Tuesday’s The Lead ended with a discussion about a new book called Kushner, Inc. by Vicky Ward, which alleges that President Trump wanted his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner fired from their positions as senior advisors in his administration.

Not surprisingly, CNN host Jake Tapper and his panel were interested in this work of palace intrigue. The segment took an unexpected turn when CNN political commentator Paul Begala called Mr. and Mrs. Kushner “cockroaches” and backhandedly referred to President Trump as a “criminal.”

When asked by Tapper if the book was a sign that “loyalty is preeminent with the Trumps,” Begala responded: “I don’t think so. I think mediocrity is. And of course they survived. I mean, cockroaches are going to survive a nuclear war.” And after being pressed whether he was calling the Kushners cockroaches, Begala asserted that he was “talking about a separate class of species.”

Considering the wide debate about anti-Semitism on the left and in America more broadly, Begala’s comments could be taken by some as anti-Semitic since Kushner is Jewish and Ivanka converted to Judaism. Begala’s comparison of the Jewish Kushners to insects closely mirrors the rhetoric of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who denied that he was anti-Semitic; instead arguing that he was “anti-termite.”

Begala went even further off the rails when attempting to psychoanalyze the Kushners: “I know they both had difficult fathers, right, that’s part of the book…one, a criminal, the other, Charlie Kushner, the New Jersey real estate developer.”

Begala did not face any pushback for calling the President of the United States a criminal, although CNN political commentator and Trump supporter David Urban shook his head at the remark in similar fashion to how he reacted to Begals's “cockroaches” comment.

Fellow panelist Tiffany Cross of The Beat DC argued that, in a reference to HBO's Game of Thrones, “this is what happens when the Lannisters occupy the White House.”

This was hardly the first time cable TV personalities have compared the Trumps to fictional or real aristocracies: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews has repeatedly compared the Trump family to the Romanovs, the ill-fated Russian dynasty that ruled Russia for centuries. After Cross made the comparison, Tapper attempted to point out a distinction between the Lannisters and the Trumps: “Just a fact check. The Lannisters always repay their debts.”

Begala’s comments come as CNN scourged Fox News’s Tucker Carlson for comments he made more than a decade ago. It will be interesting to see if they hold Begala to the same standard. Don’t bet on it.

A transcript of the relevant portion of Tuesday’s edition of The Lead is below. Click “expand” to read more.