MSNBC star Joy Reid downplays MS-13, says only Fox News viewers have heard of dangerous gang

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 05: Journalist Joy Ann Reid attends the New York Moves 2015 Power Women Awards Gala at India House Club on November 5, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Ron Adar/Getty Images) (2015 Ron Adar)

Often-misinformed MSNBC star Joy Reid is under the impression that international criminal gang MS-13 isn’t a major issue and the only people that have even heard of the thugs are regular viewers of Fox News.

During Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Trump kicked off the immigration portion of his speech by detailing the horror of two teenage girls who were killed by MS-13, an international crime gang comprised mainly of El Salvador immigrants, while their parents were in the building.

“Two precious girls were brutally murdered while walking together in their hometown,” Trump said. “Four men associated with MS-13 have been charged with the killings… I am calling on the Congress to finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13, and other criminals, to break into our country.”

During MSNBC’s coverage of the State of the Union, Reid mocked the president’s remarks while analyzing the speech with “Hardball” host Chris Matthews.

“He gives a speech tonight, in which he makes it sound like the biggest issue in the United States, the biggest threat is MS-13, a gang nobody that doesn't watch Fox News has ever heard of. So he makes it sound like they're the biggest threat.”

Reid said Trump simply mentioned the deadly gang to accommodate the “audience he wants applause from.”

Well, it turns out Reid needs to consume more news.

A search of “MS-13” on CNN’s website reveals dozens of articles that mention the gang. The gang has been mentioned in an assortment of New York Times headlines in recent memory, such as a June 2017 article titled, “39 members of MS-13 are arrested, authorities say,” and a July 2017 article headlined, “Trump will visit Long Island in the wake of MS-13 gang arrests.”

If the Times is too high-brow for the MSNBC star, USA Today has also covered the gang extensively. A video on the site from Nov. 2017 is headlined, “MS-13 gang member arrested in Maryland murder.”

USA Today even covered the gang back in 2012 when the Obama-era feds decided to label MS-13 a criminal group.

"This designation allows us to strike at the financial heart of MS-13 and is a powerful weapon in our fight to dismantle one of the most violent, transnational criminal organizations operating today," then-ICE Director John Morton told the paper.

“MS-13 is an example of some of the worst of criminal gang behavior,” Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., told Matthews on the very same show on which Reid appeared.

News organizations, including the Washington Post, HuffPost, The New Yorker, The Hill, New York Post, PBS, New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Daily Mail, Time and Slate have all covered the dangerous gang.

If Reid doesn’t consume any of the aforementioned outlets, surely she remembers the coverage that her own network dedicated to Trump July 2017 speech to law enforcement officials on Long Island, N.Y. when he famously warned police officers not to be “too nice” when arresting “thugs.”

Well, somebody should tell Ms. Reid that the president was referring to MS-13 members when he made the controversial remarks.