Margaret Brennan Echoes the Elites' Enduring Prejudice Against the South

You’d think we would be used to it by now. The elites have had it out for the South for generations. For years in movies and TV shows, any character who was a dumb rube inevitably had a Southern accent.

Even in non-fiction settings, the elites turn Southerners into figures of ridicule. This past weekend, I watched a clip from a 1977 episode of “Match Game” in which the contestant hailed from Mississippi. All of the celebrity panelists and host Gene Rayburn slyly made fun of her accent except for Alabama native Fannie Flagg, who stood up for her.

The elite disdain for the South is palpable. As someone who has lived in the South all my life — I even wrote a book about it — I see it almost every day.

Side note: There’s a corollary to this involving Appalachia, which extends beyond the South, although I do believe that the South and portions of the Midwest have more in common than we’re willing to admit. People talk about JD Vance’s Appalachian upbringing like he grew up on another planet. There’s a sense of “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” to the characterizations of Appalachia and the South.

By now, you’re aware of the interview Vice President JD Vance gave with CBS’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” on Sunday. Matt covered one aspect of it on Sunday, and over at RedState, Bonchie covered Brennan’s elitism. In one clip, she stated that “lower-income states” can’t recover from disasters without Daddy FEMA intervening, and she only mentioned Southern states.

Look at the elitist disgust on Brennan’s face as she asserts “low-income” states simply aren’t smart enough to handle disaster recovery without overpaid, useless federal bureaucrats dictating everything.

Mask-off moment. pic.twitter.com/WZYdb8sNfE
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) January 27, 2025

“People like Brennan live in a bubble where they truly think credentialism and dollar totals on a spreadsheet dictate competency,” Bonchie wrote. “For example, calling the above states ‘low-income’ and suggesting that makes them incapable ignores that the cost of living exists. Incomes are indeed lower in Southern states but so are costs, which means the standard of living is not necessarily any worse than high-cost blue states.”

Brennan also ignores (probably willfully) the capable GOP leadership in these states as well as the resilience, know-how, and intelligence of Southerners. As my friend and colleague Stephen Green mentioned on Monday, we should never underestimate “the redneck with the tractor.”

Former Fox News reporter Adam Housley noticed the elitism on display as well. He posted on X:

I've covered 12 hurricanes...mostly in the south. A couple of tornadoes. In the south. An oil spill in the south. I played minor league baseball all across the south. Have many family and friends in the south. I'm a California boy, but the absolute disconnect with this region by the major media in NY and many in the political class in DC is staggering. @CBSNews needs to address the ridiculous insinuation about the south by @margbrennan

Brennan needs to apologize to the South for her condescending, elitist characterization. I’m waiting, but I’m not holding my breath.