A “Morning Joe” panel on Friday hammered President Donald Trump’s planned national emergency declaration to build his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and they warned that the president is bringing the United States closer to being an authoritarian dictatorship.

Political scientist Brian Klaas, an assistant professor of global politics at University College London, told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough that Trump’s emergency order gambit is straight out of the playbook used by autocrats in other countries to bypass legislative checks and balances.

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“This is an authoritarian power grab,” Klaas explained. “I think the real danger is, even if this gets blocked in the courts, it’s creating a culture in which Republicans are happy to discard the Constitution and political checks. That is what I’m afraid is going to lead to us being dragged closer to banana republic with the help of banana Republicans.”

Republican strategist Susan Del Percio agreed that Trump’s emergency declaration was setting a dangerous precedent and further showed how little Trump understands about governing.

“Because the president has no core values, he’s also now proven that he’s basically a simpleton when it comes to governance,” she said. “I don’t think he’s gotten beyond ‘Schoolhouse Rock in understanding how things get done.”

Watch the video below.