MSNBC host Chuck Todd is being condemned for reading a quote live on-air that infers supporters of Jewish 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders are an “online mob” and compares them to the “brown shirt brigade” – the Nazi party's original paramilitary wing.
Todd read the quote during an MSNBC panel discussion about Tuesday's New Hampshire Primary.
After Senior Washington Correspondent Andrea Mitchell had talked about the popularity of Sanders in New Hampshire, Todd interjected and said he wanted to bring up something Jonathan Last had written in The Bulwark today.
Todd prefaced the quote by saying “we've all been on the receiving end of the Bernie online brigade” before going on to read the quote which compares them to Nazis:
“No other candidate has anything like this sort of digital brown shirt brigade, I mean, except for Donald Trump. The question no one is asking is this. What if you can't win the presidency without an online mob? What if we now live in a world where having a bullying, agro-social media army running around popping anyone who sticks their head up is either an important ingredient for or a critical marker of success?”
https://twitter.com/organizingpower/status/1227000683074854912
Todd then doubled down and said: “I know everyone is freaking out about this but you saw the MAGA rally that's preparing around here. There are people coming from three or four states on that. That's real and you know, this is like Bernie.”
Twitter users were shocked by Todd's actions and have described them as “disgusting” and “shockingly scary to see.”
There is no acceptable reason for @chucktodd to have read this quote from @BulwarkOnline calling #Bernie2020 supporters a "brownshirt brigade." Much of Bernie Sanders' family in Poland were killed in the Holocaust. https://t.co/7MPyI7qaUx
— Alexandra Halaby (@iskandrah) February 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/michaelsayman/status/1227002688740585472
i'm willing to bet @chucktodd will never be asked to apologize for comparing supporters of the first jewish presidential frontrunner for the democratic party as nazi brownshirts. deeply disturbing anti semitism from @MSNBC
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) February 10, 2020
“Why are Sanders supporters so angry?” ponders @chucktodd as he cites a piece referring to Sanders supporters as brown shirts
?
— NY For Sanders #Bernie2020 (@NYforSanders) February 10, 2020
Many are also pointing out that members of Sanders' family were killed in the Holocaust and some others are calling for Todd to resign.
