MSNBC host Chris Hayes spread rapidly He took to social media to complain Tuesday about the response to anti-Israel protesters breaking windows and occupying a building on the Columbia University campus.
“I feel like I’m losing my mind a little bit: ‘People understand that’,” the liberal journalist wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.Occupy buildings on campus’ Like, this has been one of the most common forms of student protest for decades and is not some devious new trick devised by professional anarchist conspirators, right?”
Hayes’ post made a splash and was viewed more than 4.5 million times in about 24 hours. traditionalist msnbc host attacked This appears to be giving free rein to leftist protesters to enter and create vandalism.
Conservative radio host Jason Rantz wrote in response, “Imagine posting this publicly and not feeling extremely embarrassed.”
Chris Hayes was ridiculed for defending college protesters who occupied a campus building earlier this week. (Getty Images)
Author and Substack journalist Justin Hart responded to Hayes, “Burning down buildings has been done for a long time…this doesn’t suddenly make it legal or right.”
Lawyer Lil Sinai wrote, “Let me make this clear. According to Chris’s logic, when a crime becomes more common, the law should not be enforced against it. Got it.”
RedState columnist Buzz Patterson said, “Really poor comment from a poor reporter.”
Other commentators on social media The site suggested that Hayes would not come out to defend right-wing protesters for doing the same thing.
“How is this any different from any other form of trespassing? Especially when people break windows and doors to get in. If some protesters break into the MSNBC studios and refuse to leave, you should definitely That would be a problem. And you should do that.” This is illegal,” asked X user TheValuesVoter.
“If you are pro-life and occupy a building in protest, you are committing a federal crime and you will be arrested and convicted. You will spend several years in prison, even if it is your first offense ,” wrote X user Polymath.
user was mentioned anti abortion Tennessee and Washington, DC, who are facing federal charges and possible jail time for violating the FACE Act by demonstrating at abortion clinics.
NYPD officers entered Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall after protesters barricaded themselves on Tuesday. (NYPD)
Hayes was also criticized by left-wing users who felt he should more strongly defend protesters on his network.
“My friend, I don’t know if you knew this or not, but you work for MSNBC and you don’t have the slightest influence with your coworkers,” one user wrote.
Another challenged him to say that thing on his program.
“Is there a reason why you tweet this thing and not say it on your show or to your colleagues and hold them accountable for their role in all of this, including justifying genocide?” AJ+ Journalist Sana Saeed asked.
In response to an X user who said it was “liberal” to promote such behavior, Hayes said it was not his point.
He wrote, “The NYPD appears to be saying that the actual force majeure show of force *was* the work of ‘outsider agitators,’ and it seems entirely possible that it was …by the students.” “But if students are doing this, the question arises why hundreds of officers and MRAPs are necessary.”
Hayes defended anti-Israel protesters on his MSNBC show, “All In”, later that night.
Anti-Israel students at Emory University avoid directly condemning Biden, October 7
He compared the students occupying the university building to the civil rights protesters at Morehouse College in the 1960s who locked college trustees in their offices to illustrate that the current protests were not as radical.
“College activism has long been a part of a college education,” Hayes said, But he argued that the media appears to be “lacking” a “sense of proportion” in reporting on these protests.
Hayes said there was an “obsessive media focus” on protesters on college campuses since October 7.
Anti-Israel protesters hold signs at Columbia University in New York City on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Rashid Omar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
He argued that it was easier for the media to focus on college kids rather than debating whether it was “morally defensible” for the US to continue aid to Israel for the war in Gaza because of all the children killed. Were. In conflict.
This is not the first time Hayes has criticized how universities and the media have treated college protesters.
“As a highly strategic matter, the mass arrests of protesters appear to be having the opposite effect as intended,” he wrote in a post on X last month.
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Hayes also shared posts about the lack of “credible reporting” about “counterintuitive events” at a protest at the University of Texas at Austin.
An MSNBC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.
