Earlier this week, MSNBC host Chris Matthews resigned following a week of bad publicity, including claims of sexual harassment and his comparison of presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) win in Nevada to Adolf Hitler taking over France.
On Monday, Matthews left the network. GQ, the magazine that published an article by columnist Laura Bassett that claimed Matthews sexually harassed her by giving her compliments before her appearances, took a victory lap. The outlet posted an update to Bassett’s article stating that “On March 3rd, three days after this story was published, Chris Matthews retired from MSNBC on air.”
But Kyle Smith, writing at The New York Post, suggests Matthews wasn’t fired over the claims in the GQ article, but because he did his job by posing tough questions to Democrats running for the party presidential nomination. Smith wrote that Matthews’ job was to “represent the non-crazy, ‘No Kool-Aid for me, thanks’ Left on television, while being entertaining and pointed and wacky.” Yet the GQ article, Smith wrote, “artfully weaved” two different types of complaints against Matthews – that he complimented women and he was tough on two female presidential candidates – to claim he was a sexist:
One complaint was that Matthews would compliment women’s looks. He said of Sarah Palin that there was “something electric” and “very attractive” about her. He told Erin Burnett, “You’re a knockout.” All true. He made a couple of mild compliments to Bassett: “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” True, men shouldn’t talk this way around the office, and few guys under 50 have failed to get the message that this kind of thing makes (some) women uncomfortable. But Matthews is 70. Old guys flirt with young women as a way of telling themselves they’re still in the game. Young women used to be more forgiving, to recognize the pathos underlying the impulse and shrug it off. Now they exaggerate their emotional reaction, pretend that they’re “shaken” or “couldn’t breathe.” Bassett writes that a couple of flirty comments from Matthews “undermined my ability to do my job well.” That’s hard to believe.
In the age of #MeToo and “believe all women,” allegations like the ones Bassett made against Matthews have become routine. Women are now equating a man complimenting them, even in a weird way, with sexual harassment and acting as if they are the victim of some horrible event. It detracts from real victims of sexual harassment and assault.
Smith asked why “women pretend to be undone by a stray compliment?” and suggested Bassett’s real motive was that she didn’t like the way Matthews questioned Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren.
“Bassett is utterly blatant about her real motive: She wanted Matthews fired for the way he interviewed Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren. She thinks Matthews damaged her political favorites, thinking (probably correctly) that when a prominent Democrat criticizes such candidates, he signals other moderate Democrats and centrists that it’s okay to vote for someone else,” Smith wrote.
Smith argued that Bassett was selective in her criticism, as Matthews has been antagonistic toward many male politicians as well. The Sanders-Hitler comparison was just one such example. Matthews, however, made his living off of “hysterical analogies” to drive viewership to his program, “Hardball.”