Star Tribune
NBC’s fast-moving Ronna McDaniel flap shows defending U.S. democracy worth the hassle
Congratulations, NBC.
The network’s bold new “Hire a Liar” initiative is already delivering results. A divided nation has come together to agree that nobody asked for more Ronna McDaniel on their TV screens.
Faced with petitions, withering criticism and a near-revolt in the news division, NBC is reportedly rethinking its decision to platform an election denier who has dedicated considerable efforts to unraveling the fabric of our democracy on the say-so of former President Donald Trump.
Before the network revisits its worst programming decision since “Manimal,” let’s review the first few, and possibly last, days, of McDaniel’s news career.
Somebody, somewhere thought it would be a good idea to hire McDaniel, former Republican National Committee chair, as a paid commentator. If execs had waited a few months, she probably would have churned out a tell-all book, and they could have picked it up in the bargain book bin for an economical $2.99.
Instead, NBC offered McDaniel a reported six-figure salary, in the craven hope that MAGA viewers would forget the “fake news” diatribes Trump endlessly uttered and embrace the Peacock.
In the days since her debut, on-air hosts have lined up in near-unison to denounce the Republican operative’s hiring.
On Monday, Lawrence O’Donnell, who once worked for a Senate Democrat, pointed out that politicians and journalists have crossed and blurred the lines between their professions so many times that it can be hard to see the line anymore. But the line is still there.
“I stopped inviting Trump liars like her on this program in 2016,” O’Donnell said. “Because I’ve never seen a satisfying, successful interview of a Trump liar, and have never thought that I alone could crack the code of how to interview a Trump liar. They are fast and furious liars and I doubt that I could keep up.”
On Sunday, McDaniel popped up on Meet the Press and blithely admitted that President Joe Biden — contrary to every word she’s spoken into a microphone up to this point — won the 2020 election “fair and square.” While at the RNC, she said of her previous positions, “you kind of take one for the whole team.”
McDaniel’s hiring even prompted the unflappable Chuck Todd to wade in on live television.
“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation, because I don’t know what to believe,” an appalled Todd told host Kristen Welker, who booked an interview with the former Republican Party chairwoman weeks ago, but found herself interviewing an NBC News colleague instead. “She is now a paid contributor by NBC News. Well, I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract”
NBC News hired McDaniel even after she spent years mindlessly parroting the Trump administration’s message that the news isn’t to be trusted and journalists are to be hated. Even after the mob on Jan. 6 knotted TV cables into nooses and carved “Murder the Media” on the doors of the Capitol.
When Trump said he didn’t like her name, Ronna [REDACTED] McDaniel changed it. When Trump lied, she lied.
Speaking truth to power requires more courage than McDaniel seems capable of mustering. But the actual journalists at NBC are braver. The ones who spent years penned in the center of Trump rallies, watching their president order his followers to boo and hiss at them.
After blindsiding their staff and bruising their brand, NBC executives seem to be having second thoughts about their new hire.
“This is an area that swings back and forth depending on the election cycle, and it’s an area that really can deliver those decisive votes for candidates in a statewide election,” said Anthony Chergosky, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor. “If the Harris-Walz ticket can develop a brand that helps them stop the party’s slide in rural Wisconsin, then that will massively help their path to victory.”
Both presidential campaigns have spent considerable time in Wisconsin. Trump recently visited the state four times in a span of eight days. Harris held rallies in La Crosse and Green Bay earlier this month, and Walz made stops in Eau Claire, Green Bay and Madison. Walz told a crowd gathered at a “Students for Harris-Walz” event in Eau Claire that “it’s very realistic to believe that this race will be won going through Wisconsin.”
Though both campaigns have made frequent visits to the Badger State, their stops appear to be geared toward shoring up their respective bases, retired GOP strategist Brandon Scholz said.
“I think Tim Walz’s job right now in Wisconsin, from what he’s saying and where he’s going and what he’s doing, is, ‘let’s make sure 99 percent of our voters turn out, because we need every single one of them because of how close Wisconsin is,’” Scholz said. “To date, neither he nor Harris have communicated a message to bring in those undecideds, ticket splitters.”
Ryan O’Gara is one of those undecideds. The 47-year-old Christian conservative lives in the village of Downing, some 20 miles northwest of Menomonie and home to about 230 people. O’Gara said he sees mostly Trump signs around his town, but he isn’t a fan of either nominee and likely will sit out this election.
Asked what he thought of Walz, O’Gara referred to him as “far-left.” He said he disagrees with allowing gender-affirming health care services for minors. Walz signed a bill into law last year making Minnesota a refuge for people seeking gender-affirming care.
But then, they were Lutherans.
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“It’s time for a hostage deal and cease-fire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination,” Walz said on this year’s anniversary of Hamas’ 2023 attacks on Israel.
Polls indicate Minnesota will likely break for Harris, but in states where margins will be much tighter, some protest voters are choosing to vote for Harris despite their reservations.
Roman Fritz of Oconomowoc, Wis., voted early for Harris on Wednesday, he said, even though he remains deeply frustrated with her stance on the war.
Neither he nor Engelhart want to see Trump win. The Uncommitted National Movement has been trying to carve out a middle ground between opposing Trump and supporting Harris, with leaders saying a Trump presidency would be worse for Palestinians, and warning that votes for third-party candidates could result in a win for Trump. But the group declined to offer its endorsement to Harris.
Similarly, Fritz said, he did not feel he should talk his friends into voting for Harris, especially Palestinian American friends who have lost loved ones in Gaza.
“I do want her to win,” Fritz said, but, “I’m not going to campaign for her.”
