MSNBC’s Joy Reid likes to fashion herself as a good race and gender conscious progressive, which is why it was weird when she declared on Monday’s edition of The ReidOut that it was natural that Donald Trump said he admires President William McKinley because the 1890s were a time that was “only great for men like Donald Trump.” At the same time, Reid had nice things to say about segregationist Woodrow Wilson.

Trump’s admiration for McKinley comes from the latter’s support of tariffs, but Reid made sure to add, “McKinley's presidency wasn't just about tariffs. It was also about empire. After an explosion on a U.S. battleship called the Maine, that was later found to be just a structural failure, not sabotage, the U.S. launched a war against Spain to take Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines out of their empire and put the latter three into ours.”

 

 

Reid also argued Trump’s view of McKinley’s record is incorrect because McKinley “updated his attitude from ‘Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs’ to something called reciprocity.”

It should be added that Trump appears to favor trade reciprocity as well. As for Reid’s history lesson, she next recalled McKinley's “run ended in 1901, though, when, sadly, McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist who shot him in the chest in the Pan-American exposition in Buffalo, New York, clearing the way for the progressive Roosevelt administration and the vast saving of public lands, which MAGA Republicans also hate. They want to drill, baby, drill, and sell those lands to billionaires. Billionaire developers.”

Circling back to the 1890s, Reid added:

But what you need to know about this era that Donald Trump says is the time when America was great before he made it great again is not just ‘Remember the Maine’ or Mount McKinley, which, by the way, was renamed Denali under the Obama administration to restore its indigenous Alaskan name, which is probably why Trump is so sore about it. The 1890s happened to fall smack dab in the middle of the gilded age, which began in the 1870s and kept going through the turn of the century.”

Reid then sought to contrast the McKinley Era with the Wilson Era, “It was a time of rapid industrialization and extreme wealth inequality. A time when the super rich got richer and richer because the U.S. had no income taxes. Which would not be passed until 1909, and ratified in 1913 under Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Workers during the Gilded Age toughed it out in scary conditions with unions, no overtime, and no protection.”

Praising the adoption of the 16th Amendment that allowed for the collection of income taxes while ignoring Wilson being a raging racist and eugenicist who threw his further-left critics in jail was certainly an odd choice, but the oddness didn’t end there:

It was two decades before women got the right to vote, unions got the right to organize, children were barred from working in factories and mines. Non-white immigrants weren't blocked from coming to America, and black Americans got a new civil rights act, a voting rights act, and Supreme Court decisions ensuring their right to vote, to go to the theater or eat in a restaurant free from segregation and abuse, or to attend majority white schools. In other words, in the McKinley Era, America was pretty much only great for men like Donald Trump.

What is Reid talking about? The next civil rights act did not pass until 1957 and Brown v. Board of Education wasn’t decided until 1954. Progressive hero Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era had nothing to do those.

Here is a transcript for the September 30 show:

MSNBC The ReidOut

9/30/2024

7:03 PM ET

JOY REID: McKinley's presidency wasn't just about tariffs. It was also about empire. After an explosion on a U.S. battleship called the Maine, that was later found to be just a structural failure, not sabotage, the U.S. launched a war against Spain to take Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines out of their empire and put the latter three into ours.

And McKinley launched an open door trade policy with China, having updated his attitude from “Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs” to something called reciprocity. You trade with us, we trade with you. After his VP died of a heart attack, McKinley ran for re-election in 1900 with a new running mate, Hanna referred to as “that damned Teddy Roosevelt.”

His run ended in 1901, though, when, sadly, McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist who shot him in the chest in the Pan-American exposition in Buffalo, New York, clearing the way for the progressive Roosevelt administration and the vast saving of public lands, which MAGA Republicans also hate. They want to drill, baby, drill, and sell those lands to billionaires. Billionaire developers. 

But what you need to know about this era that Donald Trump says is the time when America was great before he made it great again is not just “Remember the Maine” or Mount McKinley, which, by the way, was renamed Denali under the Obama administration to restore its indigenous Alaskan name, which is probably why Trump is so sore about it.

The 1890s happened to fall smack dab in the middle of the gilded age, which began in the 1870s and kept going through the turn of the century. 

It was a time of rapid industrialization and extreme wealth inequality. A time when the super rich got richer and richer because the U.S. had no income taxes. Which would not be passed until 1909, and ratified in 1913 under Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Workers during the Gilded Age toughed it out in scary conditions with unions, no overtime, and no protection. 

It was two decades before women got the right to vote, unions got the right to organize, children were barred from working in factories and mines. Non-white immigrants weren't blocked from coming to America, and black Americans got a new civil rights act, a voting rights act, and Supreme Court decisions ensuring their right to vote, to go to the theater or eat in a restaurant free from segregation and abuse, or to attend majority white schools. In other words, in the McKinley Era, America was pretty much only great for men like Donald Trump.