Longtime MSNBC host and former “NBC Nightly News” anchor and managing editor Brian Williams signed off after 28 years with the network for the last time at NBC on Thursday evening.   At the conclusion of his nightly MSNBC Show “The 11th Hour” Williams made his on-air goodbye where he expressed concern about the current direction of the nation and warned against extremism in the country.

“As I do for the first time in my 62 years, my biggest worry is for my country,”

“The truth is I’m not a liberal or a conservative. I’m an institutionalist,” he said. “I believe in this place and my love of country I yield to no one. But the darkness on the edge of town has spread to the main roads and highways and neighborhoods. It’s now at the local bar, and the bowling alley at the school board in the grocery store.”

He continued on to slam elected officials.

“Grown men and women—who swore an oath to our Constitution, elected by our constituents, possessing the kinds of college degrees I can only dream of—have decided to join the mob and become something they are not, while hoping we somehow forget who they were,”

“I will probably find it impossible to be silent and stay away from you (the viewer) and lights and cameras,” he said. “After I experiment with relaxation and find out what I’ve missed and what’s out there.”

“Every weeknight for decades now, I’ve said some version of the same thing: ‘Thank you for being here with us,'” he concluded. “Us, meaning the people who produce this broadcast for you. And you…Well, without you, there is no us.

“I’ll show myself out until we meet again. That is our broadcast for this Thursday night. Thank you for being here with us. And for all my colleagues at the networks of NBC News, goodnight.”

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