MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said Monday that it was “inexplicable” her network had hired former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, joining a chorus of program hosts and reporters who have condemned the decision.
NBC announced last week it had hired McDaniel after she stepped down from the helm of the national Republican Party in February. Outrage over her hiring filled the network’s own airtime as high-profile journalists, including Chuck Todd, pointed to her active role in supporting former President Donald Trump’s election fraud conspiracy theories.
Maddow agreed, likening the hiring to installing a “mobster to work at the DA’s office.”
“I want to associate myself with all my colleagues, both at MSNBC and NBC News, who have voiced loud and principled objections to our company putting on the payroll someone who has not just attacked us as journalists, but is part of an ongoing project to get rid of our system of government,” Maddow said during an impassioned 29-minute monologue Monday night.
“The fact that McDaniel is on the payroll at NBC News, to me that is inexplicable,” she continued.
Trump helped install his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as the co-chair of the RNC in March alongside Michael Whatley, a loyalist and fellow election denier, who will serve as chair.
Maddow went on to stress that although MSNBC’s leadership had initially voiced no objections to McDaniel’s hiring, they had since changed tack after hearing their staff voice concerns. She added that NBC could also change its hiring decision and “acknowledge that maybe it wasn’t the right call.”
“Our leadership heard us, understood and adjusted course,” the host said. “We were told in clear terms Ronna McDaniel will not be on our air. … Ronna McDanial will not appear on MSNBC. It has never been anything other than clear.”