacked the press exactly one week after five people lost their lives."

Host Joe Scarborough was appalled by the Trump supporters in the crowd who cheered cheap jokes about Bush and McCain -- a pair of Republican military veterans who had spent most of their lives in public service, and whom many of them had probably voted for in presidential elections.

"I'm not shocked by Donald Trump doing this," he said. "Donald Trump doesn't understand this, because he is the most selfish man who has ever sat in the White House in his life -- personally, politically, professionally, you name it -- there's overwhelming evidence to prove that. This is about the Republicans that are sitting in the crowds, that voted for George H.W. Bush in 1998 and 1992 and voted for John McCain in 2008 who are now sitting there laughing at two men in their final days."

"What does that say about their character?" Scarborough said. "Forget about Donald Trump's. They must have found the 6,500 meanest people."

Brzezinski saw something even darker underneath the forces Trump was stirring up with cheap and heartless attacks.

"It's cruel and sick and it's everything that we're feeling here, but I think it's also worth noting that there are people whose life experience and service to our country, who are saying that this is something worse," she said.

The co-host said the rally reminded her of historical accounts of the beginnings of Nazism and other authoritarian horrors.

"Look at Madeleine Albright's book, 'Fascism: A Warning,'" Brzezinski said. "Look at what happened last night at this rally. This is 6,500 people cheering on lies. They are being desensitized as they laugh at those who served our country, who are dying right now, and he's bringing them along."

"You could argue this is something much more serious that is happening, without being hysterical about it" she added. "But we have to look at it straight in the eye."