Rachel Maddow reacts to Ronna McDaniel's ouster at NBC News
During the Monday episode of The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow expressed disapproval of NBC News' hiring of former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel as a political analyst, detailing how the ex-GOP leader "pushed conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election and attacked the network's own journalists."
Maddow emphasized how NBC's decision to tap McDaniel for the position "is like hiring a 'mobster to work in a D.A.'s office' or a 'pickpocket to work as a TSA strainer.'"
The MSNBC host's statements echoed her colleagues, like The ReidOut host Joy Reid, Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace, and former Meet the Press host Chuck Todd — all of whom also publicly shared their discontentment on-air.
It ultimately led to NBC Universal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde's decision to roll back McDaniel's job offer Tuesday.
READ MORE: 'Loud and principled objections': Rachel Maddow shreds NBC over Ronna McDaniel hire
"Our chairman of the NBC Universal News Group — who we know well," Reid said to Maddow during the latest episode of The ReidOut.
"He sent a memo that we all got as employees here, rescinding the hiring of Ronna Romney-McDaniel. And I know I felt strongly about it. I know you felt strongly, everyone felt very strongly, and said so on our respective shows yesterday.
“And I just have to say, when somebody does the right thing, I feel like it should be acknowledged as publicly as we acknowledged our outrage. I know how I feel about it. I'm grateful to Cesar for making the right decision. I want to get your take as well."
Maddow replied, "Thank you for asking me about it. It always feels wrong to talk about things, you know, within the company as if it's news. It's not the way either you or I are wired."
She continued, "But I will just say that journalists are a fractious bunch, and in our big company with all sorts of different journalistic entities you have all sorts of different people working in this business doing all sorts of different work. And to see essentially the unanimous feeling among all of the journalists in this building, and all of the senior staff and producers and everybody in this building about this, was one thing. But then to see the executives and the leadership hear that and respond to it and be willing to change course based on it, based on their respect for us, and hearing what we argued, I have deep respect for that."
The long-time MSNBC host added, "I meant what I said on the air last night in my show — that I think acknowledging that you might have gotten something wrong is a real sign of strength, a real show of strength. I think it's a show of strength, and a show of respect for the people who work at this company and who make us who we are — that leadership was willing to change on this, and I'm grateful to them."
Maddow emphasized, "It's not about hiring a Republican — it's not even about hiring someone who has Trump ties. This was a really specific case because of Ms. McDaniels' involvement in the election interference stuff. And I'm grateful that our leadership was willing to do, I think, the bold, strong, resilient thing."
Reid then added, "We're going to be using [McDaniel's] name [during future segments] because she's a witness in the Michigan [fake] electors' case." She added, "It's less awkward to have to say, 'and by the way this person works for NBC News.'"