Many were outraged after reading Jesse A. Myerson’s “Five Economic Reforms Millennials Should Be Fighting For” in Rolling Stone this weekend. But of course, Myerson has a fan in MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, who featured the columnist on his show Tuesday and scoffed at those outraged over the proposed reforms.
Myerson was the subject of much controversy after he penned a piece featured in Rolling Stone’s first issue of 2014 advocating for socialist reforms. In the article, Myerson outlines policies young Americans should put their weight behind, from a universal income to redistribution of wealth and assets to the implementation of state banks. The columnist, whose Twitter biography boasts “#FULL COMMUNISM,” appeared on MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” to defend his article.
“Usually what I do as a far-leftist is troll liberals. The right wing basically has never heard of me until this twit named Charles Cook from National Review tweeted out this article Friday night at 9,” Myerson said. “And once that membrane was punctured, all of the like bigoted and hateful and violent muck and filth just doo-dooed all over my ‘at’ mentions and has basically not let up in the intervening few days.”
Myerson, a former Occupy Wall Street protester, and Hayes then dissected his arguments, one of which being to “make everything owned by everybody.” The MSNBC host defended Myerson, saying Republicans seized upon the opportunity to take down a far-leftist, especially one who is a self-proclaimed communist.
“I think there was just like, there’s nothing the Right loves more than a good fight against communists,” Hayes, who referred to the Right’s response as a “freak-out,” said. “And they don’t get them that often. And then here you are, in Rolling Stone.”
In response, Myerson insisted the backlash he faced was based solely on his political beliefs, and noted that the criticism he received had nothing to do with the actual content of the article.
Business Insider’s Josh Barro, who backed Myerson’s reforms in a column titled “Some of These ‘Communist’ Economic Ideas Are Actually Pretty Good,” then jumped in, saying Myerson’s communist policies simply reinforced a fear that “already exists on the Right.”
Check out the clip below.
