Former MSNBC Host Says Dealing with Rural Americans Is Like ‘Fighting Terrorism’

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said that dealing with angry rural Americans is similar to combating terrorism on “Morning Joe” on Tuesday.

Matthews highlighted the importance of anger in mobilizing voters during elections as he drew the analogy. He said rural Americans harbor a deep-seated anger toward liberal elites, then he seemed to liken that anger to the sentiments of terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq following the U.S. military presence there.

“This is rural rage. They are so angry at the liberal establishment, the coastal elite. They look at people on television … ‘They don’t have to worry about us,’” Matthews said. “And the regular guy in the country goes, ‘There they are snarling and making fun of us again,’ and every time we make fun of Trump, we’re making fun of them … It’s a weird thing, but in a way, it’s like fighting terrorism.”

“We think we just put the Army in or Israel just puts the IDF in, and they’re going to solve the problem,” Matthews continued. “It never solves the problem because you enrage people. And we did it with Afghanistan, and we did it with Iraq. We enraged the enemy to the point where they’re more fiery than ever, and they hate us more than ever. Armies don’t make peace.”

Biden’s Federal Communications Commission recently rescinded a nearly $900 million award to billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide broadband internet for rural Americans to over 640,000 homes and businesses in rural areas in 35 states. The FCC said it made the decision because SpaceX’s Starlink failed to show its capability to meet the requirements to provide the services.

“The real loser is gonna be rural America,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said. “Elon Musk is gonna be fine — the $900 million isn’t that big of a deal to him — but we had millions of Americans that were guaranteed to get high-speed service that now the FCC has taken that commitment, vaporized it and replaced it with nothing.”