What Is NBC News Even Thinking Hiring Ronna McDaniel?
NBC raised eyebrows Friday when it announced that former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel will join the network as an on-air contributor.
McDaniel, who stepped down from the RNC at the start of this month, will provide conservative political analysis on NBC and its affiliate MSNBC. She makes her on-air debut on Sunday.
NBC News political coverage chief Carrie Budoff Brown explained that McDaniel was chosen because she can provide “an insider’s perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.”
That insider knowledge is apparently enough for NBC to overlook the rest of McDaniel’s history. Although she disagreed with Donald Trump in recent months, McDaniel was still one of his biggest allies in the party. She repeatedly elevated his claims and conspiracies, including that the 2020 election had been rigged and that mail-in voting allowed for fraudulent ballots to be cast.
McDaniel was elected RNC chair in 2017, at first with Trump’s support, although the former president first insisted she drop her maiden name (Romney) to win his support and show loyalty. She was reelected four times and helped to transform the party into the mirror of Trump that it is now.
But Trump eventually turned on her because she refused to crown him the Republican presidential nominee and instead opted for a contested primary. Trump eventually clinched the nomination on his own, but not before he decided he’d rather have two absolute loyalists at the helm of the RNC.
The GOP in general has also soured on McDaniel because she failed massively at the two main parts of her job: fundraising and winning elections—thanks in large part to her embrace of Donald Trump.
By the end of October, the RNC had a little more than $9.1 million in its coffers, the smallest amount in nearly a decade. McDaniel insisted there was “nothing unusual” about the low funds.
Republicans also suffered wave after wave of bruising losses, from the 2022 midterm elections to, most recently, the special election for former representative and serial fabulist George Santos’s seat in New York. The party has largely blamed McDaniel for the defeats, even as many of the failed candidates mostly embraced Trump’s policies and talking points.
So given the facts that McDaniel was both bad at her job and is now on the outs with her own party, it’s unclear what analysis of value she has to offer NBC. Instead, her hiring looks more like a shameless grab for viewers.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene proposed a vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday, offering a sudden challenge to his leadership after supporting his bid for the role just four months ago.
The Georgia lawmaker reportedly filed the motion to vacate Johnson just moments before the House of Representatives voted to pass a $1.2 trillion omnibus bill. It is not yet clear if Greene filed the motion as privileged, which would require time on the House floor.
Moments after the news broke, Greene claimed she’s not yet calling for Johnson to vacate while acknowledging the motion’s filing. Instead, Greene considers it a “warning” and a “pink slip.”
“I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and throw the House in chaos,” Greene told a crush of reporters outside the Capitol building. “But this is basically a warning and it’s time for us to go through the process, take our time, and find a new speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats.”
Still, even though it’s a warning, Greene did concede that she will force the vote.
“There’s not a time limit on this,” she continued.
“But I’m not saying that that won’t happen in two weeks or it won’t happen in a month or who knows when,” she said. “But I am saying the clock has started, it’s time for our conference to choose a new speaker.”
A formal vote to oust Johnson, however, might see Greene’s cause fall remarkably short. Two of the eight Republicans who voted to eject former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October have already said that they wouldn’t have any part in a new effort to rid the lower chamber of its speaker.
Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett told Politico that he had “no idea” what Greene was doing and signaled he would not support the cause. South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace also told the outlet she would vote no.
The news follows months of circulating rumors that hinted at growing disdain for the junior party leader, who took the reins of the House in a surprise vote after Republicans cannibalized McCarthy over similar transgressions.
A vote to oust Johnson also holds the potential to completely backfire on Republicans. Democrats could use the opportunity to vote in Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the speaker, putting a discordant GOP in a position of needing a nearly unanimous vote to maintain their role at the head of the lower chamber. In a vote with full attendance, the conservative party could lose just two Republican votes.
“Speaker Johnson always listens to the concerns of members, but is focused on governing. He will continue to push conservative legislation that secures our border, strengthens our national defense and demonstrates how we’ll grow our majority,” Johnson’s spokesperson, Raj Shah, said in a statement.
This article has been updated.
At least one House Republican is completely fed up with his party this week.
At a press conference on Friday, Freedom Caucus member Eli Crane was so infuriated by the six-bill, 1,012-page spending package organized by House and Senate leaders—meant to stop a government shutdown—that he urged Americans to vote out his GOP colleagues.
“Please, quit sending politicians........
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