Ronna McDaniel climbs into bed with the Devil...or, as you might know it, NBC News
What in the world is NBC News thinking in hiring a professional liar and propaganda artist?
I’m all for the First Amendment and free and fair debate in the marketplace of ideas. But what should happen when people who’ve been actively involved in spreading lies and propaganda step into roles with mainstream media organizations? Should those media organizations not have a responsibility- to their credibility, if nothing else- to ensure that those who consume their content don’t come to view them as just another propaganda purveyor?
There’s long been a revolving door between Far-Right politicians and Fox News (FSN). That’s hardly a state secret. Sarah Palin and Sarah Huckabee Sanders had studios built in their homes to accommodate their roles with FSN, and they’re not the only former politicians who’ve gone that route.
Caribou Barbie’s dishonesty was and is no secret. Her value as a Right-wing propaganda generator is well-known, even if her creativity and credibility hovers just barely above zero.
Huckabee Sanders, now the Governor of Arkansas, has long filled the role of professional liar, first as the White House Press Secretary under Donald Trump and then as an analyst for FSN. There isn’t an issue that Huckabee Sanders hasn’t been willing to openly and transparently lie about. She may be a professional liar, but she’s not an exceptionally gifted one.
Huckabee Sanders can best be described by an old joke- “How do you know when she’s lying? Are her lips moving?”
Much the same holds true for Ronna Romney McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC).
observes that Romney McDaniel was forced out of her position at the RNC by Donald Trump when he purged the organization and put in loyalists, including his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as co-chair. It was the final blow as Trump fully MAGA-fied the RNC. It also represents one of the last acts of what describes as the GOP’s collective suicide as it entirely gave itself over to Trump.Or, as
says, though not in these exact words, “I never thought the leopards would eat MY face….”With Romney McDaniel forced out, as
says, the RNC becomes Trump World’s latest grift.Interestingly, Romney McDaniel stopped using the “Romney” in her name and became Ronna McDaniel while she was RNC Chairwoman because Trump hates her uncle, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), just that much. Yes, it’s petty, but that’s Donald Trump.
Unsurprisingly for someone with the attention span of an unfocused 12-year-old, I digress….
On Friday, NBC News announced that they’ve hired Ronna Romney McDaniel as an on-air commentator ahead of the 2024 elections.
Is this a case of “keep your friends close and your enemies closer?” Or is it willful ignorance of her record of savaging the press and pushing a false narrative about the 2020 election to serve the interests of the GOP?
Or is this just another case of the mainstream media transparently, as
laments, doing the GOP’s work for them?What else are we to think?
hey, remember Chuck Fucking Todd? remember what a worthless hack he was? never pushed back, rarely asked a follow-up, loved to both-sides the shit out of every issue.
remember how relieved we were when the Chuckster announced he was stepping down as host of Meet the Press? remember how much we were looking forward to his replacement, Kristen Welker? remember how hopeful we were that actual journalism might finally take place on Sunday mornings?
and then Kristen did her first show, and who did she have as her guest?
Donald Fucking Trump.
it was a five-alarm embarrassment. Welker got steamrolled by Trump. he sat there and spewed lie after lie, and an overmatched Welker just let it happen.
Republicans love to ridicule MSNBC as MSDNC, but moments like Kristen Welker’s “let me toss softballs to Trump and watch him hit them out of the frickin’ park” interview makes it look more like MSDJT, no?
Now, NBC News is bringing Ronna Romney McDaniel on board. What the everlasting fuck is going on at 30 Rock?
that’s right, it’s Ronna McDaniel. NBC is super fucking proud of their new hire — they’re paying her $300,000 a year to be a quote-unquote “political analyst” — and they’re putting her front and center on their flagship news program.
what in the actual fuck?
do you think they meant “political anal cyst”? because Ronna McDaniel is not a serious person. she’s not an analyst. she’s not a reporter. she’s not a journalist. she’s a MAGA operative and a lying partisan bomb-thrower.
what the fuck are you doing, NBC?
there’s nothing Ronna won’t do to advance the MAGA cause. let’s start with her name. it’s Ronna Romney McDaniel. Mitt Romney is her uncle.
when Ronna was offered the job as head of the RNC, it came with a condition: she had to change her name — and she had to change her name for the same reason that the US Navy had to hide an entire fucking warship named The USS John C. McCain: because Dear Leader is a petty little diaper-baby who would throw a shit-fit if his kingly gaze had to light on the name of one of his hated enemies.
and so Ronna cheerfully said fuck Romney and from that day forward she was Ronna McDaniel. such integrity. what a profile in courage.
then there’s the pesky little fact that she’s a fucking liar.
hey, Ronna — did Joe Biden win the 2020 election?
It’s a simple question, Ms. McDaniel… ANSWER THE DAMNED QUESTION!!
“I don’t think he won it fair.” Ho-lee Schitt.
She was the Chairperson of the RNC when she faced down Chris Wallace with that non-denial denial…and now she’s been hired by NBC News.
Wow…just wow. Who says integrity isn’t dead?
