President Donald Trump’s loyal base refuses to hold him accountable for behavior and lies, a phenomenon that is not new but constantly seems to confound.

On Thursday night, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews discussed the subject with a panel that included Ronald Reagan Jr. The former president’s son said that no previous president could possibly have gotten away with “a tenth of the things” that Trump has pulled.

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“They aren’t really in touch with reality, I think, and the most important thing to them is that he seems to hate the people that they hate,” Reagan said. “If we’re angry about something Donald Trump did, Donald Trump must have done something right as far as they’re concerned.”

Reagan said that Trump’s base would support Putin for president of the United States over any Democrat.

“If you think about Trump’s case—they do like Putin,” he said. “Putin’s popularity has gone way up. I swear to you, if it was left just up to Trump’s base they would elect Vladimir Putin president of the United States over anyone with a D after their name.”

Watch below.