Refreshing to see someone on cable news say something that should shake up the Beltway:

Jeremy Peters of The New York Times was on The 11th Hour last night, in a segment about Trump and the institutions he is destroying, particularly law enforcement. Host Nicolle Wallace asked him how it is that a respected attorney like Emmet Flood is incapable of telling Trump to stop obstructing justice (or even appearing to).

JEREMY PETERS: Ultimately the president is his own chief communications officer, chief strategist, chief legal counsel, and this is just how he there is nothing any adviser can do to stop the president from behaving the way he is. And that's why so many of them have quit. Going back to what John was saying earlier about the institutions being trashed here, President Trump will stop at nothing to discredit the institutions that are meant to keep leaders honest. That includes not only law enforcement but Congress and their investigative power, the media most especially...

NICOLLE WALLACE: He's come at us -- guns a-blazing.

PETERS: Incredible venom and dishonesty. And you know what other institution is in real peril here? The Republican Party. Because they have sat by complicit in all of this, most of them. Not all of them, but most of them.

WALLACE: Everyone who is not retiring unless I'm missing anybody.

It's utter cowardice. Those who are leaving can speak up mildly, and those who are trying to stay are speaking only behind the scenes.

As much contempt as I have for Trump, I don't blame him for the Republican Party's demise. They did this to themselves.