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Ex-MSNBC analyst and Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt told former MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd on Wednesday that he was fired for "telling the truth" about Charlie Kirk.
"And in the moments where it was unclear what had happened to Charlie Kirk, just that shots had been fired, Matthew stated something that is of profound importance," Schmidt began during an interview with Dowd, arguing that his remarks were "elemental" to the foundation of Holocaust curriculum. "And it's the notion that hateful words are the product of hateful ideas, and hateful ideas that produce hateful words inevitably produce violence."
Dowd was fired from MSNBC after remarks he made about Kirk in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. He suggested the shooting was a result of Kirk's "awful" thoughts and actions.
"That is a very important story to understand, and not understanding it renders you, in my book, pretty ignorant about the world you live in, the world shaped by the 20th century. So there's not a lot to say about any of that other than you're not the first person to lose their job for saying something self-evidently and obviously true on television, but that it probably doesn't make it any easier to know that you got fired for telling the truth," he added.
MSNBC fired political analyst Matthew Dowd on Wednesday for suggesting "hateful" rhetoric from Charlie Kirk led to his own assassination. (Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images)
While the news of Kirk's shooting was met with swift condemnations and calls for prayer across the political aisle, Dowd appeared to blame Kirk for bringing the circumstances on himself.
Dowd said Kirk has been "one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions."
"I think that’s the environment we’re in, that the people just — you can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have, and then saying these awful words, and not expect awful actions to take place. And that's the unfortunate environment we're in," he added.
An image of slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk is placed at a memorial in his honor, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The State Department said it has revoked the visas of several foreigners over negative comments about Kirk's assassination. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)
MSNBC APOLOGIZES FOR ANALYST'S ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ COMMENTS AFTER CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTING
Dowd told MSNBC host Katy Tur prior to news that the Turning Point USA founder had died, "We don’t know any of the full details of this yet. We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration."
Dowd joined MSNBC in 2022 after a long stint at ABC News.
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Matthew Dowd appears on MSNBC on July 26, 2024. (Screenshot/MSNBC)
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Fox News' Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.
