MSNBC reject Chuck Todd twists himself into a pretzel to blame Trump for increasing antisemitism
The longtime Meet the Press moderator made the remarks during a talk with ex-CNN reporter Chris Cillizza - snippets of which were posted to social media and the latter's Substack Monday.
Cillizza captioned the clip in question 'Powerful stuff', after letting Todd, 53, make his case.
'I hesitated before, but I do want to say this, which is: I've never experienced any serious anti-Semitic attack before June 16, 2015,' the former MSNBC host who fled the NBCUniversal family in January began.
'I never felt my Jewishness was somehow the chief identifier of what I did for living.'
The day singled out was when Trump announced his first candidacy, with a rally and uproarious speech at Trump Tower.
A stern back-and-forth ensued, with Cillizza quickly clarifying for his Substack viewers at home: 'You, personally.'
'Me, personally,' Todd, who is Jewish, shot back. 'After June 16, it unleashed.'
"I never experienced any serious anti-Semitic attack before June 16, 2015." -- @chucktodd
Powerful stuff pic.twitter.com/nhRtdkzzrq
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) June 17, 2025
He added how 'it began on the right.'
'I've experienced plenty of left-wing anti-Semitism too as well now,' Todd continued. 'But it began with Trump.'
Not offering specifics, the ex-legacy media journalist went on from there, disclaiming at a point 'that Trump did not invent anti-Semitism.'
'But Trump gave a permission slip to people to express their hatred,' he said. 'And that is what happened.'
'Do I think Donald Trump wanted Jews to be attacked when he ran for president? No, I do not,' Todd said.
'But his behavior and his permission slip on violence gave others in his party a permission slip - or others on that side of the aisle.
'And I always say June 16 was the moment I thought the rock was lifted, okay?' Todd also claimed.
He appeared to be referring to a rise in anti-Jewish sentiment online in recent years and prominent attacks against Jewish people and groups.
On April 13, a man set fire to the Pennsylvania governor Josh Shaprio's mansion, after telling authorities he harbored hatred toward him because of his position on the war in Gaza. Shapiro had hosted a Passover Seder at the residence the night before.
Within weeks, on May 21, another attacker killed two Israeli embassy staff members outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., as the conflict in the Middle East continues to rage.
A federal official said the attack would be investigated as a hate crime.
Earlier this month, another man threw Molotov cocktails at people marching in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Colorado. The case is also being treated as a federal hate crime.
Cillizza - who was laid off from CNN in 2022 - said he agreed, after joking to Todd: 'I didn't know you were Jewish.'
As for Todd, he joined NBC News in 2007 as it political director, before being named the chief White House correspondent in 2008.
Six years later, he was promoted to lead Meet the Press, and expanded the program by doing a regular daytime hour on MSNBC called 'MTP Daily.'
It was eventually moved over to the live-streaming service NBC News Now.
Then, he was replaced by Kristen Welker in June of 2023, before becoming far less prominent presence.
'I'd rather leave a little bit too soon than stay a tad too long,' he said, a little over a year before revealing he and his Chuck Toddcast were leaving NBC News.
'So while I may be leaving this chair, I'm still going to help NBC navigate and coach colleagues in this 2024 campaign season and beyond.'
After the election, he announced he was leaving NBC News before his contract was reportedly set to expire.
'There's never a perfect time to leave a place that's been a professional home for so long, but I'm pretty excited about a few new projects,' Todd wrote in a memo sent to fellow staffers.
'So, I'm grateful for the chance to get a jump start on my next chapter during this important moment,' he went on.
'The media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of viewers/listeners/readers and I'm convinced the best place to start is from the bottom up.
'At my core, I'm an entrepreneur - I spent my first 15 years professionally working for the company that started the political newsletter craze that dominates today.
'And this is a ripe moment.'
The announcement came days after NBC News laid off approximately 40 staffers and CNN nearly 200 employees.
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