Rachel Maddow Declares 'Worst-Case Scenario' Is Real

The worst-case scenario is real, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow warned Monday night.

"I recognize it sounds nuts," said Maddow, before declaring Americans must finally acknowledge the worst-case scenario is unfolding before our eyes, that the president does "serve the interests of another country rather than our own."

Maddow acknowledged that her show has obsessively covered "the Russia angle" on the Trump candidacy for several years, "probably more than anybody else," and "we have been teased for that a lot; I have been criticized for it." But Maddow said the bizarre Donald Trump news conference on Monday alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin had become the clearest reason for that comprehensive examination.

"The blinders have to come off," urged Maddow in reaction to the news conference. "We have to be real."

Maddow listed her usual set of unanswered questions about the Trump campaign's association with Russians -- the Republican Party dropping an anti-Russian plank from its platform, the still-unexplained selection of Paul Manafort as campaign manager, the also still-unexplained selection of a foreign policy adviser already under investigation as part of Russian spying, and the list goes on.

"There was no explicable reason for any of those things unless you were willing to believe the worst," said Maddow. "And honestly, who wants to believe the worst? You don't want to reckon with it, you don't want to think too hard about the worst-case scenario, because for one thing it raises very uncomfortable questions about what we should do as a country, what we should do as citizens if the worst case is true."

In the video below, see how Maddow explains the worst-case scenario and what must now be done about it.