Fired MSNBC Talking Head Who Made Despicable Charlie Kirk Comments: Network Caved to 'Right Wing Media Mob'

Matthew Dowd, the Bush-Cheney campaign strategist-turned-professional “not-that-kind-of-conservative,” is now out of a job after MSNBC terminated him for comments that effectively suggested Charlie Kirk brought his own assassination upon himself.

Dowd, speaking on-air as news of the shooting broke Wednesday, called Kirk “one of the most divisive, especially divisive, younger figures” who was “constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech.” He then delivered a lecture on “hateful thoughts” leading to “hateful actions,” before floating the absurd possibility that Kirk may have been killed by “a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration.”

The backlash was swift. MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler called his remarks “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable,” and by day’s end, Dowd was out.

Doubling Down, Not Backing Down

Rather than taking responsibility, Dowd ran to Substack on Friday with a self-pitying essay blaming — who else? — conservatives. According to him, a “Right Wing media mob” took his words out of context and pressured MSNBC into firing him.

Among his defenses:

• He claimed he didn’t know Kirk had been killed when he made his comments.
• He insisted his “celebratory gunfire” remark was simply tied to Kirk’s strong Second Amendment advocacy.
• He reiterated his line that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions” — essentially restating the same rationale that implied Kirk’s own rhetoric led to his death.
• He claimed conservatives “misconstrued” him and forced MSNBC’s hand.
• He offered a hollow apology “for any miscommunication on my part,” placing the blame on listeners for supposedly misunderstanding him.

Dowd even invoked Holocaust survivors’ warnings about words leading to violence, suggesting Kirk’s speech was akin to the rhetoric of 1930s Germany.

The Coward’s Apology

This was not an apology. It was an attempt to justify his smear, to paint himself as a victim, and to shift blame onto conservatives for having the audacity to pay attention to his words. His line — “I apologized for any miscommunication on my part” — is not contrition but condescension.

And yet, Dowd insists MSNBC should have stood by him because, he claims, his words were “misconstrued.” If that’s true, it reveals more about MSNBC’s culture than about Dowd’s disgraceful commentary.

The reality is clear: Dowd’s firing was not a reaction to a “mob.” It was the only appropriate response to a pundit who, in the immediate aftermath of a conservative leader’s assassination, could not resist framing it as a consequence of the victim’s own beliefs.

This is the bubble of the left-wing media. They despise conservatives so thoroughly that even as a husband, father, and patriot lay dying on stage, their instinct was not sympathy but contempt.

Dowd’s downfall is fitting. What’s appalling is how many of his former colleagues likely agreed with him until the public noticed.