Free Republic

“Tom, I’ll start with you,” began Mika Brzezinski. “Why are rural white voters a threat to democracy at this point?” Fastball delivered, University of Maryland professor and co-author of just-released White Rural Rage: The Threat To American Democracy Tom Schaller took a swing. He and Mika first complained rural voters should be supporting Joe Biden, given his roots — you’d have to be pretty high to call Scranton “rural,” but whatever — then Schaller read off small town America’s charge sheet: rural whites, he said, are the most “racist,” “xenophobic,” “anti-immigrant and anti-gay,” “conspiracist,” “anti-democratic,” they “don’t believe in an...

"Paul Waldman and Tom Schaller join Morning Joe to discuss their new book 'White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy'." 'White Rural Rage' looks at the most likely group to abandon democratic norms (8 min Morning Joe, Mika interview)

Cohost Mika Brzezinski asked the pair, “Why are white rural voters a threat to democracy at this point? You would think, looking at Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s background, that the opposite would be true.” Schaller replied that they “lay out the fourfold interconnected threat that white rural voters pose to the country,” in their new book. “They are the most anti-gay, xenophobic in the country. QAnon support and subscribers, COVID denialism, Obama birtherism.” The author also argued that white rural Americans continue to espouse “anti-democratic sentiments.” “They don’t believe in an independent press, free speech. They’re most likely to...

MSNBC’s Monday edition of “Morning Joe” featured an author duo who railed against white rural Americans as a “threat to democracy.” Professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Tom Schaller and journalist and opinion writer Paul Waldman joined “Morning Joe” to discuss their new book, “White Rural Rage,” while calling out the demographic for their voting patterns. Cohost Mika Brzezinski asked the pair, “Why are white rural voters a threat to democracy at this point? You would think, looking at Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s background, that the opposite would be true.” Schaller replied that they...