Was this a Sunday morning political talk show—or the trailer for Mad Max: America?

Appearing on MSNBC's The Weekend, leftist NBC historian Michael Beschloss painted a picture of what America would be if Trump won the presidency that was so apocalyptic, Mel Gibson might reject the script as too over the top.

Co-host Symone Sanders Townsend kicked off the scare-a-thon, claiming that if Trump wins the election, there will be no "guardrails" preventing him from doing whatever he wants. Odd assertion, given that the system just managed to convict Trump of 34 felonies, and the judge, who was also a Biden donor, has the power to order Trump to prison.

After Sanders Townsend's dire prediction, Beschloss took over, and promptly turned the panic meter up to 11. He described a desolate American landscape in which Trump would be a dictator not just for a day, but perhaps for "the rest of our lifetimes." A wrecking of the rule of law designed to protect us from "murder, and arson." A collapse of foreign investment. 

Reaching new heights of hyperbole, Beschloss concluded his jeremiad by gravely warning that a Trump presidency would be: 

"Something we have never seen in American history, the promise of dictatorship and anarchy at the same time."

Yikes! All that was missing was the Stones's "Gimme Shelter" thundering in the background:

Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our streets today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull who lost its way
Rape! Murder! It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

Note: Whereas NBC bills Beschloss as a "historian," our Jorge Bonilla has coined a more apt moniker for him: "histerian." The screencap says it all!

Here's the transcript.

MSNBC
The Weekend
6/2/24
8:16 am EDT

SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND: I think thata lot of Americans out here really believe that Donald Trump won't be able to go as rogue as he's saying. He wants to -- he won't be able to be a dictator on day one, right, or throughout his presidency because there are guardrails to stop him. And I am most concerned about the fact that there are no guardrails.

MICHAEL STEELE: There are no guardrails.

SANDERS TOWNSEND: There are no guardrails for Donald Trump!

. . . 

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Take everything Donald Trump says extremely seriously. You're absolutely right. Justices on the Supreme Court, we've seen it in the last month, are complicit. They are, right now, dragging their feet on presidential immunity on this case, so this January 6 case cannot go forward before the election. That's not the only motive, but everything we know suggests that a majority of the Justices are perfectly fine with that. That is a big flashing red light. 

If Donald Trump comes into the presidency and controls Congress, you've seen the way leading Republicans have reacted to this verdict. They're basically mimicking what he says. The verdict is part of a legal system and rule of law that's rotten and should be thrown out. 

You have a presidency, presidents have too much power! They run the Department of Justice. They run the Defense Department, the FBI, the Bureau of Prisons. If you've got a president who wants to becomd a dictator, unfortunately, the Founders and the Constitution did not protect us. What's gonna stop it? Impeachment? How has that worked out. He was impeached twice. It was like a snowflake falling on the Potomac.

So all I'm saying is, if Donald Trump is elected, you have to assume that he is going to go right through with his promise to be a dictator, not for a day, but perhaps for the rest of our lifetimes. And at the same time, wreck our rule of law that expands our rights and ensures that people do not commit murder, and arson. And ensures that investors want to invest in the United States economy, because it's stable.

So you've got, essentially, a dictator who is promising to wreck our system of laws with the complicity of certain people on the Supreme Court, certain people in Congress.

And so, essentially, you have something we have never seen in American history, the promise of dictatorship and anarchy at the same time. 

Is that what Americans want in November? I don't think.