I wonder why they did not simply give it to Trump directly? That’s where it’s going anyway.
Ahhhh, tax receipt?
Ronna’s been hired by NBC, and Chuck Todd is not happy about it.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/24/business/chuck-todd-rips-nbc-news-ronna-mcdaniel/index.html
Reminds me of this from 2016:
Mainstream media puts out the call for pro-Trump columnists
I’m sympathetic to the idea of non-partisan media wanting to present readers, or viewers, with an extremely wide range of opinions, including those of all major political parties. They could do that by printing a few candidate press releases, but, traditionally, opinion columns, or the TV equivalent, offer a better way. One difference between the press release, and the column, is that the columnist makes the case without lying.
When the candidate you support only lies a little, an honest supporter can acknowledge that their favored candidate is imperfect. But with Trump, it is a real difficulty, because his lies are so frequent, and so integral to the case for his election.
I respect NBC for wanting to be non-partisan. But I also see a problem with a hire seemingly changing views because of who their paymaster is. So I’m not quite sure where I stand.
It’s that old cross-examination question when a witness has told two contradictory stories:
“Are you lying now, or were you lying then?”
Why does NBC want a liar for hire on their payroll?
I’m sure they would prefer an honest competent Trump supporting journalist who isn’t an obvious bigot. They are very hard to find.
The closest I can think of is Hugh Hewitt. However, comparing his Washington Post columns with the web site for his radio show, the latter is obviously addressed to a different audience and looks to be harder right. Whether this amounts to lying, I haven’t checked carefully enough to be sure.
Most Trump supporters, McDaniel included, kind of declared war on the mainstream media a while back. Why should any network strive to get a Trump supporter in their employ?
Looks like she isn’t going to be on the air.
Soon, every detail around what happened inside the executive suites at NBC/MSNBC around the hiring, backlash and disappearance of Ronna McDaniel from MSNBC before she could tell her first lie, will be known…
Apparently the outrage at NBC and MSNBC was widespread and furious.
I think her recent comments were appalling:
She explained why she’s only now saying that violent Jan. 6 rioters shouldn’t be freed — a stance directly opposed to former President Donald Trump’s position.
“When you’re the RNC Chair, you kind of take one for the whole team,” McDaniel said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” her first appearance on the network since getting the job. “Now I get to be a little bit more myself.”
Nice. So you were fine compromising what little integrity you had, and “took one for the team”. Lied to the public. Put your “team” ahead of the country.
Guess what Ronna: The peaceful transition of power is NOT A FUCKING TEAM SPORT.
Jesus. Why anyone at NBC thought that hiring a self-confessed lying asshole would be a good idea… the mind boggles. I guess they figured that if she was on the NBC team, she’d just lie her ass off for them, and that would be great.
The sad part is, that the majority of “Republicans” who are not MAGAts are doing the exact same thing right now. Lying and “taking one for the team”.
That just makes them MAGAts. I imagine there were plenty of people who toed the party line in the USSR and Germany not because they were believers but because it kept them in power. That doesn’t change what they did.
Even from a strictly utilitarian position, I honestly can’t figure out what NBC brass think that they’re buying for their $300k. Inside access to Trump’s circle? She was fired by Trump. Increasing MAGA viewership? No Trump supporter is going to change the channel from Fox to NBC because the former RNC chair is bloviating over there. Is this supposed to appeal to Never Trumpers? Advertisers? Mormons? Who is this for?
Utilitarian? As is – goose ratings?
That may be a factor when they pay millions to an on-air personality, but my first reaction to mention of $300K was that it might not be much in this context.
However, when I googled, I found a seemingly reliable source saying that CNN was outbid:
Possibility 1:
NBC market research tells them they need conservative voices to prevent ratings drop. And this was thus a bottom-line business decision.
Possibility 2:
Journalistic integrity, among NBC News executives, leads them to seek voices sympathetic to both major U.S. parties.
