Why MSNBC inmates forced boss to drop GOP’s McDaniel

Some have described it as the inmates taking over the asylum, and since MSNBC hosts had the pole position in the uprising, that’s understandable.

But their loud objections caused their boss — remarkably —  to do a 180-degree turn, and rescind his hiring of ousted Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel as a political contributor.

McDaniel managed to get fired by Donald J. Trump and NBC News within a few weeks. She may belong in the Guinness record book. 

At NBC News, the inmates had won, right-wing critics screamed.

On the other hand, the employees who are NBC News refused to share their space and their “good name” with a woman who had vilified the network, repeatedly lied to the media, and engaged in election denial with her endorsement of the Big Lie that the 2020 election was rigged. They said she was culpable.

NBC News reportedly was going to pay her $300,000 a year for two years for her insights. Now, McDaniel reportedly will sue their asses off for breach of contract. If the contract was signed, sealed, and delivered, no doubt she will get a golden parachute.

Let’s be clear that NBC News is not “muzzling” her. This is not a First Amendment issue, this is not about freedom of speech. McDaniel is free to speak to anyone who wants to listen.

It pains me a bit to side with MSNBC, which invents its own rules of journalistic ethics. For instance, it refuses to cover public addresses by former President Trump, who is the Republican candidate for president.

I am not saying it has to cover all of them. MSNBC brags it will cover none.

Why? 

Because he lies, explains MSNBC’s most popular anchor, Rachel Maddow.

And Joe Biden doesn’t?

Not as often as Trump, but he lies. Political speeches usually are a roll call of exaggerations and half-truths.

And, not for nothing, MSNBC gave a show to Biden’s press secretary. Jen Psaki, who routinely massaged the truth for her boss. 

There’s an adage — from the days when print was king — that warns never to get into an argument with anyone who buys ink by the barrel.

That meant that print will have the last word.

Today, it is television and —   God forbid — social media. 

MSNBC can have the last word after Trump makes a speech.

It can diagram every paragraph he mutters, fact check, and expose. Every time he opens his mouth you find more bullshit than in a stockyard.

And it can dissect him honestly, without having to resort to distortions about him claiming there will be a “bloodbath” if he is not elected. (In case you missed it, he was referring to the auto industry falling to Chinese competition.) 

The staff had a right to complain about the hire. And by rising en masse, there was little risk. NBC News couldn’t fire everyone.  

The hiring of McDaniel certainly went against MSNBC’s openly anti-Trump brand. Seeing her pontificate might have alienated the network’s core audience.  

Anyway, after the staff insurrection, NBC News Group Chairman Cesar Conde humiliated reversed himself and said McDaniel would be dropped. It was a mere 80 hours from hiring to firing. 

“After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor,” Conde said in a memo, adding that he wanted to “personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down.”

Republicans pounced, saying NBC won’t offer opposing opinions.

Let’s look at that.

NBC does, but MSNBC almost never does. When it puts together a panel, members range from Moderate Left to Loony Left. In contrast — and some will hate hearing this — every Fox panel contains at least one sacrificial lamb liberal member.

Does MSNBC offer Republicans time on its air?

Yes, like former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, former Vice President Mike Pence, former RNC Chair Michael Steele (who also has an MSNBC show). They are Republicans — but they are all anti-Trump Republicans.

To give Conde the benefit of every possible doubt, maybe he wanted to recruit a pro-Trump person to appear on NBC’s platforms. There’s always two sides to a story, right? Sometimes even more.

Here’s the problem:  Is it possible to find any pro-Trump person who will not regurgitate Trump’s lies?

Probably not.

NBC needn’t pay to be lied to. If the network really wants that pro-Trump point of view, it can find lots of people who will do it for free — like whack job Marjorie Taylor Greene, for instance. 

Opposing views should be aired, and you don’t have to pay 300 Grand to hear them.