In the segment, O’Reilly accused liberals of wanting to abolish the Electoral College because “the left thinks white working-class voters must be marginalized.” He claimed that ending the Electoral College would allow presidential candidates to focus their campaigns on big states and cities filled with minority voters, while letting them ignore rural areas with white voters.
“Talking Points believes this is all about race,” O’Reilly claimed. “The left sees white privilege in America as an oppressive force that must be done away with.” He later added, “The left wants power taken away from the white establishment. They want a profound change in the way America is run. Taking voting power away from the white precincts is the quickest way to do that.”
Along the way, you might expect some sort of “to be sure” paragraph to clarify that of course O’Reilly believes the votes of minority voters in California are equal to white rural voters in the Midwest.
But it never comes. He instead mocked the idea of fighting against white privilege. “Very few commentators will tell you that the heart of liberalism in America today is based on race. It permeates almost every issue,” O’Reilly said. “The liberal media tries to sell that all day long — so-called white privilege bad, diversity good.” He never elaborates on this point, leading one to draw the conclusion that he doesn’t buy what he argued the liberal media is selling.
The segment ends with O’Reilly’s message loud and clear: White privilege and the white establishment are fine, and it’s good that our Electoral College props up white rural voters over minority voters in urban centers. As it turns out, O’Reilly does have a point that the Electoral College is a tool for maintaining a white-dominated status quo. But that he apparently sees that as an argument for keeping the Electoral College is terrifying.
http://www.vox.com/identities/2016/12/21/14035608/bill-oreilly-electoral-college-race
