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Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer got his historical facts very, very wrong when he claimed that Karl Marx wrote Mein Kampf.
Hemmer made the remark during a segment on America's Newsroom after he and co-anchor Dana Perino discussed critical race theory, a body of legal and academic scholarship that aims to examine how racism and disparate racial outcomes have shaped public policy via often implicit social and institutional dynamics.
Hemmer said:
"I remember 20 years old going to Trier, Germany, and trying to find the home of Karl Marx, cause, you know, 1848 ― he wrote Mein Kampf. I want to know what it was all about."
Apparently, Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer thinks Karl Marx wrote Mein Kampf.\n\n"I remember 20 years old going to Trier, Germany and trying to find the home of Karl Marx cuz, y'know, 1848 -- he wrote Mein Kampf. I want to know what it's all about."pic.twitter.com/9sa6inGqpi— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1628605798
Hemmer is wrong. The German philosopher Karl Marx teamed up with fellow philosopher Frederich Engels to write The Communist Manifesto, which was published in 1848. The book provides an analytical approach to the notion of class struggle and remains one of the most influential and divisive political documents of all time. Marx later expanded on his ideas in Das Kapital, whose first volume was published in 1867.
Mein Kampf, or My Struggle, published in 1925, is an autobiographical and antisemetic manifesto written by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The book served as a blueprint for Hitler's political ideology and future plans for Germany, which culminated in the Holocaust, the genocide of European Jews during World War II.
Hemmer did correct himself later on the program, quickly telling viewers that he "misspoke":
Later on in the program, Bill Hemmer says he misspoke when he said Karl Marx wrote Mein Kampf.\n\n"I misspoke. 1848. Karl Marx. The Communist Manifesto"pic.twitter.com/8c2Js0PZ3I— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1628609486
Hemmer was nonetheless criticized for the error, which viewers perceived as further evidence of the network's penchant for peddling misinformation:
Fox News. You cannot get this much wrong\n\nKarl Marx was an economist who wrote the Communist Manifesto & Das Kapital\n\nMein Kampf was written by Hitler, a Dictator\nWrote it in prison, published in 1925\n\nThis is Bill Hemmer. As dense as a bag of hammers in home of Hannity\n#FixFoxhttps://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/1425290878797586437\u00a0\u2026— Tomi T Ahonen (@Tomi T Ahonen) 1628693399
Fox News\u2019 Bill Hemmer told his audience that Karl Marx wrote Mein Kampf. \n\nThis is the shit that Fox viewers gobble up nightly like it\u2019s a bag of BBQ pork rinds.— \u15f0\u15e9\u1587K_\u15f7_O\u144cTT\u15e9_\u157c\u15f4\u1587\u15f4 (@\u15f0\u15e9\u1587K_\u15f7_O\u144cTT\u15e9_\u157c\u15f4\u1587\u15f4) 1628622706
Moments like this reveal why many conservative thought leaders avoided conversations around social justice and wealth inequality by dismissing the topics as overblown. Post-Trump, you have Bill Hemmer on a Fox morning show saying Karl Marx wrote Mein Kampf.— Steward Beckham (@Steward Beckham) 1628607072
Bill Hemmer makes a mistake in who authored \u2018Mein Kampf.\u2019\n\nSo where was Bill trying to vacation when he was 20 yo in Germany? Hitler\u2019s house or Marx\u2019s?\n\nBoth odd choices. https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1425102126460588034\u00a0\u2026— Pu\ud83e\udde9\ud83e\udde9ler (@Pu\ud83e\udde9\ud83e\udde9ler) 1628612937
He was also mocked.
I was so passionate about studying Charles Darwin at college I flew to England to try and find his house, because you know, he wrote The Satanic Verses, and that was like incredible.— Fraude101 (@Fraude101) 1628609268
I was so passionate about studying Charles Darwin at college I flew to England to try and find his house, because you know, he wrote The Satanic Verses, and that was like incredible.— Fraude101 (@Fraude101) 1628609268
Hemmer's error appears to be related to a remark made by Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen during the earlier conversation about critical race theory. Theissen believes that the topic should be kept out of grade schools and reserved for college students.
And it was while he was explaining that that he appeared to link Marx to Mein Kampf:
"In college you should be studying everything. We should be studying Karl Marx, we should be studying 'Mein Kampf,' we should be studying all sorts of bad ideologies, and students should be opening their minds."
"When you're teaching grade-school kids, you're forming young citizens, you're teaching them patriotism, you're teaching them how to understand their country, and that's very different from what you're teaching in a college class."
It makes sense, right? But just in case it's unclear, Hemmer might want to think before he speaks.