At the same time that 16 people, including two reporters, were arrested at the North Carolina state capitol for protesting while lawmakers rammed through a series of partisan, power-stripping bills to hobble the incoming Democratic governor, Joy Reid convened a panel on Hardball to discuss the unfolding disaster.

Nicholas Confessore's observation was spot-on. "“I think we saw them say, ‘we’re reasserting our Constitutional authority.’ You know, back when the governor was Republican, it was not a worry they had. A Democrat is now in office and they'll make the office worthless."

"We saw it as Reconstruction after the Civil War when they scattered the powers of governorships around to make them less important," he added.

The entire discussion is an interesting one. I appreciated Joan Walsh observing that Democrats aren't trying to strip power away from Donald Trump...or maybe they are!

As Walsh said, though, that's a different story.