Journalist Glenn Greenwald calls Joy Reid 'bats*** crazy' for claiming Sen. Ron Johnson is a 'Russian agent' a day after the MSNBC host said conservatives would 'trade all the tax cuts in the world to be able to openly say the n-word'
Journalist Glenn Greenwald has criticized MSNBC host Joy Reid for what he calls 'conspiratorial derangement' after she claimed a senator was a Russian agent.
The journalist, part of a team that won a Pulitzer for reports about government surveillance programs based on leaks by Edward Snowden, slammed Reid on Friday for stating that Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, was acting on behalf of Russia.
Reid was mocking the senator who has come under fire himself for questioning accounts of what what occurred on January 6 at the Capitol, but Greenwald did not find Reid's description amusing.
MSNBC host Joy Reid suggested on her show that Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson was a Russian agent
Reid's comment were quickly picked up and slammed by journalist Glenn Greenwald
'This – 'Ron Johnson, Senator from Wisconsin, by way of Moscow' -- is as bats*** crazy and as much conspiratorial derangement as anything from QAnon, and far more damaging since it's mainstream, but because it's on a corporate outlet, it doesn't count,' Greenwald tweeted on Friday morning.
'If you're a liberal media figure, it's a lot easier and less challenging to mock some random, obscure Q-Anon internet troll than a popular liberal host on a major cable outlet for conspiracy derangement, so that's the choice they make even though this is far more impactful,' Greenwald continued later.
He wasn't finished.
'So hilarious how Joy Reid mocks Ron Johnson for being a 'conspiracy Senator' and literally in the next breath says he comes 'by way of Moscow' and neither she nor a single one of her listeners will ever understand the irony,' he wrote. 'That's the liberal sector of the media writ large.'
Johnson slammed Reid's comments for comparing Sen. Ron Johnson to a 'Russian agent'
Greenwald, pictured, was part of a team that won a Pulitzer for reports about government surveillance programs based on leaks by Edward Snowden
Johnson, meanwhile, is known for regularly promoting fringe theories favored by the right, most recently questioning the fact that pro-Trump rioters attacked the Capitol.
In recent weeks he been under renewed scrutiny for claiming in a series of radio interviews the January 6 attack on the Capitol was not an 'armed insurrection' and went on to read a first-person account that suggested 'provocateurs' and 'fake Trump supporters' were behind the attack.
Johnson is among the most accessible, high-profile Republicans in Washington, regularly defending his views to the mainstream news media
MSNBC, meanwhile, has oft-broadcast Russia-related conspiracy theories over the year.
Sen. Ron Johnson has questioned whether the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was an insurrection and doubted if it was perpetrated by Trump supporters
On the final day of the Trump presidency, Reid reiterated a theory that he won the 2016 election with the assistance of Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this week, she sparked outrage tweeting that conservatives would trade tax cuts to use the n-word.
Reid's comments were slammed for apparent hypocrisy after stirring up previous homophobic comments the embattled news host and political commentator has made.
'I'll say it again: people on the right would trade all the tax cuts for the ability to openly say the n-word like in 'the good old days',' Reid tweeted.
'To them, not being able to be openly racist and discriminatory without consequence is oppression. Trump is the avatar for this 'freedom'.'
MSNBC host Joy Reid claimed Texas was reopening because white people want black people back 'making them steaks'
MSNBC host Joy Reid sparked outrage this week when she tweeted that conservatives would trade tax cuts to use the n-word
Conservatives took to Twitter to condemn Reid for her 'reckless rant' and called her racist
Reid's response was made to a thread of tweets from MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson and former New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss.
Weiss' tweet sparking the conversation promoted an op-ed piece she wrote for the Deseret News in which she slammed the 'illiberal left' for sounding like a 'totalitarian society.'
Johnson's response to Weiss appeared to claim she was defending the private use of racial slurs when she discussed how a student at a top law school felt the need to 'self-censor' their comments.
'Yes, because code-switching, mask wearing and all of the other hoops that black people have to go through to appease enough of the majority to even GET into law school isn't the issue,' Johnson tweeted.
'But censoring yourself from saying the N word amongst friends is.'
A server wearing a protective mask takes an order at a restaurant in Austin, Texas, on Thursday
Diners enjoy their meal without masks at a restaurant in Austin
Visitors wear face masks during the coronavirus pandemic as they travel along the River Walk, in San Antonio on Wednesday
Maskless people gather outside a shop in Dallas on Wednesday as Texas said it would be lifting its mask mandate
Pedestrians, some wearing masks, walk down South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas on Wednesday
Customers sit outside of Starbucks in Austin, Texas on Wednesday after Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the state will end its mask mandate
Many maskless students watch Texas Tech and TCU play basketball on March 2
Some conservatives took to Twitter to slam the MSNBC host for her comments.
