MSNBC’s Joy Reid: Trump Era Is the ‘Worst Time to Be a Human’

MSNBC host Joy Reid said in a new interview published Monday that Donald Trump's presidency is "the worst time to be a human."

New York magazine's "Vulture" website sat down with Reid, who hosts the weekend show "AM Joy," for an interview on the "Trump Era" that was flagged by NewsBusters.

Interviewer Josef Adalian praised Reid for her recent professional success and asked the TV host about the "irony" of Trump's presidency for her.

"You were obviously doing very well before the 2016 campaign, but that election season and the subsequent elevation of Trump to the presidency have actually been incredible for your career," Adalian said. "‘AM Joy' is setting ratings records for MSNBC. You're reaching twice as many viewers as you did before, probably, and you're connecting to them on a very deep level. And yet you're clearly not very happy about where the country has been heading. Is there a mixed-emotion type thing going on for you?"

"I've said to people that this is probably the greatest time to be a journalist, and the worst time to be a human," Reid said. "I think because this election was so unusual, and because I kind of am a stand-in for my viewers—I can be shocked on their behalf—that made people connect with me more."

Reid noted that she is an "opinion journalist" and therefore does not have to hide her distaste for Trump.

"I'm an opinion journalist, so I don't have to pretend not to be shocked and appalled. I can actually be shocked and appalled. So it's kind of played to my strength in a way. My previous job was a bit different," she said.

Adalian also asked Reid what the subject of her next book will be. Reid explained that she wants to write a book that focuses on right-wing conservatives' drive to "repeal the 20th century."

I'm a history buff, so I keep pitching books that are history-based. I kind of want to write about this drive on the right to just repeal the 20th century. The 20th century so shook the right wing in this country that they can't give up on getting rid of the real totems of the 20th century—the guaranteed retirement income, guaranteed health care, voting rights. Those items that made the 20th century work are what Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and company are still trying to get rid of. They're still fighting it! So I may try to write about that.

In the interview, Reid also recalled her prediction that Hillary Clinton would easily win the 2016 presidential election by securing more than 300 electoral votes.

"I discounted the anecdotal evidence of how much the millennial voter generation hates Hillary Clinton, and has come to hate her, in part because of the long campaign to discredit her, because of the primary," Reid said.

"It never occurred to me, since it hadn't happened since '88, that a Democrat in a presidential year could lose Wisconsin, Michigan, or Pennsylvania," she added.

Reid also attributed Clinton's election loss to the "successful Russian effort" to interfere in the campaign.

During the interview, Reid expressed surprise at how she has become "aligned" with some conservatives who oppose Trump.

"One of the most amazing outcomes of the Trump administration is the number of neo-conservatives that are now my friends and I am aligned with," she said. "I am shocked at the way that Donald Trump has brought people together."

Click here for the mobile version of this story (with comments)