MSNBC contributor Frank Figliuzzi said Monday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that the “cult” following of former President Donald Trump was manifesting in Arizona Republicans recounting 2020 ballots which he said was like burning “the compound down.”

Anchor Nicolle Wallace said, “The story is on the front page of The New York Times and not the first thing I read, but I was horrified. Most of the people that bended and yielded to this demand for, I think, what is a fourth recount of the recounted votes were threatened. Their lives were threatened, their children were threatened, their spouses were threatened, and homes under 24-hour police protection. I wonder where this is where we are that the extremists demand audits where none is needed?”

Figliuzzi said, “This is audit by intimidation. County sheriffs parked themselves in front of officials’ houses because they have been threatened if they did not comply. But let’s make this clear, we’ve audited to death here in Arizona. We have had three reviews. There have been numerous court challenges. This isn’t about proving the lie. It is about perpetuating the lie. There’s a big difference.”

He continued, “I look at this as a security challenge, and it’s getting more and more dangerous because a cult which is what this is akin to in terms of what Trump is doing with the base — a cult doesn’t survive by proving the lie it is based on, but it simply has to perpetuate it and keep the lie alive. So what you will see here is this privately funded mysterious audit being conducted in the dark. We’re blind to it. No one knows what the procedures will be. Don’t be surprised if this firm which is far from independent, comes out and says, ‘You know, we are not sure. There were problems with something, and vibrations in the voting machines may have caused this or that.’ It’s got to be enough to keep the lie alive.”

He added, “That is what gets people violence. That is what gets people thinking democracy’s at stake here. Someone’s cheating us in the vote and got to act out. What do cults do when confronted with the truth? They burn the compound down. That’s essentially what’s left here in Arizona of the Republican Party. They’re burning themselves down with extremism.”

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