Stephanie Ruhle explains why booting Franken could lead to Trump’s impeachment

MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle hilariously found herself agreeing with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who speculated Democrats are booting Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) over sexual harassment claims to hurt President Donald Trump.

Democratic women senators called on Franken to resign over the allegations against him, and Ruhle agreed with a guest that this was an instance where the morally right thing to do was also good politics.

"We can talk all day long about how unpopular President Trump is, he is a political svengali," Ruhle said. "An unpopular, completely unqualified, morally reprehensible person became president of the United States. I cannot believe -- lightning's going to strike me, I'm saying this -- I want to share what Laura Ingraham had to say."

The Fox News host claimed Democrats had "come down with a sudden case of feverish morality," and she insisted the calls for Franken to step down were nothing but a "political calculation."

"It sets the precedent for the Democrats to try to drive Roy Moore from office should he win the Alabama Senate (seat), and, two, this is the next step in the quest to impeach President Trump," Ingraham said on her own program.

Mike Pesca, host of "The Gist" podcast for Slate, said Franken's resignation was both morally right and politically helpful as sexual harassers and abusers are driven out of politics and the media.

"Look, there's going to be a party that countenances with sexual harassment and there's going to be a party that doesn't," Pesca said. "If we have to sacrifice Franken to brand ourselves the party that doesn't, that's what we want to do."

Moore has been accused by several women of molestation and predatory behavior against them as teenage girls, and Trump has been accused by at least 16 women of sexual assault -- which he infamously boasted about on the "Access Hollywood" tape.

"I feel like lightning is going to strike me," Ruhle said. "Does Laura Ingraham have a point here? Democrats are going -- Al Franken could be the sacrificial lamb and say, look at the moral high ground we found."

She said that could give Republicans an opening to turn the discussion back to Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct, but she and her guests agreed there were too many current examples of GOP wrongdoers to ignore.

"Is this not the year of the ultimate age of hypocrisy?" Ruhle said. "For Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, to come out and call for Al Franken to resign, does Lisa Murkowski not remember that her, our president of the United States, Donald Trump, who she stands behind, has more accusers than Al Franken and have accused him of worse. How does Lisa Murkowski stand up and say I think Al Franken need to step down and stand silent when it comes to our president, our Republican president?"