'They're embarrassed': Morning Joe guest reveals GOP secretly humiliated by Trump

Republicans, and particularly legacy Republicans, secretly hate what their own party has become under President Donald Trump, Politico's Jonathan Martin told a panel on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Monday — but their options for doing anything about it have basically vanished.

"We're talking about 10 years on in the Trump era, and he's consolidated power in his own party and the voices of dissent have lost retired, or muted themselves, or frankly they're living a lie," said Martin. "And I think that that's one of the great untold stories, because it's hard to to write it, but i think a lot of Republicans, especially in the Senate but certainly some in the House, they're humiliated by this. They don't like it, but they also don't like the left and they sure as heck don't like being guilted about it because that's why it's awkward. Because they know it's true. You know, on policy on politics, on presentation, they're embarrassed by it. It's not their party, it's not their country, it doesn't reflect who they are, the public life they want to lead. They look, you know, at their newer colleagues and it's hard to forge a connection."

Unfortunately, he continued, "They're politicians. They want to make an accommodation to stay in power, because they like being in power, and so they either — they either accommodate to it or they they quit ... I think you see a lot of people voting with their feet, and I think that explains a lot of the turnover."

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This state of affairs is not just reshaping the Republican Party, he continued, but the Democratic Party as well.

"I did a piece about Michael Bennett, the senator from Colorado, and we talk about Republicans a lot, it's also hard for Democrats to serve in today's Congress too because they find this embarrassing themselves," said Martin. "You know, they used to have friends across the aisle, they could work together, they could do deals. There's not a lot of that anymore, because they feel like their colleagues have had, like, the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, except for it's their soul, not their bodies. And, you know, there's not talk about substance, you know. In Bennet's case the Child Tax Credit was kind of his thing. There's no talk about that. Every conversation, every day, is about what Trump just said or did. That's the only conversation. And we're guilty of it too, obviously, but that is life if you're in Congress today.

"So if you're a Republican, you either bail or you live a lie or you keep your head down, make the best of it, and if you're a Democrat it's not much better either," Martin continued. "In the case of Bennet, you serve three terms, you're 60 years old, and you walk away after putting 15 years in the body to go become governor of Colorado. It's a real sign of the times."

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