{"id":60719,"date":"2024-03-24T12:06:15","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T19:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=60719"},"modified":"2024-03-27T00:32:57","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T07:32:57","slug":"ronna-mcdaniels-debut-on-nbcs-meet-the-press-is-an-unmitigated-disaster-for-both-nbc-and-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=60719","title":{"rendered":"Ronna McDaniel’s Debut on NBC’s Meet the Press is an Unmitigated Disaster For Both NBC and Her"},"content":{"rendered":"

The recent announcement that deposed Republican National Committee (RNC) chair, Ronna McDaniel, was hired as a political analyst at NBC, created a tsunami of criticism from viewers, journalists, and even NBC News staffers. And it wasn’t just because she was such an abysmal a failure as chair of the RNC, who lost elections and set record lows for fundraising<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\"Ronna<\/p>\n

The primary complaint over McDaniel’s hiring was that she has been a relentless liar who personally participated in efforts to undermine democracy by suppressing legitimate (mostly minority) votes and backing plots to have fake electors “certify”<\/em> Donald Trump<\/a><\/strong> as the winner of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

MORE HERE: Trump Toady Ronna McDaniel Lands at NBC After Being Ousted From the RNC<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

It didn’t take long for the scorching backlash to McDaniel’s hiring to have consequences for her on her new job. The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a><\/strong> that \u201cMSNBC president Rashida Jones told employees that the liberal-leaning news network has no plans to put new NBC News contributor Ronna McDaniel on the cable outlet.\u201d<\/em> While that\u2019s good news for MSNBC, it remains troubling that NBC is still planning to put her on the air, and that any news organization would consider such a brazen and potentially criminal liar employable.<\/p>\n

On Sunday morning McDaniel made her inaugural appearance on Meet the Press. And it lived down to the expectations that media watchers had for it. Host Kristen Welker did a merely decent job of holding McDaniel’s feet to the fire. She got her to concede that she continues to be an election denier, and has no regrets<\/a><\/strong> about her role in trying to steal the 2020 election. She also got her to openly disagree<\/a><\/strong> with Trump’s promise to free the convicted, violent insurrectionists of January 6, 2021.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: Trump\u2019s Promise to Free January 6 Insurrectionists is a Recruiting Plan for the Next Insurrection<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, following the McDaniel interview, Welker led a panel discussion on her hiring (transcript here<\/a><\/strong>). And the commentaries from her new colleagues at NBC were brutal. For instance…<\/p>\n

Chuck Todd:<\/strong> “Let me deal with the elephant in the room. I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation because I don’t know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News. I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract. […] She has credibility issues that she still has to deal with.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kimberly Atkins Stohr:<\/strong> “Her credibility is completely shot. So I have to do what Maya Angelou said, I believe what they do and not anything that she said today. And in that I know that she habitually lied, she habitually joined Trump in attacking the press \u2013 members of the press, including this network, in a way that put journalists at risk, in danger.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Stephen Hayes:<\/strong> “She has huge credibility problems, not because she’s been a partisan spinner on behalf of the Republican Party, but because she not only presided but directed, drove, the QAnonization of the Republican Party during her tenure. And it is the case that when you look at what she did with the fake electors specifically. […] She did a tremendous disservice to the country by making the argument that led to the erosion of faith. Half of the Republicans right now believe the election wasn’t fair.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s tempting to muse that “When you’ve lost Chuck Todd…” But the cumulative impact of all of these criticisms is pretty astonishing. And you can’t help but wonder how the network can continue to employ someone who is unanimously seen as having zero credibility. For what purpose would they put any of her analysis on the air? Are they just trying to connect with the most deranged and deluded faction of the GOP, or what Fox News recently called “The Stupid Party”<\/em>?<\/p>\n

SEE THIS: Has Fox News Finally Figured it Out? \u2018This is Why Conservatives Call the GOP the Stupid Party\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

If NBC isn’t stupid, they will keep McDaniel on the bench and let her fade into obscurity. Unless they can convince her to flip on Trump and his MAGA Party, and spill the beans on what she surely knows of his criminality and the collaboration of the GOP that she led.<\/p>\n

UPDATE I:<\/strong> The first reaction from MSNBC hosts came early Monday morning as Joe Scarborough announced<\/a><\/strong> that McDaniel will not be a guest on “Morning Joe,”<\/em> citing her “role in Trump\u2019s fake elector scheme and her pressuring election officials to not certify election results.”<\/em> He further said that “We believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage, but it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier.”<\/em> (Video<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

UPDATE II:<\/strong> Throughout the day on Monday, virtually every MSNBC host condemned McDaniel, chastised the network brass responsible for hiring her, and called for her to be dismissed. They included Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid, Lawrence O’Donnell, and more. Rachel Maddow gave an especially moving monologue<\/a><\/strong> that connected the dots from historical fascists and demagogues to McDaniel, and\u00a0 more broadly, Trump and the GOP. It’s hard to see how McDaniel can survive this repudiation from her new colleagues.<\/p>\n

Update III:<\/strong> NBC has made a principled turnaround and decided to dump McDaniel<\/a><\/strong>. The network’s boss took responsibility for misguided hiring apologized to it. Naturally, McDaniel is said to be considering a lawsuit that would only further publicize her anti-American atrociousness.<\/p>\n

IN THE MEANTIME IN TRUMP WORLD…<\/strong><\/p>\n