In the wake of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential victory, MSNBC host Joy Reid made waves with her pointed criticism of Latino men who supported the Republican candidate. On her show, “The ReidOut,” she didn’t hold back as she aimed the significant rise in Latino support for Trump, who captured 45% of the Latino vote—a striking 13-point jump from 2020. Among Latino men, the support was even more pronounced, with 55% casting their ballots for Trump, up from 36% in the previous election.
Reid voiced her disapproval with fervor, characterizing Latino men’s votes as a betrayal to their families and communities. “Y’all voted with Stephen Miller and David Duke and against your own sisters, who chose Kamala Harris with 60% of their votes,” she declared. She went further, framing the Latino men’s choice as an alignment with anti-immigrant policies, noting, “Despite the utter disrespect shown by Trump and his promise to deport some of your mixed-status families… a 55% majority voted to make the deportations happen.”
Reid contrasted this voting pattern with the loyalty of Black women, 91% of whom voted for Harris. “Latino men ignored Trump’s ‘utter disrespect’ and voted to send some of their families packing,” she stated, sparking both praise for her candor and criticism that she oversimplified Latino voters’ motivations, which some say are tied to economic concerns rather than racial alignment.
A Career Marked by Controversy
This isn’t the first time Reid has stirred up controversy. The MSNBC prime-time host has faced public and legal challenges over her statements and social media activity. In 2018, she faced a lawsuit after retweeting a false claim that Roslyn La Liberte had made racist comments to a high school student, spotlighting the risks of spreading unverified information on social media.
Reid’s credibility also came under scrutiny when blog posts surfaced with a photoshopped image mocking Senator John McCain and links to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Reid acknowledged past homophobic tweets but denied authorship of the controversial blog content, claiming she’d been hacked.
Recently, she has made headlines for her remarks about Elon Musk, suggesting he “bought Twitter because he misses apartheid,” as well as her commentary on white evangelicals and abortion. Reid also drew criticism for her remarks on the Gabby Petito case and for comparing the U.S. to the dystopian society in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Reflections on Media Bias
Speaking at Johns Hopkins University, Reid addressed the issue of media polarization, arguing that “fake news is furthering the racial and partisan divides in this country and fracturing the U.S. in two directions.” She pointed to the concentration of newsrooms in liberal urban areas as contributing to the “siloing of people into their own universe.”
During her presentation, Reid traced journalism’s shift from the detached objectivity of the early 1900s to a more interpretative style that emerged in civil rights coverage. She believes this shift contributed to perceptions of liberal bias in mainstream media, which, she argued, has led to the rise of conservative outlets like Fox News and Breitbart.
The Center of a National Debate
As a prominent MSNBC host, Reid is the center of ongoing debates over media bias and journalistic standards. Her role at the network involves covering major political events and engaging in larger conversations on the responsibilities and limits of modern journalism.