MSNBC’s Chris Matthews is being called on to resign from his nightly hosting gig after comparing Sen. Bernie Sanders’s win in the Nevada caucuses to the Nazi invasion of France in 1940.
“I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940,” Matthews said during MSNBC’s live coverage of the caucuses on Saturday. “And the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over.’ And Churchill says, ‘How can that be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It’s over.'”
What the …?
Surprisingly, the analogy did not go over well, especially with Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish and had most of his family killed in the Holocaust.
“[N]ever thought part of my job would be pleading with a national news network to stop likening the campaign of a jewish presidential candidate whose family was wiped out by the nazis to the third reich,” Mike Casca, who serves as Sanders’s 2020 communications director, wrote on Twitter.
never thought part of my job would be pleading with a national news network to stop likening the campaign of a jewish presidential candidate whose family was wiped out by the nazis to the third reich.
but here we are. https://t.co/2G1bqZ6bkI
— mike casca (@cascamike) February 22, 2020
Others quickly piled on with the hashtag #FireChrisMatthews.
“Chris Matthews just compared Bernie Sanders, a Jewish man whose relatives were killed by the Nazis, to the Nazi army. He should be fired immediately. #FireChrisMatthews,” wrote one person on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/IAmKrishanPatel/status/1231346279776571392
“For once, I’m not being sarcastic here. I’m dead serious,” wrote another. “I’m really, really insulted by a major pundit on an allegedly liberal news network comparing a Jewish candidate’s overwhelming caucus victory to the French losing a battle with the Nazis.”
https://twitter.com/alexkotch/status/1231354290360475648
“Chris Mathews has been generous to me on a number of occasions, even blurbing my book. However, his constant references to political violence and today Nazism to describe Bernie Sanders campaign is beyond the pale. @HardballChris must resign or be fired from @MSNBC,” wrote another.
Chris Mathews has been generous to me on a number of occasions, even blurbing my book. However, his constant references to political violence and today Nazism to describe Bernie Sanders campaign is beyond the pale. @HardballChris must resign or be fired from @MSNBC.
— Arun Chaudhary (@ArunChaud) February 22, 2020
HuffPost’s Yashar Ali, also jumped in. “Probably true but there are a million other ways he could have made his point that don’t involve the holocaust.”
Probably true but there are a million other ways he could have made his point that don’t involve the holocaust https://t.co/14fFnuPBnt
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 22, 2020
Said journalist Walker Bragman: “@HardballChris just compared Bernie Sanders and his movement to Hitler and the Nazis on national television. 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.”
.@HardballChris just compared Bernie Sanders and his movement to Hitler and the Nazis on national television.
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
— Follow me on Threads/Bluesky, download OptOut app (@WalkerBragman) February 22, 2020
Marie Harf Says Chris Matthews Should ‘Personally Apologize to Bernie Sanders’: Comments Out of Bounds
But never fear. Matthews, who famously got a thrill up his leg just listening to Barack Obama, is a card-carrying leftie. The whole mess will blow over quickly and Matthews will be just fine.
Lefties always get away with hateful speech.