Katie Couric is facing backlash online for claiming the Make America Great Again political movement is driven by “anti-intellectualism.”
Couric made the comments while discussing Donald Trump and MAGA — which was born during the former president’s 2016 campaign — on the latest episode of Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast.
“The socio-economic disparities are a lot and class resentment is a lot and anti-intellectualism and elitism is what is driving many of these anti-establishment [people] — which are Trump voters — so, I think that is a huge problem that we have to address,” Couric explained to Maher, referring to the MAGA movement that got its name from the ex-president’s campaign slogan.
“I mean globalization and the transition from an industrial to a technological society — I don’t know if you’ve ever been jealous of someone else or resentful — it is such a corroding and bitter, almost bile feeling.”
Critics lambasted the American journalist and presenter on X, calling her comments “out of touch.”
“This is what you call projection — blaming the other side for feeling a certain way when it’s actually you who feels that way,” one user said.
Another took a swipe at Couric: “It’s full of people she’s never met and wouldn’t lower herself to be around.”
“This is so disgusting and shows how out of touch she is. Make no mistake, this is how the media views Trump supporters,” said another.
One X user said: “I’ve never been a jealous person- and I find many of Trump supporters highly educated in vast arenas. I think Couric is a snob and a low IQ commie. She’s lived inside her glass bubble so long she’s completely out of touch with reality.”
Maher, in contrast, defended Trump voters, saying media pundits and commentators should take the time to understand them better.
“Not to defend Trump, but to defend the people who still vote for him,” Maher said.
“Because what they see on the other side, to them, is even more dangerous. Because it’s closer to home: ‘My kid is coming home from school and he thinks he’s a racist? He’s 5, what have you been telling him? My son thinks maybe he’s not a boy.’ And maybe that’s true, that happens. Those kind of things are what they say. ‘That’s why I’m voting for Trump,'” added Maher.
Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee for president while President Biden is the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee — setting up a rematch of the 2020 election.
