'Not a drill': Conservative warns US in midst of 'genuine emergency' with Trump

Charlie Sykes, political commentator and former editor-in-chief of the website The Bulwark, said Monday afternoon that the United States is in an "emergency" situation.

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace noted on her show that during an Oval Office press availability with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on Monday, Trump "seemed very proud of the fact that he was defying a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling to facilitate the return of a man his own administration admits was wrongfully deported."

It prompted her to wonder what Americans can expect from the DOJ and the FBI in the future.

ALSO READ: John Roberts has created a monster — and he knows it

Sykes mentioned that at one point in the press event, Trump also suggested deporting American citizens "to a gulag in El Salvador, without, you know, beyond the reach of due process."

Yale historian Timothy Snyder, who penned the book "On Tyranny," said the scary moment came when Americans in the room laughed at the idea.

"You have the attorney general, you have the secretary of state, and they're talking about snatching Americans off the street, putting them on a plane, perhaps, and sending them to one of the most notorious prisons in the hemisphere without, you know, where they will have no ability to appeal to the federal courts," said Sykes in a conversation with Wallace.

"I mean, this is beyond dystopian for all of us who have been warning about the attacks on the rule of law. I mean, it is here. We are at a constitutional crisis. This is not a drill," Sykes cautioned.

He noted that political analysts have been waiting for Trump to "pass the red line," but after what Trump said Monday, "if we haven't passed the red line today, I don't know when we will."

"So, to your question, you know, whether you're talking about Democrats or Republicans in Congress, whether you're talking about the courts, whether you're talking about business and civil society, law firms, universities, this is a moment at which we have a genuine emergency," Sykes continued. "Because every time you cede power to this man and this administration, we move further and further from the idea of America, because in America, this does not happen."

This isn't a normal debate between liberal and conservative ideals, he told Wallace. Rather, it's a president "discussing overturning some of the basic pillars of the rule of law."

"All of those warnings are coming to fruition," he added. "And I'm not here to say we told you so. It's just that we should not be surprised, but we should still be shocked by what we are encountering here. And I hope that, you know, members of Congress will take this seriously. ... I know, they like their jobs, but this is a pivot point. This is a pivot point in history. This is a pivot point for a being, a constitutional republic. This is a pivot point for anyone who cares about the rule of law, and we ought to treat it that way."

See the comments below or at the link here.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com