MSNBC’s Chuck Todd was called out by the Sanders campaign and blasted by other online critics for reading a conservative columnist’s quote that analogized the candidate’s “Bernie Bro” supporters to a “digital brown shirt brigade.”

On Monday’s Meet the Press Daily, Todd was discussing the state of the 2020 Democratic primary when he a cited column at The Bulwark by Jonathan V. Last entitled “Bernie Bros and the Internet of Beefs,” that had as it sub headline: “What if Bernie Sanders’ internet mobs are an asset, and not a liability?” Last argued that there is a moral difference between Sanders and Trump supporters, but that their alleged vicious online attacks are tactically the same.

“Jonathan Last put in The Bulwark today about how,” Todd began before addressing his guest, Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus. “Ruth, we have all been on the receiving end of the Bernie online brigade. Here’s what [Last] says, no other candidate has anything like this digital brown shirt brigade except for Donald Trump. The question is this, ‘What if you can’t win the presidency without an online mob? What if we live where having an a bullying, aggro social media online army popping anyone who sticks their head up, is an ingredient for or a critical marker of success?”

“I know everyone is freaking out about his, but you saw the MAGA rally that’s preparing around here,” Todd added. “There are people coming from three or four states, that’s real. This is like Bernie.”

“That is a really depressing sentence that you just read,” Marcus replied. “And we saw a little bit of this at the state party Democratic dinner Saturday night where Pete Buttigieg was talking about how it’s not — ‘You can’t always have a revolution,’ and the Bernie supporters there, great flashing purple signs, starting to chant ‘Wall Street Pete, Wall Street Pete.’ This is the makings of an ugly primary season coming ahead of us and the makings of a potentially ugly general election campaign.”

Todd’s decision to bring up Last’s clear Nazi allusion in the discussion triggered an immediate, forceful response from Sanders’ national press secretary, Briahna Joy, and his campaign spokesperson, David Sirota, who claimed MSNBC was displayed “contempt” for “ordinary people” and that the network was “very frightened” of “ordinary voters.” But they did not note that Todd was citing Last’s column.

“What if you can’t win the presidency without an online mob?” — MSNBC seems very frightened that ordinary voters, many of whom use the Internet, may actually get to participate in deciding who wins the presidency pic.twitter.com/nPM5c8DF1n — David Sirota (@davidsirota) February 10, 2020

“Digital brown shirt brigade.” That’s how our Jewish candidate’s supporters are being described on the MSM. The contempt shown for ordinary people is really something. https://t.co/Nu6CP9fAMq — Briahna Solidarity Gray (@briebriejoy) February 10, 2020

Others joined in, admonishing Todd for amplifying what they saw as a blatantly ahistorical slur against a Jewish candidate.

Last year @chucktodd admonished @AOC for accurately calling the concentration camps on our border “concentration camps.” Now he’s quoting someone comparing Bernie supporters to Nazis. Feels like a dangerous time to be so misinformed about Holocaust historyhttps://t.co/P1w7fxXb4r https://t.co/GmBXRk3eO7 — Eli Valley (@elivalley) February 10, 2020

.@chucktodd on MSNBC just read off a quote from an article calling us Bernie’s online brown shirt brigade and I nearly wrecked my car. I had to pull over. This attack is not ok! Bernie Sanders is, Jewish and comparing us to Hitler’s brown shirts makes me sick to my stomach! — Alexandra Halaby (@iskandrah) February 10, 2020

Anti-semitic attack from @chucktodd on MSNBC this afternoon. Shockingly scary to see. As a jew myself, I think he should apologize and resign for this. https://t.co/9HWLPyFkQ3 — Michael Sayman (@michaelsayman) February 10, 2020

i’m willing to bet @chucktodd will never be asked to apologize for comparing supporters of the first jewish presidential frontrunner for the democratic party as nazi brownshirts. deeply disturbing anti semitism from @MSNBC — hasanabi (@hasanthehun) February 10, 2020

Watch the above video, via MSNBC.

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