Former Trump administration official Sarah Matthews had a harsh message on Monday's edition of MSNBC's "The Weeknight" for lawmakers allowing presidential abuses of power to happen: History isn't going to be kind.

This came as the panel discussed the upcoming round of "No Kings" protests, which already have MAGA Republicans on edge and comparing peaceful protesters to terrorists.

"You know, I love the way the 'No Kings' folks are framing it, because it is really kind of creating that link back to sort of the historical, you know, connection," said anchor and former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele, noting how the pamphlets echo the language of the Declaration of Independence grievances against King George III. "But, you know ... the moral cowardice, we shortchange ourselves when it comes to our elected officials in that regard because we're like, well, you know, immediately people think morality, religious and all of that. No, morality is a code of honor. It's how you will behave, it's how you honor the system."

"When you take an oath of office, as many of us have, you're making a commitment, a very personal commitment to a community of people," Steele continued. "If you're a local representative to a state, if you're a governor and to a country, if you're president and everybody in between ... when you have the roguish, bad, illiberal behavior of a president like we have with Donald Trump ... why the hell are you sitting on your behind excusing it?"

"Maybe you have a little bit more insight, and I get the piece about the threats to family," he added. "But I would think as members of Congress, if you know that that's coming down the pike, that you would be proactive about that and write the law that basically said, okay, y'all come after us, be ready, because we got we got something for you."

"Well, you would think that that would be the case, but unfortunately, it seems like most of these lawmakers forget that there will come a day when Trump will no longer be in power, but everything that they've done to kind of go along with all of these abuses of power, that dishonor will remain. And so that will be their legacy," said Matthews.

"And I wish that they would take that into account," she continued. "I understand that there are so many factors, and I sympathize with them about the concerns for safety. It's something that I had to think about when I decided to [leave MAGA]. And here you are."

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