When I first heard that MSNBC had hired former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, I thought it might have been some kind of joke. The most anti-Republican, anti-conservative network in existence hiring a former leader of the GOP? Someone made a mistake somewhere.
Actually, the mistake was in thinking that the MSNBC liberal drones would be able to tolerate someone in their midst who disagreed with them. Once the news broke about McDaniel’s hiring, the snowflakes rose up on their hind legs like good little puppies and begged the powers that be to take it back.
Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan scolded the network for daring to give someone a job who disagreed with employees.
“McDaniel lied about the 2020 election result, was involved in a pressure campaign to get Michigan officials not to certify the vote, and has accused MSNBC of ‘spreading lies’ and employing ‘prime time propagandists,’” Hasan posted on X.
Hasan’s show had been canceled due to low ratings. On a network where the audience is counted using fingers and toes, that’s saying something.
Carrie Budoff Brown, who oversees NBC News’s political coverage, sent a memo out to staffers pointing out the value of having a wide range of opinions going into the election season.
She might as well have been talking to a block of stone.
“As we gear up for the longest general election season in recent memory, she will support our leading coverage by providing an insider’s perspective on national politics and on the future of the Republican Party — which she led through some of the most turbulent and challenging moments in political history,” the memo continues. “And as a longtime Michigan resident, she’ll be an important voice from one of this year’s key battlegrounds.”
As it turns out, MSNBC President Rashida Jones was more in tune with the low-level staffers who were weeping and wringing their hands over McDaniel’s hiring than Ms. Budoff Brown. She pretended that McDaniel was never hired and how could anyone think she’d hire such a creature?
McDaniel? Who dat?
Jones told employees the cable network has no plans to have McDaniel on the channel, according to people familiar with the conversations. A number of MSNBC anchors and producers have voiced concern internally about McDaniel’s ties to former President Donald Trump and the RNC’s role in his efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.
A representative for McDaniel didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
The tensions at MSNBC demonstrate how tricky it can be for news networks to hire former politicians and Washington insiders as contributors—a common practice. While many hires provide insights into the inner workings of the government, there has been concern about the revolving door between news channels and politicos as well as partisan politics that creeps into analysis.
It’s only “tricky” if news executives can’t stand up to the woke mob. In this case, and many cases where well-meaning leftists look to bring on a token conservative or Republican, it becomes a matter of whether or not leaders are going to allow inmates to run the asylum.
In the case of MSNBC and Rona McDaniels, the crazies definitely have the upper hand.