In one post shared in Reddit’s popular “Public Freakout” forum, Wallace spoke about challenging the United States during a plenary debate on June 8.
The video, posted by u/return2ozma, received more than 66,000 upvotes and 4,300 comments.
Who Is Mick Wallace?
Wallace has been a member of the European Parliament from Ireland for the South constituency since July 2019 and is a member of the Independents 4 Change—a left-wing Irish political party founded in 2014.
During a debate on July 8 about global threats to abortion rights and the possible overturn of Roe v. Wade in the United States, Wallace began asking why politicians are not open to challenging or critiquing American politics.
‘What Is Democracy?’
“What is democracy anyway?” Wallace asked during the debate. “Is it having a vote every four or five years? No, it’s not. It’s your people having a say in the society they live in. And most of the American people have no say in the society they’re living in.”
As he stood in his pink muscle shirt and messy blonde hair, Wallace asked if the U.S. is a “functioning democracy.”
“Well let’s have a look at it,” he said as he began listing off his thoughts. “It costs $2 billion to become president, they have 25 percent of the total prisoners in the world. They spend over $800 billion a year on arms.”
Walton added that America fails to afford universal health care, student loan forgiveness, or feed hungry children.
“The Americans couldn’t spell democracy,” Walton said at the end of the video.
Redditor Responses
More than 4,300 users commented on the Reddit post, many criticizing Wallace as a politician while others agreed with his statements.
“I love his look and attitude,” one user commented.
“As an Irishman I can tell you that most of us do not,” another replied. “He’s an embarrassment.”
“He’s from a village like 20 minutes up the road from me, where he owns 80% of businesses. The majority of us dislike him haha,” another disputed.
“That doesn’t mean what he said about America was wrong,” another user commented.
“Well no it’s not a democracy…it’s a federation of states with republican-democratic ideals and legislature, but I understand your point pink shirt man,” another user wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Mick Wallace for comment.
Back in May, an anonymous Reddit user was slammed for suggesting that Americans who are frustrated with the state of the country emigrate to another country.
Another anonymous Redditor went viral after listing out the main differences between working in America versus Denmark, and a business was slammed online after images of an alleged flyer insisting “un-American Commies need not apply,” circulated Reddit.
