Chris Matthews faces calls for resignation after comparing Sanders victory to Nazi invasion

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews is under fire after comparing Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) decisive win in the Nevada caucuses to the Nazi invasion of France in 1940, with some on social media calling for the “Hardball” host to resign.

“I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940,” Matthews said during MSNBC’s live coverage of the caucuses on Saturday. “And the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over.’ And Churchill says, ‘How can that be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It’s over.'”

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews likens Sanders victory in Nevada to Nazi Germany overrunning France in 1940: “It’s too late to stop him … it’s over” pic.twitter.com/6GJetLoDkq

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 22, 2020

Criticism quickly poured in on social media over Matthews using the analogy. Sanders is Jewish and most of his family members were killed in the Holocaust.

One such response came from Mike Casca, who serves as Sanders’s 2020 communications director.

never thought part of my job would be pleading with a national news network to stop likening the campaign of a jewish presidential candidate whose family was wiped out by the nazis to the third reich.

but here we are. https://t.co/2G1bqZ6bkI

— mike casca (@cascamike) February 22, 2020

Chris Matthews just compared Bernie Sanders, a Jewish man whose relatives were killed by the Nazis, to the Nazi army. He should be fired immediately. #FireChrisMatthews https://t.co/Z6irGFuXK4

— Krishan Patel (@IAmKrishanPatel) February 22, 2020

For once, I’m not being sarcastic here. I’m dead serious.

I’m really, really insulted by a major pundit on an allegedly liberal news network comparing a Jewish candidate’s overwhelming caucus victory to the French losing a battle with the Nazis.

Get this lunatic off the air. https://t.co/HZXWl3ceS7

— Alex Kotch (@alexkotch) February 22, 2020

Chris Mathews has been generous to me on a number of occasions, even blurbing my book. However, his constant references to political violence and today Nazism to describe Bernie Sanders campaign is beyond the pale. @HardballChris must resign or be fired from @MSNBC.

— Arun Chaudhary (@ArunChaud) February 22, 2020

Probably true but there are a million other ways he could have made his point that don’t involve the holocaust https://t.co/14fFnuPBnt

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) February 22, 2020

.@HardballChris just compared Bernie Sanders and his movement to Hitler and the Nazis on national television.

Sanders, who is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust, is on track to be the nation’s first Jewish president.

Enough with this. Matthews should not be on the air. https://t.co/TBC9bOmdfa

— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) February 22, 2020

Sanders easily won the Silver State with 47 percent of the vote with 50 percent of precincts reporting. Former Vice President Joe Biden followed with 19.2 percent, and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg had 15.3 percent.

The Hill has reached out to MSNBC for comment.

–This report was updated on Feb. 24 at 9:52 a.m.