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 quickly undid its previous 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.
Now that the network scratched its worst programming decision since “Manimal,” let’s review the very brief course 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 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. Trump’s former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney went to CBS. Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki is on CNN. But the line is still there.
