On Friday night, "All In with Chris Hayes" welcomed author Glenn Greenwald, who is promoting Nowhere to Hide, his new book about the NSA, government spying and the revelations brought forth by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
Hayes characterized Greenwald's work over the past year as "arguably the largest collection of exposed secrets in American intelligence history."
However, Greenwald's pugnacious style and often prickly personality have alienated him from large swaths of the liberal community. Critics charge that while the revelations about domestic spying have merit, Greenwald's personality has overshadowed his message.
“There are lots of people who watch this show who hate you, frankly," Hayes said.
"Really?" Greenwald joked. "Oh, my god, that's so disturbing, I didn't know that."
“You have a way of making people very angry at you, and you have a way –– I think sometimes, if you don’t mind my saying –– of alienating possible allies,” Hayes continued.
Greenwald said that when he started writing about politics, he "didn't have a big megaphone, I didn't have a large corporation that gave me a camera or a newspaper that gave me a big platform."
"I had to find a way to be heard," he said. "You've got to be aggressive in terms of having your critique heard."
“People feel like they have to choose between Barack Obama and Glenn Greenwald," Hayes countered. "And there are millions of people in this country who are like, ‘If that is the choice, I choose Barack Obama. I like Barack Obama. Like, Barack Obama got a lot of people Medicaid.’”
Greenwald said that the same people who attack him now cheered for him when he was attacking the Bush administration.
The bottom line, he said, is that his work gets results.
“I’d much rather have positive results and be hated by a good number of people than the other way around," he said, "to be loved by everybody and fail.”
Watch the video, embedded below:
