Ronna McDaniel and the Media’s Election Denial Double Standard
Ronna McDaniel’s tenure as an on-air commentator for NBC News is already over: The network fired the former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman this week after enduring a full-on mutiny from other staffers and hosts. MSNBC pundits Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough, and Rachel Maddow all criticized network heads for bringing McDaniel on board. Todd suggested her commentary would be suspect, since she had only recently departed the RNC; Scarborough said he “strongly objected” to her; and Maddow said the network hiring McDaniel was like hiring a mobster to work at a district attorney’s office or a pickpocket to work as a TSA screener (imagine that!). Watch:
“Bad decisions will inevitably happen. Mistakes will be made. But part of our resilience as a democracy is going to be us recognizing when decisions are bad ones and reversing those bad decisions.” Rachel Maddow encourages her colleagues at NBC News to ‘take a minute’ on their… pic.twitter.com/T1FVMh5KIP
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) March 26, 2024
I criticized Todd’s objections to McDaniel earlier this week. If McDaniel’s proximity to the RNC means her credibility as a commentator is suspect, then MSNBC host Jen Psaki should be considered a major liability; Psaki served as White House press secretary under President Joe Biden while negotiating her role at MSNBC. There’s nothing particularly new or stranger about this—political communications officials frequently move from government to campaigns to cable news and back again. Anyone who pretends that this was the major issue with McDaniel is lying.
Maddow’s criticism of McDaniel gets to the actual heart of the matter: Progressives at MSNBC think that McDaniel’s political views and actions with respect to former President Donald Trump are disqualifying. They say that McDaniel was part of Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and for that reason, she has committed an unforgivable sin.
The truth, however, is that McDaniel played an “ambiguous role” in promoting Trumpian election denial, explains Reason‘s Jacob Sullum. She initially gave credence to wrongful claims by Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, and supported Trump’s efforts to re-litigate the outcome, but as promised evidence of fraud failed to materialize, she increasingly distanced the RNC from Stop the Steal—infuriating Trump in the process.
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Not Just a River in Egypt
In its write-up of McDaniel’s sudden rise and fall at NBC, The New York Times credited her for rejecting “Mr. Trump’s most far-fetched election-theft scenarios.” Nevertheless, the Times chided her for casting any doubt on the validity of the outcome whatsoeve
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