“I Am Not an Expert”: Michael McFaul Says He Regrets Hitler Comments
The MSNBC contributor and former US Ambassador to Russia's latest remarks on the Ukraine war have landed him in hot water
Michael McFaul regrets his comments on Adolf Hitler, “ethnic Germans,” and Vladimir Putin.
“I made a mistake,” McFaul told me via email Saturday.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show Friday night, McFaul paraphrased a “brave” Ukrainian journalist he had heard say that German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was not as brutal as Russian President Vladimir Putin because Hitler didn't kill ethnic Germans, German-speaking people.”
By contrast, “Putin slaughters the very people he said he has come to liberate,” McFaul said.
The remarks, and the Maddow show’s inexplicable decision to highlight and promote those comments, caused outrage. Twitter exploded with criticism and attacks.
The Maddow show quickly threw McFaul under the bus, absolving itself of any blame for highlighting and promoting the ambassador’s comments.
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“President Zelensky asked me personally to help”
As outrage swirled Saturday morning, McFaul doubled down on his comments, including approvingly referring to a tweet from one user claiming “German Jews are certainly ethnically not Germans. It is so evident.”
“THANK YOU!” McFaul replied.
McFaul told me that those comments were a mistake and that he shouldn’t have addressed the ethnicity issue at all.
“The lines between ethnic identities, nationalities, and citizenships is a complex issue about which I am not an expert,” McFaul said.
In an explanation he unilaterally declared off the record—I did not agree to that—McFaul portrayed himself as a misunderstood advocate for the Ukrainian people given his mission from the country’s highest authority.
“I honestly was trying to help the Ukrainians with their messaging that Putin is a monster in the way he is killing ethnic Russians in Mariupol,” McFaul said. “President Zelensky asked me personally to help. And you know his ethnic background.”
Anders Åslund weighs in
McFaul was not the only Russia expert to make questionable comments on Hitler. Anders Åslund, a Swedish economist and former Atlantic Council senior fellow, came to McFaul’s aid. While McFaul’s comments were absurd, Åslund’s were beyond parody.
Åslund claimed multiple times that Putin is worse than Hitler, and asserted that Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons then amended that to the Nazi leader didn't use chemical weapons outside of the concentration camps, which is also false—the Nazis used chemical weapons in what is today Ukraine. Åslund also heavily implied that Hitler’s justification for invading Poland was more valid than Putin’s reasons for attacking Ukraine.
In response to an emailed set of questions about his Hitler takes, Åslund replied simply, “I refrain from comment.”
“Not perfect”
For all his prevaricating and excuse-making, McFaul does appear apologetic. He fully believes that his mission to save the Ukrainian people is of paramount importance, and that his error was in how he talked about the war and his subsequent attempts to clean it up.
“I'm not perfect in my choice of words,” McFaul said. “I made a mistake. I owned it. What more can I do? If you have suggestions, I am all ears.”
I asked McFaul if he is still an MSNBC contributor.
He declined to address the question.
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