NY — Rachel Maddow, Jen Psaki, Nicolle Wallace, Lawrence O'Donnell, and Joe Scarborough vehemently condemned NBC News' Monday appointment of former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor.It was like hiring a mafia DA, according to MSNBC's most popular show, Maddow.
“I find the decision to put her on the payroll inexplicable and I hope they will reconsider that decision,” she said Monday night on her weekly broadcast.Former “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd began an unprecedented public revolt against network management a day ago. NBC News and McDaniel did not react Monday. McDaniel's “gaslighting” and “character assassination” during the RNC made many NBC News journalists uncomfortable with the hire, Todd added.
MDANIEL was hired quickly after leaving RNC. Following her resignation as RNC chairman two weeks earlier, NBC News announced McDaniel's hiring on Friday, citing her insider perspective on national politics and the GOP's future.
Maddow said MSNBC management approved the hiring, but when workers “expressed outrage,” McDaniel was told he would not appear on the lefty cable network. She said that other parts of the corporation sought to “muddy that up in the press” to make it seem like something else happened.
“I can assure you, that happened at MSNBC,” she said.Maddow advised viewers and potential bosses that “it is a sign of strength, not weakness, to acknowledge that you’re wrong.” Scarborough and Brzezinski promised viewers they would not see McDaniel on NBC News, starting the MSNBC mutiny. Brzezinski said Republican voices should balance election coverage, “not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier.”
Wallace said the hire demonstrates NBC has encouraged election skeptics “not just that they can do that on our airwaves, but that they can do that as one of us, a badge-carrying employee of NBC News, as a paid contributor to our sacred airwavesO'Donnell says NBC News could have avoided trouble easily. Avoid hiring criminals.”
Psaki, former press secretary to President Joe Biden, said she spoke out because McDaniel supporters used her name to say MSNBC hired a former Democratic political appointee without internal resistance.Political experience “only matters and only has value to viewers if it is paired with honesty and good faith” for TV personalities, she said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a GOP critic, listed Psaki among other Democrats who become journalists, including the late “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert.But NBC recruited a Republican??!! he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The world ends.”
Todd remarked on social media Monday that left-right propagandists are dishonest. He said, “This is about whether honest journalists are supposed to lend their credibility to someone who intentionally tried to ruin ours.”
The “Morning Joe” hosts showed an interaction from McDaniel’s interview on “Meet the Press” the day before, where current anchor Kristen Welker asked why the former RNC chairwoman didn’t come up earlier after declaring Sunday she disagreed with Trump’s proposal to release Capitol attackersWhen you're RNC chair, you take one for the team, right? McDaniel stated. “Now I can be myself, right? This is my view.”
TV news networks hire politicians as analysts and commentators. McDaniel's RNC predecessor, Michael Steele, hosts an MSNBC weekend newscast. CBS News was attacked for hiring Reince Priebus and Mick Mulvaney as analysts. Former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin became a CNN political pundit.
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