The panel turned on Morning Joe reacted with shock and despair to Donald Trump's historic election victory on Wednesday morning.

Just moments after confirming Trump's second term as president, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said on air, “This is the biggest red wave I've seen since Ronald Reagan's 49-state victory in 1984.” He added that Trump won “in dominant fashion” and said America is waking up to “a Democratic Party that was just wiped out this morning.”

Co-host Jonathan Lemire was also impressed by the result, saying Republicans had “overrun” the presidential race, taking control of the Senate and possibly on their way to taking the House of Representatives as well.

“He was impeached twice,” Lemire said of Trump. “He screwed up the handling of the pandemic. He faced four criminal charges. He inspired January 6th. And he still won. And now he will return to office with few internal guardrails, encouragement from Moscow and other foreign adversaries, and a Supreme Court that has said his power is largely unchecked.”

Perhaps the darkest analysis came from Claire McCaskill, the former Democratic senator from Missouri.

“First, I think we have to recognize that Donald Trump knows our country better than we do,” McCaskill said. “I think he has discovered that anger and, frankly, fear is far more powerful than turning to the better angels of men. He discovered that anger and fear would work in this election, regardless of whether you are afraid of immigrants or afraid of transsexuals. And I think we all thought everyone's better angels would prevail. Turns out the better angels went on vacation when Donald Trump came down the escalator and never returned.”

She also paid tribute to Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita.

“The majority of America believes he was persecuted, not prosecuted,” McCaskill said. “And there's no question that we have a handle on: 'Hey, we need to make sure that the same rules apply to everyone, we need to make sure that the rule of law applies to every American, no matter who you are or how powerful you are.' You're…' It turns out that's not true. America believed – the majority of Americans believed – that he was a victim of these prosecutions and not a perpetrator.”

“His voters believe he’s a victim,” co-host Willie Geist said of Trump’s legal troubles. “And they believe that he is taking their grievances with him and now back to the White House. “Whether it's generals calling him a fascist, a long line of elites, celebrities supporting Kamala Harris, a largely hostile news media against Donald Trump – he has withstood it all. And they didn't like that. They didn’t like that it was him against the world.”

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