Did Brian Williams Really Quote Leonard Cohen To Praise Syria Strike?
The United States’s strike on a Syrian airfield has generated confusion across the political spectrum, from President Trump’s far-right supporters’ anger at the move to the guarded approbation of usual Trump skeptics like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Perhaps the most confusing response, though, came from MSNBC’s Brian Williams, who, discussing the strike on his program “The 11th Hour,” first referred to images of Tomahawk missiles launching as “beautiful” — and then used a Leonard Cohen lyric to emphasize the point.
“I am guided by the beauty of our weapons,” Williams said, quoting Cohen’s song “First We Take Manhattan.”.
It was an odd choice for several reasons, not least of which was that Cohen described the song as an attempt to occupy the mindset of a terrorist.
Williams faced an immediate backlash for the comment. He has yet to respond to the criticism.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30