ADVERTISEMENT

Joy Reid: Rural Americans Are a 'Core Threat to Our Democracy'

MSNBC host Joy Reid / Getty Images
November 27, 2017

MSNBC host Joy Reid on Saturday said that rural Americans pose a "core threat to our democracy" because 70 percent of the population is expected to live in the 15 largest states in 2040.

Her comment came in response to a column in the Wall Street Journal in which author Gerald Seib discussed American government and various global threats confronting democracy. Seib used projected population change to argue that many urban Americans will be underrepresented in the Senate in the coming decades.

"Because of the way the Electoral College works, two of the past three presidents first won office while losing the popular vote. And David Birdsell, dean of the school of public and international affairs at Baruch College, notes that by 2040, about 70% of Americans are expected to live in the 15 largest states. They will have only 30 senators representing them, while the remaining 30% of Americans will have 70 senators representing them," Seib wrote.

Reid quoted MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin's tweet, which cited the figures from the Wall Street Journal, and said the rural minority's level of representation constitutes are a "core threat to our democracy." She said rural Americans will continue to "have disproportionate power over the urban majority."

She went on to call for the "abolition of the Electoral College" and said that it would be a good start to dealing with the disproportionate power of rural Americans.

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson pushed back against Reid in a blog post on Sunday and said that her comment was "both striking arrogance and striking ignorance."

This is not the first time that Reid has criticized rural states and voters, claiming that they have an unfair advantage over urban areas.

Published under: Joy Reid , MSNBC