MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd made headlines this week when he was fired from the network for comments he made regarding murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The TV host has since spoken out to defend his words, which ultimately led to him being axed from the network despite him apologising for what he said.
Dowd, 64, has had both a political career and broadcasting career and is known for his work as a political pundit and consultant prior to finding himself under fire over his comments about Kirk.
After being the chief strategist for the Bush–Cheney 2004 presidential campaign he went on to become an on-screen presence thanks to his roles at ABC News and MSNBC.
Dowd was born in Detroit, Michigan as the third child of 11 in an Irish Catholic family. His parents were both Republicans.
He developed an interest in politics early in life during the Watergate Committee hearings during the summer of 1973 when he was 12 years old.
He began his political career as a Democrat, working as part of Senator Lloyd Bentsen’s Senate and campaign staffs. However, in 1999, he switched parties to become a Republican. During the 2004 presidential election he served as chief strategist for George W. Bush’s re-election campaign.
But in 2024 he had rejoined the Democratic Party and claimed that the allegations made by Swift Vets and POWs for Truth during the election were disproven and “nearly all lies.” He also served as a strategist for Arnold Schwarzenegger during his 2006 reelection campaign
In September 2021 Dowd embarked on his own campaign to become Lieutenant Governor of Texas as a Democrat. However, by December 2021 he dropped out of the race citing a desire for more diversity.
While he has married and divorced twice he has been dating Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ex Maria Shriver since 2011. He has three sons from his first marriage. His second marriage ended in tragedy with the couple getting divorced after one of their infant twin daughters died in hospital.
Dowd’s eldest son, Daniel, is an Army veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served in Baghdad from 2007 to 2009 as a signals intelligence specialist.
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Dowd has claimed that what he said about Charlie Kirk was “misconstrued” and that the network had only fired him over pressure from a conservative “mob.” The host had been reporting on Charlie Kirk being shot in the neck and killed at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, Sept. 10, when he called him “divisive” and suggested that his “hate speech” was the reason he was killed.
He said, “And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.” He also speculated that the gun may have been fired by a fan celebrating at the event. Authorities have since arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson under suspicion of carrying out the brutal murder.
He later went on to apologize for his comments, before it was announced by MSNBC that he had been fired. He has since written a lengthy post on Substack where he accuses the network of getting rid of him because of the “Right Wing media mob.”
He wrote, “Even though most at MSNBC knew my words were being misconstrued, the timing of my words forgotten (remember I said this before anyone knew Kirk was a target), and that I apologized for any miscommunication on my part, I was terminated by the end of the day.”
A company-wide memo from Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh, and Versant CEO Mark Lazarus sent on Friday said Dowd’s comments had been “unacceptable and insensitive.”
It read, “That coverage was at odds with fostering civil dialogue and being willing to listen to the points of view of those who have differing opinions. We need to do better.”
During his live analysis while the news was breaking, Dowd spent time characterizing Kirk’s views with pointed jabs.
Talking as news of the shooting was breaking Dowd took several swipes at Kirk. He said, “I think that’s the environment that we’re in that people just… you can’t stop with these awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. That’s the unfortunate environment we’re in.”
Defending his comments Dowd shared that “the only thing known at the time was shots were fired and there was no reporting yet that Kirk was the target or had been shot at. I said that Kirk has been a very divisive and polarizing figure. I then added that we are in a toxic time in America, unlike every other democracy in the world, where we have a combination of divisiveness and near unlimited access to guns.
“The effort by Holocaust survivors to remind folks of Germany in the 1930s #ItStartedWithWords came to my mind and I said my now legendary line ‘hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which ultimately lead to hateful actions.’ I thought to myself how could anyone disagree with this. I guess I was naive.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
