Berl Falbaum
Given the shallowness and dumbing-down of TV news over the years, particularly on cable, we should not be surprised that NBC News has hired Ronna McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee chairperson, as an on-air political commentator.
In announcing the appointment March 22, Carrie Budoff Brown, who is in charge of NBC News’s political coverage, wrote that McDaniel “would provide an insider’s perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.”
Given McDaniel’s credentials, we are told, she will be involved primarily in the coverage of the 2024 campaign, including election nights.
At first, I questioned the appointment, but when I read that McDaniel’s responsibilities will be to focus on the upcoming election, it all made sense.
After all, even as late as July 2023, she still refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election legitimately.
In an interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace, McDaniel said:
“I think there were lots of problems with 2020. Ultimately, he [Biden] won the election but there were problems with the 2020 election. But I don’t think he won it fair. I don’t. I’m not going to say that.”
So, her future analysis of election results should be lots of fun to watch.
Brown assured us as much, adding in her announcement, that, “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team.”
Here are some of McDaniel’s other credentials which qualify her for the job, credentials which probably don’t appear on her resume:
• In a phone call, she pressured Michigan county officials not to certify the vote from the Detroit area. In the call made with Donald Trump, she told officials, “Do not sign it [certification]…we will get you attorneys.”
• According to the Washington Post, McDaniel and her team helped Trump fight his 2020 election loss in states such as Pennsylvania, and she took part in the effort to assemble an alternate slate of electors.
• As RNC chair, she defended a resolution which described the January 6 insurrection as “legitimate political discourse.”
• When asked why she did not criticize Trump for his pledge to pardon January 6 insurrectionists, McDaniel said that when “you are RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team.”
• On numerous occasions she attacked the press, characterizing the media as “fake news,” and calling them “corrupt.” She even criticized NBC, her new employer.
• She accused some cable networks of “spreading lies” and characterized them as “primetime propagandists.”
Tell me: If you were running a TV news network, would you not want someone like McDaniel “on your team?”
We can assume, given her history, that every time she sees an election outcome she doesn’t like, she can describe the outcome as “rigged.”
To be fair, several other former Trump officials have been hired by the networks as have former Democratic officeholders. That’s one of the major problems with talk show venues. There is no shortage of analysts who can talk about conservative and liberal policies but don’t come with partisan baggage.
(Of Michigan interest, McDaniel, who lives in Wayne County, is the niece of Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and granddaughter of former Michigan governor, George Romney.)
McDaniel’s first interview after her appointment was on March 24 on “Meet the Press” with host, Kristen Welker.
Chuck Todd, a former host of “Meet the Press” and now the network’s chief political analyst and member of a panel which discussed McDaniel’s new role, was critical of the appointment, stating:
“I have no idea whether any answer she gave you [Welker] was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract. She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying for her. So, she has…credibility issues that she has to deal with.”
Stephen Hayes, a conservative commentator and also a NBC analyst, shared Todd’s view, adding that McDaniel “not only presided, but directed and drove the canonization of the Republican Party during her tenure.”
Victor Pickard, a professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania, called the appointment a “crass commercial decision.”
Pickard added, “This latest move doesn’t bode well for their editorial decisions going into the 2024 election season, especially as they cover election denialism and other antidemocratic tactics repeatedly deployed by the Trump campaign.”
Kimberly Atkins Stohr, a columnist for The Boston Globe, added that McDaniel’s “credibility was shot” after the years in which she “carried water for Donald Trump.”
“She habitually lied,” Atkins Stohr said. “She habitually joined Trump in attacking the press, members of the press, including this network, in a way that put journalists at risk, in danger.”
While Brown said that McDaniel will contribute across “all NBC platforms,” including MSNBC, it was reported that Rashida Jones, MSNBC president, said McDaniel would not be used at her network.
For McDaniel, this opportunity provides her with a platform to repair her tarnished reputation. Call it a “rehab gig.”
