Cancel culture is back, after all! Ronna McDaniel has today been dropped as a paid contributor by NBC News, according to Semafor‘s Maxwell Tani. Puck’s Dylan Byers reported earlier this afternoon that executives were considering canning the former RNC chairwoman after virtually every host at sister network MSNBC threw tantrums about her very recent appointment. “Execs are deliberating over details; announcement pending. Meanwhile, McDaniel is seeking legal representation,” Byers tweeted.
McDaniel’s hiring was only announced by NBC on Friday, two weeks after she had stepped down as chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. As the ax fell today, she has lasted under half a Scaramucci.
The former RNC chief has been left with few friends, after overseeing three underwhelming election cycles for the GOP. Her ouster had been long campaigned for by loudmouths to the right of her, such as Charlie Kirk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Her options upon departure will likely include NewsNation, where Mick Mulvaney is currently plying his trade after being forced out of CBS News following a similar staff revolt.
McDaniel had appeared in an uncomfortable Meet the Press segment with Kristen Welker on Sunday. As Amber Duke wrote for the Monday DC Diary, “The former RNC leader declined to fully fall on her sword; she rejected some of the statements she had to make in her previous political position, such as defending Trump’s comments about January 6 defendants and election fraud, but painted it as all part of the job. This didn’t sit well with Welker — who uncomfortably grilled McDaniel the entire segment — or with other NBC and MSNBC hosts.”
Was there a double standard at play? As Stephen L. Miller pointed out in his Bad Press newsletter earlier, “If hiring political operatives is now beyond the pale for networks, then I have a long list of those who should be immediately dismissed, including Chuck Todd himself (as a campaign aide to Democratic senator Tom Harkin), Nicolle Wallace (former Bush administration communications director), Jake Tapper (campaign press secretary for Democratic congressional candidate Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky), ABC News chief political director George Stephanopoulos (President Bill Clinton) and obviously Jen Psaki.”
The about-turn is embarrassing for NBC and MSNBC, as the network found itself lambasted into submission by Welker, Wallace, Psaki, Todd, Joy Reid, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell. Never give the media a chance to make themselves the story…