'Joy Reid of MSNBC: I suggest you watched Hannity. I called you out as a racist. I also suggest you apologize to every Republican in this country,' wrote Leo Terrell, a Fox News contributor.
'Finally I suggest you look in the mirror and apologize for your homophobic comments.'
Far-right political commentator Dinesh D'Souza also ripped into Reid's 'reckless rant.'
'Dangerous and reckless rants like these from Joy Reid occur nightly on MSNBC and they should be ashamed,' D'Souza tweeted.
Reid's tweet came the same day she said on her show ReidOut that states like Texas and Mississippi only want black people to get vaccines because white people want black people to 'get their behinds into the factory and make me my steaks.'
'There is a term called 'necropolitics,' which is essentially the politics of who gets to live and who gets to die, and these states, what they have in common, is that they have structures which say that black and brown lives matter less,' Reid told Johnson on the show.
She continued: 'And so all that matters is that black and brown people get their behinds into the factory and make me my streaks, make me my stuff, get there and do my nails, work, get back to work now and do the things that I, the comfortable affluent person, need. Isn't that what we're seeing in states like Texas?'
Johnson added that people lining up for vaccines and fighting over them would be more humane.
'No, they're just gonna starve people and it's always seemed ironic to me that the party of supposedly family values is basically saying, 'You kids starve, aunty starves, uncle starves, and my wife and my smart son get to eat and get to live and get the vaccine',' Johnson said.
In 2018, Reid's now 10-year-old tweets about 'rentboys' and 'grimey closet-cases' resurfaced
In 2018, Reid's now 10-year-old tweets about 'rentboys' and 'grimey closet-cases' resurfaced just days after the MSNBC host tried to deny writing homophobic blog comments appearing under her name.
Reid claimed she'd been hacked after images from her blog, titled The Reid Report, were tweeted out.
The images appeared to show her calling the idea of homosexual sex 'gross' and gleefully speculating over the sexuality of politicians and celebrities.
Reid said the anti-gay references 'run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology' and had been included in the now-defunct blog in an 'effort to taint my character.'
In one tweet, Reid referred to Southern Baptist minister George Rekers, who was famously caught with a male prostitute, as a 'rentboy.'
'George 'Rentboy' Rekers resigns is still not gay,' she tweeted.
In another uncovered tweet, Reid said: 'Rush Limbaugh's fourth marriage offers a hopeful message for fat, grimey closet-cases everywhere. Get rich. (Karl Rover, you're on deck!).'
She added: 'Report: Elton John, Who Is Gay, To Perform At Rush Limbaugh's Wedding. Elton to serenade the beard.'
Another tweet took a swipe at Senator Lindsay Graham, after he denied he was gay, writing: 'Respect the highvoice!'
The Twitter scandal emerged after images from her defunct blog, which Reid maintained through 2011, appeared on the Wayback Machine Internet Archive and were screenshot and shared on Twitter by Jamie Mraz.
Mraz, who posted the images claimed to be from Reid's blog, said the new articles 'had nothing to do with Republican hypocrisy on gay marriage. Joy also opposed gay marriage at the time. She gleefully accused people of being gay and posted a number of questionable things.'
In one post to her defunct blog, Reid reportedly defended Tim Hardaway after he was accused of homophobia.
'Most straight men feel exactly the same way, and would have the exact same reaction to the idea of stripping naked in a sweaty locker room in close quarters with a gay teammate,' she wrote.
'Most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing.'
In the post, Reid admitted she did not go see the movie Brokeback Mountain despite her sister's 'ringing endorsement.'
'I didn't want to watch the two male characters having sex. Does that make me homophobic? Probably,' she wrote.
The tweet immediately following that post includes the following language, attributed to Reid:
'Part of the intrinsic nature of straightness is that homosexual sex is... well... gross,' she wrote.
At the time, Reid also faced alleged revelations that she seemed to think 9/11 was either an inside job or the fault of Israel.
Fox News host Sean Hannity came to her defense in 2018, after the tweets were revealed, Deadline reported.
'I am a believer in the freedom of speech for all Americans. I am also a believer in second chances. And as someone who believes in forgiveness, I have to say, we have fallen short,' Hannity said.
He continued: 'It's good to see Joy (who is no fan of mine) starting to take responsibility for her past remarks.'
'My suggestion is that she follows up with the groups and people who she offended, and learn from all of this. Her apology should be accepted, and she should be given a chance to make it right, and not fired,' Hannity said.
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