Welker, in introducing the McDaniel interview, explained it was conducted before McDaniel joined NBC. Then she added:
“I was not involved in her hiring.”
In announcing the appointment March 22, Carrie Budoff Brown, who is in charge of NBC News’s political coverage, wrote that McDaniel “would provide an insider’s perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.”
Given McDaniel’s credentials, we are told, she will be involved primarily in the coverage of the 2024 campaign, including election nights.
At first, I questioned the appointment, but when I read that McDaniel’s responsibilities will be to focus on the upcoming election, it all made sense.
After all, even as late as July 2023, she still refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election legitimately.
In an interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace, McDaniel said:
“I think there were lots of problems with 2020. Ultimately, he [Biden] won the election but there were problems with the 2020 election. But I don’t think he won it fair. I don’t. I’m not going to say that.”
So, her future analysis of election results should be lots of fun to watch.
Brown assured us as much, adding in her announcement, that, “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team.”
Here are some of McDaniel’s other credentials which qualify her for the job, credentials which probably don’t appear on her resume:
• In a phone call, she pressured Michigan county officials not to certify the vote from the Detroit area. In the call made with Donald Trump, she told officials, “Do not sign it [certification]…we will get you attorneys.”
• According to the Washington Post, McDaniel and her team helped Trump fight his 2020 election loss in states such as Pennsylvania, and she took part in the effort to assemble an alternate slate of electors.
• As RNC chair, she defended a resolution which described the January 6 insurrection as “legitimate political discourse.”
• When asked why she did not criticize Trump for his pledge to pardon January 6 insurrectionists, McDaniel said that when “you are RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team.”
• On numerous occasions she attacked the press, characterizing the media as “fake news,” and calling them “corrupt.” She even criticized NBC, her new employer.
• She accused some cable networks of “spreading lies” and characterized them as “primetime propagandists.”
Tell me: If you were running a TV news network, would you not want someone like McDaniel “on your team?”
We can assume, given her history, that every time she sees an election outcome she doesn’t like, she can describe the outcome as “rigged.”
To be fair, several other former Trump officials have been hired by the networks as have former Democratic officeholders. That’s one of the major problems with talk show venues. There is no shortage of analysts who can talk about conservative and liberal policies but don’t come with partisan baggage.
(Of Michigan interest, McDaniel, who lives in Wayne County, is the niece of Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and granddaughter of former Michigan governor, George Romney.)
McDaniel’s first interview after her appointment was on March 24 on “Meet the Press” with host, Kristen Welker.
Chuck Todd, a former host of “Meet the Press” and now the network’s chief political analyst and member of a panel which discussed McDaniel’s new role, was critical of the appointment, stating:
“I have no idea whether any answer she gave you [Welker] was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract. She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying for her. So, she has…credibility issues that she has to deal with.”
Stephen Hayes, a conservative commentator and also a NBC analyst, shared Todd’s view, adding that McDaniel “not only presided, but directed and drove the canonization of the Republican Party during her tenure.”
Victor Pickard, a professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania, called the appointment a “crass commercial decision.”
Pickard added, “This latest move doesn’t bode well for their editorial decisions going into the 2024 election season, especially as they cover election denialism and other antidemocratic tactics repeatedly deployed by the Trump campaign.”
Kimberly Atkins Stohr, a columnist for The Boston Globe, added that McDaniel’s “credibility was shot” after the years in which she “carried water for Donald Trump.”
“She habitually lied,” Atkins Stohr said. “She habitually joined Trump in attacking the press, members of the press, including this network, in a way that put journalists at risk, in danger.”
While Brown said that McDaniel will contribute across “all NBC platforms,” including MSNBC, it was reported that Rashida Jones, MSNBC president, said McDaniel would not be used at her network.
For McDaniel, this opportunity provides her with a platform to repair her tarnished reputation. Call it a “rehab gig.”
Welker, in introducing the McDaniel interview, explained it was conducted before McDaniel joined NBC. Then she added:
“I was not involved in her hiring.”
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