Possibility 3:
NBC executives take seriously the substantial possibility of having a president in place, ten months from now, who considers them the enemy of the people, and who will be more determined than last time to suppress free media. If I was an NBC executive who heard Trump threatening to be a day one dictator, I would be worried. And maybe, in management discussion of what to do to reduce risks, they decided that having a high-profile on air Republican could help.
It is conceivable that Ronna Daniels has secretly realized how bad Trump is for some time, and herself is consciously part of an NBC management plan to limit Trump’s threat to media freedom. Conspiracy theory? Yes. But it’s more plausible than most because roughly 3/4 of Trump’s aides have turned on him after leaving his service.
A voice that is a lying sack of shit, who will say whatever her paymasters tell her to say, for the benefit of the “team”? What’s the value of that?
These assholes really all do think that politics is a team sport, and you can just pick up a free agent who will then play for your team.
This smacks of normalizing trump and his behavior and actions. There’s a reason why it’s so difficult to find pro-trump journalists; reputable journalists generally are interested in the truth.
Yeah, I imagine that some Nazi concentration camp guards who might have felt bad about what they were doing justified it by telling themselves they were “taking one for the team”.
That’s right, by Godwin, I went there.
A relevant Twitter thread;
Possibility 1 seems most likely. Although most posters here seem to believe that everybody has already made up their minds and jumped headfirst into the appropriate pool, there is evidence that many people would like an outlet that gives both sides on the issues.
Yes, I know that people here do not believe there are two sides to many issues and that one side is indeed lying through their teeth every moment. <looks into mirror|> Yes, I’m one of them.
I wish there were more than a tiny number of sane Republicans who could report and comment on the news. Sane journalists should want the same. The two-party system requires presenting arguments that can be weighed and judged by the particular interests of individual viewers.
What we have instead is the mainstream media presenting something close to neutral reality and another side which doesn’t. I’m sympathetic to angry comments that the mainstream media is a feckless product of giant capitalistic corporations that filters out any real criticism of our failing society. But until the revolution comes it needs to serve the great majority, who require a better source than memes and rumors.
Don’t think for a second I’m defending Ronna McDaniel. The goal of intelligent commentary requires that lying liars be shunned by all decent people. The capitalists at the head of NBC may think this move served their purposes but the troops are rightfully rebelling. They could have hired Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger or someone from the Lincoln Project, people who beliefs are 179 degrees away from mine but refused to continue after the lies became party policy.
The networks aren’t wrong to hire those who have contrary beliefs. Hiring the official liar-in chief is idiotic. The unintended consequence of sanity is that when people who feel they can finally talk freely after having to “fall into line” are savaged, then nobody will talk freely and the right-wing will become an ever-tighter ball, as we’ve seen in Congress. I can’t solve that dilemma; only voting the crazie out of power will help.
That’s the thing. MSNBC has had numerous on-air personalities with deep GOP pedigrees. GOP strategists, former senior members of presidential staffs, etc., that type of thing. The difference is that they didn’t destroy their integrity by advancing the dangerous nonsense that people like McDaniels did.
Those insider perspectives are absolutely valuable, so long as they are credible. She ain’t.
Well, she’s stepped down and she got hired by a news outfit which, evidently, no longer cares about its reputation. She also admitted, rather grudgingly, Biden won the 2020 election. But here’s the rub: she still insinuates the election was stolen. That’s what I get from her blather about “there were problems with the election”.
Breaking news: NBC is dropping McDaniel.
I saw the Rachel Maddow reaction last night. I’m not surprised they’ve dumped McDaniel.
Rachel Maddow was even harsher than me!
“You wouldn’t hire a made man like a mobster to work at a DA’s office, right? You wouldn’t hire a pick-pocket to work as a TSA screener,” Maddow concluded.
Also, she doesn’t have any access. MAGAworld won’t talk to her, and regular Republicans who dislike Trump won’t either.