MSNBC’s Matthews Blasted Over ’Nazi’ Slur Against Sanders
Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) won the Nevada Democratic caucuses resoundingly. Looking for some way to describe how it, MSNBC host Chris Matthews grabbed for an analogy about France being overrun by the Nazis in 1940:
Matthews’ analogy could have been ripped straight out of right-wing media. The comparison was swiftly condemned, including by many people not supporting Sanders:
An invasion by a genocidal fascist army of conquest, and a jewish lefty winning a caucus. These are the same, to me, a professional political analyst. https://t.co/0EHtn2Ao6M
— Adam Serwer🍝 (@AdamSerwer) February 23, 2020
Let’s try to detangle this. Bernie, a Jewish man whose family members were killed in the holocaust, wins the Nevada caucus, and Bernie and his unprecedented diverse coalition are the Nazis and Chris Matthews, the DNC and MSNBC are now occupied France?
— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) February 22, 2020
We should all be speaking out against Chris Matthews comparing Bernie Sanders' win in Nevada to Nazi Germany overtaking France, which was profoundly offensive and disgusting — for anyone but particularly regarding a Jewish candidate who lost many relatives in the Holocaust.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) February 23, 2020
Chris Matthews compared the rise of the Democratic Party’s first likely Jewish nominee to…. the Nazi conquest of France? pic.twitter.com/V8gRJIhUUh
— Bhaskar Sunkara (@sunraysunray) February 23, 2020
Chris Matthews needs to step down or be fired!
— James Thompson (@JamesThompsonKS) February 23, 2020
These comments are completely out of line. We need journalism not hyperbolic hysteria. #FireChrisMatthewshttps://t.co/uRH7pbIdvk
Chris Matthews compares Sanders winning in Nevada to the German invasion of France – does he not have loved ones to tell him how this sounds? Are there no executives at NBC left with any sense? https://t.co/l7MQHPt3x6
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 23, 2020
Why does Chris Matthews have a job? Seriously, MSNBC owes us a big explanation after this. https://t.co/2enaHgdD4p
— Crooks and Liars (@crooksandliars) February 23, 2020
I am very confused again about how journalists who call out racism, sexism and harassment on Twitter can be reprimanded or suspended from their jobs, but it's okay for TV news anchors to compare a presidential candidate's win in a state caucus to what happened in France in 1940?
— Karen K. Ho (@karenkho) February 23, 2020
.@MSNBC needs to #FireChrisMatthews https://t.co/jDbD5h5xQg
— Alex Kotch (@alexkotch) February 23, 2020
I’ve worked on two primary campaigns against Bernie Sanders, but comparing his campaign to Nazis or communist regimes is so beyond the pale and absurd.
— Ian Sams (@IanSams) February 22, 2020
People need to get it together.
Chris Matthews just compared Bernie's victory in Nevada to the Nazis taking control of France.
— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) February 22, 2020
Incredibly offensive thing to say about someone from a family of holocaust survivors. pic.twitter.com/t29L4K4iHm
Hi. Jew here. The Nazi occupation of France lead to the murder of 72,500 Jews. Bernie Sanders, me, and millions of other Jews grew up w/ nearly no extended family in traumatized household because of the Nazis. This comment by Chris Matthews is disgusting. pic.twitter.com/L2ybnPVAiI
— Abraham Gutman 🔥 (@abgutman) February 23, 2020
Biden campaign spokesman tweets that Chris Matthews’ comment comparing Bernie’s rise to the fall of France to the Nazis is “nowhere in the vicinity of acceptable” pic.twitter.com/hO9U1BOldy
— Tucker Higgins (@tuckerhiggins) February 22, 2020
It really is vile. MSNBC as a network has to apologize for this. https://t.co/TsS78qlQvc
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 23, 2020
I was a Hardball guest once. I've done a lot of TV & radio. Matthews was the least-informed, most arrogant interviewer I've encountered. It wasn't that he was antagonistic–he couldn't have cared less. His lane is the careful cultivation and preservation of conventional wisdom. https://t.co/FsSRze34cH
— Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) February 23, 2020
.@HardballChris just compared Bernie Sanders and his movement to Hitler and the Nazis on national television.
— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) February 22, 2020
Sanders, who is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust, is on track to be the nation's first Jewish president.
Enough with this. Matthews should not be on the air. https://t.co/TBC9bOmdfa
I needed to speak truth about my colleague @HardballChris.
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) February 23, 2020
You simply cannot compare the victory of Bernie Sanders, whose kin was murdered in the Holocaust, to the Nazi defeat of France.
This is a moment in media to grow and become curious or irrelevant. pic.twitter.com/tr2jpTD7YY
When he is not using right-wing tropes to attacks Sanders’ positions, Matthews demonstrates his total ignorance about what Sanders stands for, even though he’s supposed to be a politics expert. He recently was harshly criticized for suggesting that there would be mass executions under a Sanders administration. Matthews also has no idea of what Sanders’ vision of “democratic socialism” means, even though the candidate gave speeches directly about that topic in 2016 and again during this cycle.
Matthews also has a long history of misogyny, and he frequently praised the George W. Bush administration.
