Matthew Dowd, the political operative turned MSNBC analyst who was fired by the cable news channel after making comments about Charlie Kirk, took to Substack to give his side of the story.
Dowd, a veteran of the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney 2004 presidential campaign, was asked by MSNBC anchor Katy Tur about “the environment in which a shooting like this happens.”
Dowd, in his response, stated, “He’s been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. And I think that is the environment we are in. You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we are in.”
MSNBC parted ways with him by the end of the day, and on Friday Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, president Mike Cavanagh and Versant CEO Mark Lazarus told staff “that coverage was at odds with fostering civil dialogue and being willing to listen to the points of view of those who have differing opinions. We should be able to disagree, robustly and passionately, but, ultimately, with respect. We need to do better.”
Dowd, on Substack, explained that when he made the comments, it was not yet known that Kirk had been shot, only that shots were fired at the event.
“I said that Kirk has been a very divisive and polarizing figure. I then added that we are in a toxic time in America, unlike every other democracy in the world, where we have a combination of divisiveness and near unlimited access to guns,” he wrote. “The effort by Holocaust survivors to remind folks of Germany in the 1930s #ItStartedWithWords came to my mind and I said my now legendary line ‘hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which ultimately lead to hateful actions’. I thought to myself how could anyone disagree with this. I guess I was naive.
“The Right Wing media mob ginned up, went after me on a plethora of platforms, and MSNBC reacted to that mob,” he continued. “Even though most at MSNBC knew my words were being misconstrued, the timing of my words forgotten (remember I said this before anyone knew Kirk was a target), and that I apologized for any miscommunication on my part, I was terminated by the end of the day.”
