MSNBC's Chris Matthews Compared Bernie Sanders' Nevada Performance To The Nazi Invasion Of France

The comments prompted backlash from Sanders' campaign.

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As Bernie Sanders surged to the top of the pack at Saturday's Democratic caucuses in Nevada, MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews was having a rough time.

The Hardball host told viewers that if Sanders became the Democratic nominee, Republicans would release opposition research about "what [Sanders has] said in the past about world affairs, how far left he is," which would "kill him" in the general election in November.

"But I think it's a little late to stop him," Matthews told viewers.

Then the MSNBC star turned to the history books for an analogy to describe his feelings at watching a series of top Democrats be outpaced by Sanders.

"I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940," said Matthews, "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.'"

Matthews added, "So I had that suppressed feeling."

The comment prompted outcry not just from Sanders' supporters; many people on Twitter described the reference to a Nazi invasion to discuss a prominent Jewish candidate as distasteful.

The Nazis killed Bernie’s whole family on his dad’s side and Chris Matthews compares Bernie to them. @MSNBC https://t.co/BInbM8SC9H

Let’s try to detangle this. Bernie, a Jewish man whose family members were killed in the holocaust, wins the Nevada caucus, and Bernie and his unprecedented diverse coalition are the Nazis and Chris Matthews, the DNC and MSNBC are now occupied France?

@ParkerMolloy @RobynElyse @HardballChris Wow, I’m not a Bernie fan, but this is WAY over the line.

A spokesperson for MSNBC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about what Matthews said.

But Mike Casca, communications director for the Sanders campaign, responded on Twitter.

"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," he wrote. "But here we are."

On Monday, Matthews apologized during his show and vowed to do better as the campaign continued.

Chris Matthews apologizes to Bernie Sanders and his supporters for comparing Bernies NV win to Nazis taking France in WWII

"Sen. Sanders, I'm sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era, in which so many suffered, especially the Jewish people, to an electoral result in which you were the well-deserved winner," he said.

Matthews is not the first MSNBC anchor to be criticized for using allusions to the Nazis when discussing Sanders. Earlier this month, Chuck Todd quoted an article on air from a conservative writer that described some of Sanders' supporters as a "digital brownshirt brigade."

In a post-debate show earlier in February, Matthews also began discussing Cold War executions when speaking of Sanders' embrace of democratic socialism.

Here's the video of the moment... It really is something

"I believe if [Fidel] Castro and the Reds had won the Cold War, there would have been executions in Central Park and I might have been one of the ones getting executed. And certain other people would be there cheering, okay?” said Matthews.

"So, I have a problem with people who take the other side. I don’t know who Bernie supports over these years,” he added. “I don’t know what he means by 'socialist.'"

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