The election of Donald Trump has had a strange effect on coastal elites. Instead of acknowledging that they’re disconnected from the rest of the country, they lashed out at Middle America, saying it was the real problem.
San Francisco-based Melinda Byerley, the CEO of TimeShareCMO, went on a sanctimonious tirade on Facebook and Twitter Saturday calling Middle America a group of uneducated bigots living in a sh*thole.
I didn’t feel like tweetstorming, so here’s a screen shot. “What middle America can do to get more jobs in their area.” pic.twitter.com/1nYSehA4kA
— Melinda Byerley ☠️ (@MJB_SF) January 7, 2017
Friend on FB: “They don’t want us to live there. They want cos to move there & give them jobs so that they don’t have to stop being bigots.”
— Melinda Byerley ☠️ (@MJB_SF) January 7, 2017
We don’t hate you, middle America-You hate us. So we left, and stopped caring about you. But we’d forgive you, if you stopped hating us.
— Melinda Byerley ☠️ (@MJB_SF) January 7, 2017
And now, as it does every time a non white non male writes a piece that is critical of “real” America, the attacks come. Turning off notifs.
— Melinda Byerley ☠️ (@MJB_SF) January 8, 2017
Here’s a dm I got this morning in response to the brou ha-ha. From someone too afraid to have their own name on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/w9v9lP0pys
— Melinda Byerley ☠️ (@MJB_SF) January 8, 2017
This person was not alone. There were others. Gay folks, brown folks. Women. They don’t hate. They don’t feel safe.
— Melinda Byerley ☠️ (@MJB_SF) January 8, 2017
“One thing middle america could do is to realize that no educated person wants to live in a sh*thole with stupid people. Especially violent, racist, and/or misogynistic ones,” Byerley wrote.
The CEO continued with a list of demands that conservatives living in red states would have to change about themselves if they wanted people like her to move there. “Add fiber internet. Make it a point to elect a progressive city council and commit to not being bigots.”
Even Nick Confessore from The New York Times was horrified by the rant, saying it was “peak liberal othering.” Rather than Byerley realizing she had taken a step too far, she attacked the liberal paper for not attacking Trump enough during the election.
The new york times apparently trying to cover its ass this election. Because my tweet really matters. Unlike their global coverage. pic.twitter.com/GbbUV82IFh
— Melinda Byerley ☠️ (@MJB_SF) January 8, 2017
Unfortunately for Byerley, her opinions are not backed up by facts. According to The New York Times, a growing minority of people in blue states were migrating to the same red states she called “a sh*thole.”
More than 15 percent of Californians were moving to Western and Midwest states, 17 percent of Connecticutians were leaving for the Midwest and South, and 13 percent of Massachusetts residents moved from their blue state to red states. Nearly a quarter of people from New York and New Jersey moved to red states in the Midwest, rust belt, and south.
That’s partially responsible for the reason that old red states have become blue and purple, including North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia.
On Sunday, Byerley had a change of heart and apologized for her rant saying that she spoke about Middle America in a disrespectful way.
I spoke about middle america – my birthplace – inartfully and disrespectfully. I’m sorry for that.
— Melinda Byerley ☠️ (@MJB_SF) January 8, 2017
