Some MSNBC commentators are under fire by the left for harsh criticism of Sen. Bernie Sanders, with at least one call on social media for a national TV network that serves “the actual left.”
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews is facing calls to resign after he compared Bernie Sanders’ victory in the Nevada caucus to the Nazi invasion of France, Newsweek reported. Sanders won the Nevada Democratic caucuses with 47 percent of the vote.
There were calls for MSNBC to stop comparing the campaign of a Jewish presidential candidate whose family members were wiped out by the Nazis to the Third Reich.
When MSNBC political contributor Jason Johnson referred to some of Sanders’s presidential campaign staffers as an “island of misfit black girls”, there was blowback on social media. Many called on the network to hold Johnson accountable.
In a SiriusXM interview on Friday, Johnson said that “racist, liberal whites seem to love them some Bernie Sanders,” which also garnered condemnation from Briahna Joy Gray, Sanders’s national press secretary.
Sanders’ national campaign co-chairwoman, Nina Turner got into a discussion with Johnson after she described billionaire candidate Mike Bloomberg as an “oligarch” — a term usually used by the media on wealthy Russian businessmen with a lot of political influence. Turner called out the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and accused it of changing debate rules so Bloomberg could qualify.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid said Sanders is framing his campaign as a “hostile takeover” of the Democratic Party instead of a “merger” that brings all factions together to defeat Donald Trump. “He is … essentially sort of kicking to the curb 65 million people who voted for Hillary Clinton, Obama Democrats, people who consider themselves lifelong Democrats,” Reid said.
Political consultant James Carville blasted Nevada voters who backed Sanders. Anchor Nicolle Wallace said it sounds like “political suicide”.
MSNBC’s Ari Melber got a mouthful of anti-MSNBC sentiment when he asked a New Hampshire voter in Manchester, Vermont why she decided to support Sanders.
“The reason I went for Bernie is MSNBC,” the woman told Melber. “The kind of ‘Stop Bernie’ cynicism that I heard from a number of people… It made me angry, so I said, Bernie’s got my vote.”
Faiz Shakir, who manages Sanders’ campaign, said it has been a struggle “to change the tone and the tenor of the coverage” that Sanders receives. MSNBC has been “among the last to acknowledge that Bernie Sanders’s path to the nomination is real, and even when it’s become real, they frequently discount it,” Shakir said.
On social media, journalist Aaron Maté, host at the Pushback Show, underscored the need for a national TV network for “the actual left.”
“MSNBC hyperventilating at a Bernie surge & spewing Russiagate paranoia underscores the need for a national TV network for the actual left. Imagine how many more people could be informed & enlightened if ‘left’ media wasn’t contemptuous of voters & devoted to Russiagate hysterics,” Maté tweeted.
Independent media host, analyst and critic Tim Black tweeted that Black hosts on MSNBC did not speak for him: “@msnbc continues to let the Joy Reid’s and Jason Johnson’s speak for blacks. How many blacks grew up w/2 Ph.D. parents from the Congo and Ghana and magically had their career survive outed homophobic comments about a public official? I relate to Bernie Supporters Not Joy Reid,” Black tweeted.
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Jamarlin Martin described MSNBC as Swamp TV: “David Plouffe was on MSNBC discussing why voters are supporting Bernie but he unsurprisingly didn’t mention anything about the swamp. He currently is a backdoor lobbyist for Zuckerberg. Whether it’s Plouffe on MSNBC or AIPAC’r lobbyist Bakari Sellers on CNN, it’s now swamp TV,” Martin tweeted.
Antonio Moore, co-founder of ADOS, said MSNBC’s Johnson should be reprimanded:
“While I believe @BernieSanders has not fully addressed reparations nor shown a real commitment to a Black Agenda. What @DrJasonJohnson said should be reprimanded by @msnbc. He has attacked #ados & is now attacking @ninaturner with clearly racialized attacks. ‘Misfit Black girls'”, Moore tweeted.
