If you didn't watch the post-debate analysis last night on MsNBC (and why would you?) you missed gas-bag Chris Matthews comparing the Movement sparked by Bernie Sanders as the equivalent of the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, or the Khmer Rouge, just waiting for our opportunity to execute him in Central Park. Really, he went there.

1/4 This is stochastic terrorism. @HardballChris is endangering @BernieSanders’ life. “I believe if Castro and the reds had won the Cold War there would be executions in Central Park and I could have been one of the ones getting executed.” #NotMeUs @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/irWwBzKMGW — Clark Feels The Bern (@Clarknt67) February 8, 2020

From Mediate:

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews freaked out at the prospect of Bernie Sanders becoming the 2020 Democratic nominee, warning that his views of socialism go back to the 1950s and that he believes he might’ve been a victim of “executions in Central Park” if “[Fidel] Castro and the Reds” had won the Cold War. [...] “You know, I have my own views of the word socialist and I’ll be glad to tell them, share them with you in private,” Matthews said forcefully, right before sharing his views in public in an almost panicked, rat-a-tat-tat tone. “They go back to the early 1950s. I have an attitude about them. I remember the Cold War. I have an attitude towards Castro, and I believe if Castro and the Reds had won the Cold War, there would have been executions in Central Park and I might’ve been one of the ones executed and certain other people would be there cheering. So, I have a problem with people who took the other side.” Matthews then turned his comments back to Sanders. “I don’t know who Bernie supports over these years. I don’t know what he means by socialism. One week it’s Den-mahk, we’re going to be like Den-mahk,” the MSNBC host said, lapsing into an impression of Sanders’ Brooklyn accent. “Ok, that’s harmless. That’s basically a capitalist country with a lot of good social programs. Den-mahk is harmless.” “He’s clearly in the Denmark category,” [Chris} Hayes gently pointed out. “Is he?!” Matthews shot back. “Yeah,” Hayes replied. “How do you know? Did he tell you that?” Matthews pressed.

This would be laughable, except that we all know such language influences delusional and often marginalized people to engage in violence, much as Trump has enabled white supremacist groups with his rhetoric. In short, Matthews is pulling a tactic out of the Hillary Clinton playbook, such as the time she referenced RFK's assassination as a reason not to concede the nomination to Barack Obama in 2008.

Relevant language:

Hillary Clinton today cited the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy during the 1968 presidential campaign to explain why she was remaining in the race despite long odds. "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California," Clinton told the editorial board of a South Dakota newspaper. " I don't understand it," Clinton added, alluding to the calls for her to quit.

This type of inflammatory rhetoric has no place in our discourse, and the fact that neoliberal centrist hacks like Matthews are willing to use it to paint Bernie Sanders as a card carrying Communist whose election would lead to a dictatorial regime that imprisons and kills it's political opponents is worse than anything I've heard, and that includes GOP criticism of Sanders. In fact, in any other developed country, Sanders would be seen as a center left politician.

This is inevitable result of years of the media pushing the phony #Russiagate nonsense, and the labeling of anyone who doesn't agree with the Clinton/Obama wing of the Democratic party as a #RussianAsset or #PutinPuppet.

I hope Sanders' security detail on on high alert, because this is exactly the type of immoral, baseless ad hominem attack that can trigger unstable individuals to resort to violence if they perceive Sanders is a threat to their "way of life." It's not like we haven't seen similar hateful rhetoric trigger right wing terrorists from Timothy McVeigh to Eric Rudolph to James Adkisson, the man who shot up a Unitarian Universalist church in 2008.

Yet in the twilight of a two-term Republican presidency, the resident of a GOP-dominated state blamed liberal Democrats for his failures. Friends and neighbors said he extracted talking points from his copies of conservative tomes by Fox News luminaries like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Bernard Goldberg.

Indeed, I can see little difference from the hate speech thrown around with reckless disregard by the aforementioned Fox News hosts and what Chris Matthews said last night. He should be fired, and MsNBC should apologize publicly to the Sanders' campaign for his undeniably unhinged commentary.

Should be fired, but, as we know, he won't be. MsNBC only fires anti-war anchors like Phil Donahue, a man of principle who was fired in part because of skullduggery by the same Chris Matthews who effectively compared Bernie to Castro, Stalin and Lenin.