MSNBC on Ronna McDaniel: Not So Fast

Yesterday, Karen discussed the unsurprising news that former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel had jumped into the politics-to-media pipeline and been picked up by NBC News as a political analyst. She had her first appearance scheduled on Meet the Press this morning. McDaniel would reportedly be appearing on all of NBC’s outlets, including MSNBC. This sparked immediate outrage from the left side of the legacy media, with many threatening to “change the channel” should McDaniel’s face appear on their screen, including columnists at MSNBC. That was probably a defensive reflex kicking in, as Ronna’s gaze is known to have the ability to turn people into stone like the legendary Medusa. The threats appear to have had an effect, however. Less than a day later, Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC, sent out a memo stating that her network “has no plans” to feature Ronna McDaniel on their airwaves. (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

MSNBC has no plans to have former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on the cable network, its president told employees following the news of her hiring at NBC News.

Rashida Jones, the cable network’s president, has been seeking to address internal backlash in the wake of an internal Friday announcement by NBC News regarding McDaniel’s hiring as an on-air contributor. In that internal memo, the political chief, Carrie Budoff Brown, said McDaniel would contribute “across all NBC News platforms,” causing turmoil among several of the network’s on-air hosts and staffers, people familiar with the matter said. MSNBC is part of the NBC News division.

Jones told employees the cable network has no plans to have McDaniel on the channel, according to people familiar with the conversations.

This situation appears to be turning awkward quite rapidly. Rashida Jones is the president of MSNBC, so one might presume that she has the authority to make a decision like this. But the original memo announcing McDaniel would be joining them came from Carrie Budoff Brown. She’s the Senior Vice President of Politics at NBC News, so she should definitely carry some clout in the organization. Would Jones have made such an announcement without discussing it with Budoff Brown first? 

We should also keep in mind that both NBC News and MSNBC are owned by NBC Universal. As of this morning, I haven’t seen any reports of NBC U president Stephen Burke weighing in on the matter. That might mean that the issue is already settled or it could be a case of Burke holding his tongue while he waits for the dust to settle.

Many are questioning what sort of effect the presence of Ronna McDaniel might have on MSDNC (as Sean Hannity likes to call the network). But I’m equally interested in what such a union might have on the former RNC Chair. That network tends to have a bad impact on people. For example, I used to very much enjoy the work of Nicolle Wallace as a conservative commentator, particularly at ABC News. She previously worked under both George W. Bush and Sarah Palin before going into the press full-time. But after serving as an anchor at MSNBC since 2017, she’s basically indistinguishable from the ladies on The View (where she also appeared for a single season).

It would be shocking indeed if the same thing were to happen to Ronna McDaniel. Her tenure at the RNC, while not all that successful in terms of election results, was marked by definite MAGA leanings. Her conservative bona fides have rarely been questioned seriously, at least in my recollection. But if she does somehow still wind up being summoned to the studios of MSNBC to sit down for a segment, I will offer her one bit of unsolicited advice. Bring your own coffee with you, Ms. McDaniel, and don’t leave it anywhere out of your sight. You never know what they might be adding to their brew over there.