It’s not clear what Joy Reid does for a living these days, but it’s not much different from the show she hosted on MSNBC before they fired her. She complains a lot, makes a lot of claims that are almost always inaccurate, and then finds people to blame who aren’t.
This past week, during an interview on the BET cable television network, she appeared on BET Talks, where she lamented a possible return (in her mind) to an America of a bygone era “before the 20th century, there were no income taxes, there were no regulations on business, and you could earn as much money as you want and leave 100% to your children with no taxes.”
You don’t say. And this is a bad thing?
Joy Reid on the fascist agenda:
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 30, 2025
"They want to take us back to no income tax, no regulations, earn what you want, family inherits everything" pic.twitter.com/pb1574eEBh
She’s on to us. But as usual, her framing is all off. In order to live in this tax-free Utopia that Reid is dreaming up, she says we conservatives need people to be less “modern,” whatever that means. That we need people to “want fewer things.”
If it all means what I think it does, she’s once again trying to say Republicans want everyone to live like they did on Little House on the Prairie, which wouldn’t be a bad idea with some caveats.
I need air conditioning and a coffee maker. These are non-negotiables. Oh, and WiFi access. Outside of that and NFL Sunday Ticket, and I’m good, I don’t need a thing. I really do think I could live like Michael Landon and his fake family on that Hollywood backlot, about some house on a prairie.
Though it wouldn’t hurt if Reid would throw in a microwave oven, a toaster, and some Pop-Tarts. After that, I’m definitely good. I absolutely would go back to pre-20th-century America and my little house on the … you know what? I really don’t like prairies. How about a house on the lake with a pontoon? Yeah, a pontoon boat. That would be really nice, with a canopy. And maybe a bass boat, but that’s not required.
I’d say that those are fewer things, right? I mean, I’m not asking for a four-wheel drive Ford F-150, so I’d call that a sacrifice all in the name of going back to simpler times, wouldn’t you, Joy?
But I have to admit, living tax-free is awfully tempting. And being able to make money and give it to my kids when I’m gone, I might even be able to do without salted streets in the winter, but don’t push it, Joy.
One thing I would highly recommend to Reid is to do something most of us did in history class, which is to read books. I really liked the ones that taught me all about life in America before the 20th century. It may sound crazy, but America not only survived but it grew, and people prospered before America charged between one-third and one-half of your income. Back then, the government operated under this insane assumption that your money was your money and not the government’s.
All of this, of course, begs the question of who she thought she was talking to. Does Joy Reid assume that the viewers of BET Talks do pay income tax and that they like being taxed? Or does she assume that they don’t pay taxes but want those of us who do to cover for them? A little clarification would help.
