I get that it's easy to dunk on NBC for hiring Ronna Romney McDaniel in the first place. But, I actually think the whole episode raises a bigger (and more complex) question for the media: How do you fairly give voice to the 74 million people who voted for Donald Trump in 2020 -- and catapulted him to the GOP nomination this time around? Or should you? Trump has made it extremely difficult. Because he has made election denialism a litmus test for entry into his Republican party. So the only way someone could actually have some sense of what he (and his party base) are thinking is to believe (or at least be willing to say) something that is false and dangerous: That the 2020 election was stolen. I don't believe we should platform that view. But, I also struggle with simply refusing to put ANY pro-Trump voice on TV. I wrote about it all in my just-published newsletter. You can subscribe via the link in my bio. I hope you will.
@ChrisCillizza Should it be a goal to “fairly give voice to the 74 million people who voted for” a dangerous prolific liar?
@ChrisCillizza There should be no place in media for those who supported the insurrection, fake electors, stop the steal etc.
@ChrisCillizza Is the job of a news organization to be balanced, or is it to tell the truth? Because with Trump surrogates, you have to make a choice between those two things.
@ChrisCillizza Fox News, OAN, Newsmax are all easily available to parrot the GOP narrative, along with other outlets so shameless in their BS that they make the DPRK news team look moderate. Why should we feel the need to platform lying apologists for insurrectionists to cover both sides?!?
@ChrisCillizza If Ronna was part of an “insurrection” why did nbc even consider her for a hire in the first place?
This blurs the issue, importantly, in my view. The issue is not the fact that the Trump loyalists deny that Biden fairly won the election. The issue is that they used violent means to attempt to overthrow the country and install a military dictatorship. Thereafter, they refuse to acknowledge that they have even done that; if they do admit that, they say it was justified; if not justified, they say it should be forgiven. No one really cares that they assert the election was not fair. It's the assertion that their violent response is acceptable. They would clearly do it again. That's the issue.
@ChrisCillizza For all the fear n' hand wringing of our polarized times, the real existential question liberalism v. Trumpism has brought to a head is: How does freedom of speech deal with popular oppositional discourse that's IMPORTANT but..... hyped- by both sides, from all directions. ?
@ChrisCillizza MEDIA IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO COVER BOTH SIDES OF A LIE
@ChrisCillizza By hiring a trump supporter who doesn’t propagate lies about trump’s actions before and after 1/6. One that can now see that there was no voter fraud and focuses on issues and not propaganda. 🤷♂️