One has to wonder what Carrie Budoff Brown and whoever else was involved in hiring Romney McDaniel were thinking. Does no one in NBC’s C-suites care about the network’s credibility?
NBC News on Friday announced that it had hired Ronna McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee chair who has repeatedly attacked the network and its journalists, assailed the news media as “fake news” and promoted false claims around the 2020 vote, as an on-air commentator ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team,” Carrie Budoff Brown, senior vice president of politics at NBC News, said in a memo to staff.
McDaniel exited the RNC earlier this month after leading the organization since 2016.
During her time as chair, McDaniel repeatedly attacked the press, which has become increasingly popular in Republican circles over the last several years as Donald Trump demonizes journalists and news institutions.
McDaniel echoed many such attacks, labeling the press as “fake news” and calling the media “corrupt.” At times, she even targeted NBC News and MSNBC with dishonest attacks.
In 2019, for instance, McDaniel accused Richard Engel, NBC News’ chief foreign correspondent, of “actively cheering for an economic downturn.”
“How can NBC let him keep his job when he’s made his bias so clear?” McDaniel asked.
A better question would be, “How can NBC hire a woman who knowingly and dishonestly savaged the press in service of a disingenuous narrative that did significant damage to the country?” How can she be rewarded for such wanton, craven dishonesty and lack of integrity?
WTF?
Romney McDaniel actively worked to sow doubt about the validity of the 2020 election, and now she’ll be commenting on the 2024 election. How is that supposed to work? Someone who actively sought to undermine America’s democratic process is being rehabilitated and sought out to comment on it? How does she have any credibility after her years of undermining confidence in our electoral processes?
McDaniel has a lengthier history attacking the progressive cable news channel MSNBC, which she will appear on in her new role. In recent years, she has repeatedly attacked the channel for “spreading lies” and blasted those she described as the network’s “primetime propagandists.”
An NBC spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment about her attacks on the news media and NBC.
In her role as RNC chief, McDaniel also fanned the flames of election denialism after the 2020 presidential contest.
McDaniel was involved in a phone call in 2020 to pressure Michigan county officials not to certify the vote from the Detroit area, where Joe Biden had a commanding lead. McDaniel told the officials, regarding the certification: “Do not sign it. … We will get you attorneys.”
The Michigan Department of State’s office condemned her claims of supposed voter fraud in the wake of the election, stating they had “no merit.” The state’s “elections were conducted fairly, effectively and transparently and are an accurate reflection of the will of Michigan voters,” it said in a detailed fact check posted online.
Ronna Romney McDaniel did not merely express an opinion regarding the integrity and accuracy of the 2020 election. She actively sought to undermine public confidence in that election in the hope that Donald Trump would remain in office.
How NBC can reward her with a job commenting on the 2024 election defies rational understanding. The next time someone rants about the “Liberal Media,” I hope they choke on their empty, overcooked hyperbole. NBC, just like every other major media organization, is run by Conservative White men. There IS no “Liberal Media.”
But they’re more than happy to hire someone who’s demonized the mainstream media AND been an election denier since 2020.
Et tu, NBC?
UPDATE: Perhaps because of the Sturm und Drang over the news of Romney McDaniel’s hiring, or perhaps for unrelated reasons, MSNBC appears to have had a change of heart:
as for MSNBC — whose parent company is NBC — right now they’re saying they have no intention of putting Ronna McDaniel on the air.
MSNBC has no plans to have former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on the cable network, its president told employees following the news of her hiring at NBC News. A number of MSNBC anchors and producers have voiced concern internally.
if MSNBC sticks to its guns and doesn’t cave to corporate pressure, good.
Yes. Good. But let’s remember that MSNBC is part of NBC News and corporate pressure being what it is…. I’d be shocked to see Ronna Romney McDaniel on set with Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O’Donnell, but again, corporate pressure, yadayadayada….
I could perhaps understand how Romney McDaniel would’ve ended up at Fox News. Everyone from the Far-Right ends up there, and it’s not as if FNC has standards or integrity.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that NBC News would’ve done better. That should be the baseline, and it should have been assumed. We shouldn’t even have to discuss it. People like her don’t deserve airtime on a news network dedicated to objective journalism.
Ronna Romney McDaniel is a professional liar, and leopards of her ilk don’t change their spots. Hiring a professional says a good deal about the core values of NBC News…none of it is good.
Jeff Tiedrich ends with a meaningful two-word argument that artfully sums up what I’ve spilled about 2000 words to say:
DO BETTER.
Indeed.
All of my posts are public at this time. Any reader financial support will be greatly appreciated. Currently, there’s no paywall blocking access to my work (except for a few newsletters). That remains an option down the road. I’ll trust my readers to determine if my work is worthy of their financial support and at what level. To those who do offer their support, thank you. It means more than you know.
Free speech has nothing to do with McDaniel's hire: it infringes no one's rights when someone else chooses not to platform them. Otherwise, I'd be in a position to sue Fox for trampling my rights. ("Help! I'm being oppressed!")
This is all about NBC trying to be more like NYT and compete for Faux Noise share by proving that both-sides-ism absolutely trumps anything like actual journalism.