Mark Halperin Thinks Being Canceled Is Like Having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Mark Halperin, the former MSNBC senior political analysis who lost his job after a number of women accused him of sexual harassment, seems to have given up on that whole “apology tour” charade. Not that it was a very convincing act. But now, Halperin seems to be willfully digging his heels in even deeper.

During a recent event in San Francisco, Halperin spoke on the immense struggle he’s faced after being “canceled” because of #MeToo. (Because, if you didn’t know, the people who are struggling the most are usually invited to be on panels.)

“It’s akin to being a refugee, or being in some other situation where you’re constantly under pressure and …you can’t stop to try to rebuild that kind of confidence and self-worth that is required.”

Did this grown man, who used to work in politics, decide it would be a good idea to compare being fired after 14 accusations of unwanted sexual advances to the plight of a person who is being persecuted or otherwise endangered in their home country to the point that they flee to seek asylum in another country? Yes, yes he did.

In the way that only a very smooth-talking political pundit can, Halperin also managed to imply that due to their struggles, refugees lack confidence and self-worth. It’s remarkable that through his attempts to re-establish his career as a political pundit, Halperin is managing to prove that he was actually much too dumb to have ever been considered an expert on politics in the first place.

Halperin compared the effects of being “cancelled” to having post-traumatic stress disorder — and moaned that there’s no way to “reintegrate.”

So not only is he trivializing the plight of refugees, he’s now co-opting the language of mental illness to complain about the overwhelming trauma of being “canceled” because 14 different women accused him of sexual harassment. How comforting, that this man was the political director of ABC News for an entire decade.

Naturally, Halperin went on to make more absurd and insulting statements, because it is clear by now that this man has no idea when to shut the fuck up.

“Murderers in our society who get out of prison are afforded an opportunity to go on with some aspect of their life,” he said. “The challenge to a lot of people who are canceled is there’s no mechanism for that, regardless of what they’ve done, regardless of whether they’ve tried to make amends.”

It’s pretty apparent to me that Mark Halperin has not met many people convicted of murder. Or, for that matter, anyone who has been incarcerated for any type of offense. It’s pretty common knowledge that things as basic as finding housing or getting a job become astronomically more difficult after spending time in prison. Millions of people across the country with felony convictions are legally disenfranchised. I don’t know what exactly Halperin thinks are the kinds of opportunities that people are offered after prison, but the very act of drawing this comparison is bordering on the farcical.

Let’s be clear here: Mark Halperin is complaining because he hasn’t been able to get his job back. Halperin can whine about his life “post-cancellation” (or, as I would call it, post-sexual harassment allegations) being more difficult than the lives of people convicted of murder, but his one-person pity party is both pathetic and transparent. It’s pretty sad to attempt to paint yourself as the one being persecuted in a situation where several women have accused you of rubbing your erection against them.

And oh, I almost forgot to mention, Halperin published a book in 2019. Because, you know, most murderers get book deals.