A Time to See With New Eyes

Wow, what a few days.

On Tuesday evening, I was in Little Rock, Arkansas talking to a large gathering of folks about how we have to look at our country and each other with new eyes, and envision the kind of country and world we want to live in. And in that vision how we want to treat each other and how we want our friends and families to be treated. We need to take that feeling and translate it into action to reimagine America in the 21st century. Diminishing the hate and bile, and unite together along the ideals we hold dear, while reforming our institutions and structures to meet the moment.

And then 24 hours later I was terminated from MSNBC for in part saying “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which ultimately lead to hateful actions” in the midst of the tragic shooting in Utah of rightwing leader Charlie Kirk. I would like to explain in some detail what happened.

Years ago when I was at ABC News as Chief Political Analyst I was very critical of Donald Trump and the Republican Party as I saw our constitutional democracy threatened. A number of times then President Trump and White House staff called up the head of ABC News and tried to get me to back off and have me fired. ABC News folks came to me a number of times after that and tried to get me to not be so critical. I ultimately left ABC News and ended up as senior political analyst at MSNBC.

At MSNBC I have made nearly 1,000 appearances, speaking on a diverse range of topics and always consistently condemned gun violence and political violence of any kind no matter where it came from. This past Wednesday I was asked to come on to talk about a range of topics, and as I was about to go on air, breaking news happened of gun shots being fired at a Kirk event in Utah.

Keep in mind when the anchor came to me to comment on the “national environment” 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 in the moment that we needed to get the facts because we have no idea what this could be and that it could easily be someone firing a gun in the air to celebrate the event. Remember Kirk is a diehard advocate of the 2nd amendment.

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 Right Wing media mob ginned up, went after me on a plethora of platforms, and MSNBC reacted to that mob. 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.

I am getting over the shell shock of the past few days, and will turn my gaze on adventures and the journey ahead. And a big part of that will be using my voice on this and other platforms to advocate for finding ways to unite our country around a common-sense vision of ideals and values. It starts with me and all of us looking at each other and out into the world with new eyes: a journey into the unknown that will be filled with mystery and many ups and downs. But reimagining a new America starts with new eyes, leads to a new language, and will involve building new institutions and reforming many that no longer fit us.

Even though I am down and a bit disheartened in this moment, I still have hope and faith in a majority of Americans who want and hunger for the same things I do. We can do this.