By james art MSNBC used clips of Nazi rallies during its coverage of former President Donald Trump’s historic campaign event at Madison Square Garden in a desperate last-ditch effort to scare voters into supporting the failed Democratic primary.
The left-wing network wove archival footage of the 1939 Nazi rally into coverage of Sunday’s Trump rally, which saw the iconic New York venue packed to capacity with jubilant supporters.
“This jamboree going on right now in this place is particularly chilling because in 1939, more than 20,000 supporters of a different fascist leader — Adolf Hitler — packed the Garden for a so-called ‘pro-American rally,'” Washington Post columnist, contributor on MSNBC and die-hard Trump hater Jonathan Capehart said breathlessly as he rolled the footage.
The juxtaposition of Capehart’s two videos was blasted as “shameful” by conservatives who highlighted the diversity of the crowd.
“Yesterday’s Trump rally was packed with Americans from all walks of life, including Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and secular Jews. I saw a woman in a burqa. It was nothing like a Nazi rally. Shame on MSNBC,” one X user wrote.
Others indicated that Holocaust survivor Jerry Wartsky was among those present
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Tesla founder Elon Musk, who spoke at the rally, also criticized MSNBC — the No. 2 cable news network — as X’s “scum of the earth,” with some critics even going so far as to accuse the network of “incitement.” “
Quinnipiac University journalism ethics professor Ben Bogardus told The Post that networks like MSNBC are “blurring the lines” between opinion-based commentary and news reporting, and that the rhetoric is peaking because we’re so close to the election.
He said that while MSNBC’s intentions may be to give viewers historical context for events like Trump’s MSG rally, the overuse of inflammatory imagery damages their credibility and the media as a whole.
“They are really doing a disservice to their own.” [audience] when they released pictures of a rally 85 years ago that no one alive remembers. I think it’s a bit of an exaggeration that really hurts the media’s image among some segments of the population,” he said.
Democrats have tried to portray themselves as the party of positivity, unity and “joy” throughout the campaign, a sentiment that Vice President Kamala Harris tried to emphasize during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in August, when she called for a “new way forward.”
But MSNBC instead compared Trump supporters to Nazis and aired hackneyed and far-fetched comparisons between the former president and the biggest monster in history.
On Monday morning’s “Morning Joe,” host Mika Brzezinski clutched her pearls as she blasted Trump’s rally as “normalizing hate” and issued a dire, baseless warning.
“Let’s not mince words about what this leads to: this is the process that leads to fascism,” she said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a guest on “Morning Joe,” predicted Trump’s MSG event was no ordinary campaign event.
“This was not just a political rally. This wasn’t just a campaign rally either. I think it is very important for people to understand that these are mini 6th of January rallies”, stated the member of the “Squad” with a completely straight face.
“These are little ‘stop the theft’ rallies. These are rallies to get the electorate to reject the election results if they don’t go their way.
The Nazi comparisons rang particularly hollow, leading some critics to say it reflected poorly on the media establishment as a whole.
“You don’t hate the media enough,” wrote Republican pundit Colin Rugg. “Holocaust survivor Jerry Wartsky attended tonight’s rally, along with other Jews who supported Trump.”
Wartsky, 94, endorsed Trump last week in a campaign video and slammed Vice President Kamala Harris for calling the former president a “fascist.”
Asked why Jews should support Trump, the Auschwitz survivor replied: “Because he’s a man.”