Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews received backlash from progressives over the last couple of days after declaring that he tried to warn “we were headed too far-left.”
“Matthews – a moderate Democrat who was replaced by the far-left Joy Reid when he left MSNBC – shocked viewers in March 2020 by announcing he would immediately step down from his program amid a series of controversies,” Fox News reported. “During his on-air remarks, the longtime MSNBC host then referenced claims of sexual harassment against him by a journalist who previously appeared on his show.”
“I want Hardball fans to know how I appreciate your faith in me,” Matthews tweeted. “2022 could be a great time to show what we’ve learned. I tried to warn we were headed too far left.”
I want Hardball fans to know how I appreciate your faith in me. 2022 could be a great time to show what we’ve learned. I tried to warn we were headed too far left.
— Chris Matthews (@HardballChris) January 2, 2022
Notable leftist responses included:
- Will Brunch, columnist: “This is your takeaway from a year in which right-wing authoritarians tried to stage a violent coup??”
- Jay Rosen, NYU journalism professor: “Good lord. Have some dignity, man. Be thankful you’re not Halperin and… I don’t know— watch football games. Read some Churchill biographies. Try Lowe’s.”
- Gary Legum, blogger: “Did he get into some leftover eggnog?”
- David Cross: “‘Too far left’ Yes that’s the real problem, we hired the centrist VP of a centrist president who isn’t able to get legislation passed that would make a centrist appear somewhat leftist but only relative to how right leaning our current leftists are.”
- David Atkins: “An evidence-free, self-serving take that perfectly exemplifies what was wrong with Hardball in the first place.”
- Andrew Perez, writer: “Don’t worry your old pundit colleagues have that narrative covered.”
- Michael Sainato, writer: “Remember when this old creep ‘retired’ for sexual harassment only to try to creep back up to froth at the mouth a little more about the left?”
- Peter Daou: “LOL. I still remember when I launched the #TooFarLeft hashtag in response to Obama and it trended #1.”
- Walker Bragman: “Imagine watching Biden squander the first trifecta Democrats have had in a decade in the face of an existential climate crisis and an escalating pandemic and thinking ‘we need more of that!'”
- Max Berger: “The United States has the highest poverty rate in the OECD (17.8%), and the 3rd highest level of income inequality.”