An MSNBC panel led by Rachel Maddow laughed at and mocked Virginia Republican voters who listed the border and immigration as a top priority during coverage of Super Tuesday.
Far-left anchor Joy Reid assailed White working-class Republican voters as only making their decisions based on race and not thanking President Biden, a “White working-class guy himself,” for the “benefits they’re getting economically” from him.
“They’re voting on race,” she said. “They’re voting on this idea of an invasion of Brown people over the border.”
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Jen Psaki, Biden’s former White House press secretary, concurred, adding, “Look at some of these exit polls. I live in Virginia. Immigration was the number one issue,” as Reid laughed.
Maddow added, “Well, Virginia does have a border with West Virginia,” as others on the panel laughed.
Former President Trump carried Virginia easily Tuesday night as part of a string of primary victories over Nikki Haley, cementing his status as the GOP frontrunner. The panel referred to exit polls that showed immigration as a top priority for Republican voters.
“You’re thinking like, what?” Psaki said. “Trump has indoctrinated people with this fear of people who do not look like them being a threat to them.”
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Maddow complained that every election cycle, especially when a Democrat is in office, “we get reminded about the borders,” although Republicans have blasted Biden’s border policies for years as record-breaking numbers of migrants have crossed into the United States under his administration.
“You make these things an issue, you make them into boogeymen… as long as there’s a Democratic incumbent to blame on it,” she said. The panel was critical of Trump’s role in torpedoing bipartisan border legislation this year, saying he didn’t want a solution to the problem.
Conservatives jumped on MSNBC for the flippant segment.
“Democrats are laughing about the illegal immigration that’s hurting your city,” the House Judiciary GOP posted on X Tuesday. “Maybe they should read about Laken Riley. Disgusting.”
Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, was killed while jogging on trails around the University of Georgia campus. Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national who was living illegally in the United States, has been charged in her murder.
Popular X account “End Wokeness” also referenced Riley, whose family held a funeral for her on Friday.
“Jen Psaki and Rachel Maddow mock West Virginians for worrying about immigration despite their distance from the border,” the account wrote. “Athens, GA is 1,211 miles from the border. Ask the parents of Laken Riley if distance matters.”
Even a prominent anti-Trump voice took aim at MSNBC for the segment. Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who’s become a vehement critic of Trump, called it “pretty damn arrogant.”
“MSNBC talking heads laughing AT the American people,” commentator Joe Walsh wrote Tuesday. “Mocking them. Mocking Americans who are concerned about immigration. Pretty damn arrogant & out of touch. Not a good look Dems.”
Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
