Silicon Valley’s Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) reportedly referred to Middle America as “Podunk, USA” during a closed-door Energy and Commerce Committee meeting last week.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the California Democrat’s remarks raised eyebrows from those present.
The term “podunk” is used to refer to a small town or village that is small or insignificant. The term is commonly seen as an insult.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that Eshoo was frustrated with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s comments about expanding broadband access to rural areas.
Pai reportedly said that eliminating Title II “Net Neutrality” rules would benefit places he has traveled to, such as Parsons, Kansas; Elverson, Pennsylvania; and Cadillac, Michigan. That is when Eshoo reportedly wished out loud that Pai would stop talking about “Podunk, USA” and adjust his focus to the venture capitalists in her Palo Alto District on Sand Hill Road instead.
An unnamed member present at the meeting, who represents a flyover state, reportedly said districts in Middle America are just as important as those in Silicon Valley.
A growing number of Americans feel the Democratic Party is out of touch and have accused it of shifting its focus to coastal elites while ignoring the everyday Americans that are directly affected by the deep-pockets legislation they pass.
In January, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said the Democrats lost to President Donald Trump for this very reason. “I happen to believe that the Democratic Party has been not doing a good job in terms of communicating with people in cities, in towns and in rural America, all over this country,” Sanders said.
The party is also increasingly divided. However, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appeared to be in denial about the severely fractured state of the organization when, in an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl, she said the Democratic Party is “[i]n terms of unity, 100 percent unified.”
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