MSNBC analyst John Heilemann said during "Morning Joe" on Monday former President Donald Trump's behavior is going to encourage his base to "take up arms" and press towards a civil war.
Host Joe Scarborough said he believes Trump has given up on winning elections through popular votes and majority support so he is choosing more violent actions and words.
"Maybe now it is all about the violence. It all is about an insurrection. It all is in — in his mind about a civil war," Scarborough said to Heilemann.
"Yeah. I mean, totally possible, Joe. And I’d say two things about this, right. One in 2020, Donald Trump got more votes in 2020 than he got in 2016 by a lot. Millions more votes, right...There’s a lot of things that Donald Trump as he did in 2016, as he come close doing in 2020 can become president without winning a popular vote majority. That’s one thing," Heilemann replied. "And I think that’s very much in his head. He’s been told over and over again by strategists that that is the path for him. Not — he can’t win — he couldn’t in 2016, he couldn’t between 2020 and he won’t in 2024 win a majority vote."
"And that’s the danger, is that the fact that at the base is getting smaller, it makes it more dangerous in a lot of ways because those are the people who are willing to do things like take up arms and and press the questions that lead to press the questions and tactics that lead to civil war," he continued.
Heilemann's and Scarborough's comments were made after 41-year-old Shannon Brandt admitted to police he ran over 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson in North Dakota over a belief the young man was an extremist Republican. There is no evidence to support Brandt's belief.