Chris Matthews is the Face & Voice of Media Failures That Made the Rise of Trump Possible in the First Place

Let me say this right upfront, okay: the Donald Trump presidency is the fault of the major media. They chose to give him the platform to reach millions of people, after all. Not just in the 2016 election, but for years, even decades, before that. Someone who has absolutely nothing of substance to talk about, other than shameless self-promotion, nevertheless was given an opportunity to reach tens of millions of people. When his hatred of others within American society matched their own, his political viability rose, and tens of millions of people found him as a virtual savior for the country, even though he was closer to being quite the opposite.

Despite Trump's obvious complete lack of qualifications for the office of the presidency - something that has only been proven in the past three years and change now - the media continue to unofficially endorse and legitimize him, even though they claim to be doing the exact opposite. After all, when someone lies so transparently, you call him out on it, rather than airing his views as if they were a legitimate viewpoint. 

Funny enough, Trump claims that the media is against him, yet he used them to prop him up politically to begin with. He could not have risen to the White House without them, truth be told. 

What makes this more maddening is the perception that they are "liberal elites" who stand against Trump in almost every way, even though many members of this so-called "liberal media establishment" actually agree with Trump's own economically elitist policies.

It could be argued that no one better embodies the paradox of the supposedly "liberal media bias" than Chris Matthews, who's views are, in fact, astonishingly conservative, even reactionary. Truth be told, much like Trump himself seems to be a relic of a different era entirely, Matthews too often himself sounds like he came straight from the era of McCarthyism. Here is an example, as he lashed out in typically paranoid style against Bernie Sanders, almost outright suggesting that Sanders is an actual Marxist:

“I have my own views of the word ‘socialist’ and I’d be glad to share them with you in private. They go back to the early 1950s. I have an attitude about them. I remember the Cold War,” he said.  

Matthews continued, “I have an attitude towards [Fidel] Castro. I believe if Castro and the Reds had won the Cold War there would have been executions in Central Park and I might have been one of the ones getting executed. And certain other people would be there cheering, okay?” 

Apparently, someone had the audacity to interrupt Matthews during his tirade. Matthews did not seem to appreciate it much. Here was the exchange:

“So, I have a problem with people who take the other side. I don’t know who Bernie supports over these years,” Matthews said. “I don’t know what he means by socialist.”  

When MSNBC’s Chris Hayes interrupted saying that Sanders is “pretty clearly” in favor of the type of socialism found in countries like Denmark, which Matthews had said was harmless, Matthews again suggested Sanders might have supported violent regimes, asking, “Is he? How do you know? Did he tell you that?”

Obviously, Matthews never bothered to actually listen to what Bernie Sanders is saying, before lashing out at him. It is as if Matthews - supposedly a responsible figure and champion of the mainstream media - did not bother making even the smallest effort to inform himself of what he was talking about, much less making an effort to have a balanced and unslanted position towards a serious presidential candidate's platform.

Instead, Matthews is rehashing history that has nothing to do with the 21st century. He is arguing what would surely be McCarthy's positions from decades ago, facts, truth, and objectivity be damned. It is so manipulative as to be laughable, frankly. Again, it needs t be remembered that Matthews is considered a serious media figure in the United States. hell, he is considered part of the "liberal" media.

When Hayes again insisted that Sanders was not championing a turn towards socialism in the model of Venezuela or Cuba, but had advocated policies like those in other wealthy, advanced nations (they kept mentioning Denmark specifically, even though these "socialist" policies are commonplace throughout Europe, the United Kingdom (I say this because some people clearly do not view the UK as part of Europem, either geographically, culturally, or historically, even) as well as in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and even Israel. Matthews finally relented and backed down a little bit. Here is the exchange:

“Okay, that’s harmless, that’s basically a capitalist country with a lot of good social welfare programs. Denmark is harmless,” he said, still appearing unconvinced that as president, Sanders aims to push the U.S. in the direction of many wealthy countries which offer universal healthcare, tuition-free public college, and other strong universal programs.  

“It’s pretty clearly in the Denmark category,” Hayes replied. “I mean, that’s what he says and that’s what his agenda calls for, right?”

No apology for Matthews in what is clearly an example of major media bias in what qualified as an active disinformation campaign against Sanders.  

Surprised?

Yeah, neither am I.

This is not the first time that Matthews has revealed his transparent biases. He has always railed against Bernie Sanders, and never seemed to be interested in actually learning more about Sanders, much less revealing any truths free from distortion, lies, or manipulation and fear-mongering regarding what Sanders actually believes and stands for. Matthews was the same way with the Iraq invasion, applauding George W. Bush and the invasion when it seemed convenient to do so, and only afterward claiming (falsely) that he was firmly against the Iraq war from the beginning. Yeah, after the fact, when things went badly, and when it was clear that the country fought that immoral war on false pretenses, did Matthews suddenly feel it was urgent to claim that he was opposed to it from the start.

Did anyone ever tell Chris Matthews that he is supposed to report on the news, not make news himself? As a media figure, he is supposed to inform the public of the truth and let that form public opinion, rather than merely telling them his ridiculous, laughable opinions, in an obvious attempt at trying to slander someone and distorting and thus discrediting everything that they stand for.

The Cold War is over, Mr. Matthews. It ended a long time ago, in case you did not notice. No one is championing a Soviet-model turn to Communism these days, as that was clearly discredited. And few people with any insight or objectivity would compare Bernie Sanders to Soviet-era Communism, much less to mass executions. Sanders had family killed in the Holocaust, and he has consistently fought against that kind of intolerance throughout his life. How dare you manipulate and distort the facts, and then go so far as to suggest that Sanders would be a totalitarian figure!

Why not do the country, and indeed the world, a favor, and retire? Just go away, and please do not let us hear from you again, as you so clearly demonstrated - repeatedly - that you are not worth listening to.

Chris Matthews is a pathetic, sorry excuse for a media figure. Far from enlightening the public, he actively distorts facts and gives a very slanted, and frankly antiquated, viewpoint that is so clearly manipulative and false as to be shameful. Frankly, he should have left his ridiculous, outdated views when McCarthyism died, and deservedly were relegated to the dustbins of history, at that. Mathews is a product of the very problems that this country now faces, and which he himself supposedly rails again. Shame on Chris Matthews. 

Here are the links to the articles that got me on this sorry subject of Chris Matthews, and from which I obtained all of the quotes used in writing this particular blog entry:

Chris Matthews’ Wild Rant Connects a Bernie Sanders Win With Public Executions by Peter Wade, February 8, 2020:
The MSNBC host talked about socialist-led “executions in Central Park” while tying those fears to Bernie Sanders

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/chris-matthews-bernie-sanders-public-executions-949802/?fbclid=IwAR0PiRwKXckaRBpyo-8196D1HKxl5lTXekc618zm5yZeazDFryufx564_6E





Chris Matthews slammed for spreading misinformation about Bernie Sanders’ agenda on post-debate panel Written by Julia Conley / Common Dreams February 9, 2020:

https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/1139301/?fbclid=IwAR2OesxMMOVvlhyPEN5u0y7EhFHji-Wmf3ufpfc8D8hA0oaPhSk7tvPQtm0






Matthews claimed he has opposed Iraq war “from the beginning,” that media coverage of war “sucks” -- but he has frequently contributed to problematic war reporting WRITTEN BY ROB MORLINO  PUBLISHED 09/21/06:

https://www.mediamatters.org/msnbc/matthews-claimed-he-has-opposed-iraq-war-beginning-media-coverage-war-sucks-he-has-frequently