Amid controversy over her appointment as an NBC political analyst, a prominent historian criticized Ronna McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee chair.
The historian asserted that McDaniel “tried to disassemble our democracy” by endorsing Donald Trump’s false claims of electoral fraud. They argued that individuals with such a stance should not be granted media roles.
“What NBC has done is they’ve invited into what should be a normal framework someone who doesn’t believe that framework should exist at all,” Timothy Snyder, a Yale professor and author of “On Tyranny,” told MSNBC, part of the network now employing McDaniel.
“What NBC has done of its own volition is bring into a critical conversation about democracy, one which will take place for the next seven months or so, someone who … tried to disassemble our democracy. Who personally took part in an attempt to undo the American system.”
ALSO READ: Chuck Todd Blasts NBC as Outrage for Hiring Ex-RNC Chief Grows
NBC announced the hiring of Ronna McDaniel last Friday. Carrie Budoff Brown, the senior vice president for politics, stated McDaniel would provide analysis “across all NBC News platforms.”
During an appearance on Meet the Press on Sunday, McDaniel acknowledged Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. She emphasized that Biden won “fair and square.” McDaniel also believed that violence should not be part of political discourse.
But McDaniel also claimed it was “fair to say there were problems [in elections in battleground states] in 2020” and said she had supported Trump’s election fraud lies, which ultimately stoked the attack on Congress on January 6, 2021, as a way of “taking one for the whole team.”
POLL — Should Donald J. Trump Be Allowed to Run for Office?
Chuck Todd, a former Meet the Press host, staged an on-air protest in response. On Monday, MSNBC hosts, including Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Nicole Wallace, who spoke with Snyder, also criticized McDaniel’s hiring.
A union group representing NBC News staff staged a protest on the same day. Later, primetime MSNBC stars Rachel Maddow and Jen Psaki also joined the protest.
Maddow said: “In the news business, we are covering … bad actors trying to use the rights and privileges of democracy to end democracy. The chief threat among them now is not the rioters and the kooks, but the slick political professionals who are turning their considerable talents to laundering violently revolutionary claims that America’s elections aren’t real.”
Snyder, who has written for the Guardian, said: “What NBC is doing is saying, ‘Well, [it] could be that in ’24 our entire system will break down. It could be we’ll have an authoritarian leader. Oh, but look, we’ve made this adjustment in advance because we’ve brought into the middle of NBC somebody who has already taken part in an attempt to take our system down.’”
ALSO READ: Criticism Against NBC’s Hiring of RNC Gains Momentum as Rachel Maddow Condemns Move
“So, yeah, I think this is pretty bad.”
“If you are going to be in American media, you should be somebody who believes there is something called truth, there are things called facts, and you can pursue them. You shouldn’t be someone who has repeatedly pushed the idea of fake news and educated Americans away from the facts, away from belief in the facts.”
McDaniel and NBC did not comment.
You Might Also Like:
Florida Bride-To-Be Sparks Controversy After After Sharing Text From Her Fiancé’s Father
Illinois Parole Board Member Resigns After Parolee Kills 11-Year-Old Boy, Ex-Girlfriend, in Attack
FloriAttackernor Signs Bill Barring Kids Under 14 From Using TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram
Great News As Lake Mead Water Levels Rise After Years of Drought
U.S. Sanctions China-Based Hackers for Allegedly Targeting Infrastructure
