NBC braces for the backlash to the backlash after hiring and firing top Republican

NBC News’s dramatic hiring and firing of a former RNC chairwoman this week threatens to undo years of repositioning itself as friendly to Republican officials and viewers.

NBCUniversal’s news division announced Friday it had hired Ronna McDaniel as an on-air contributor who would appear on NBC and MSNBC. On Tuesday NBCUniversal News Group chief Cesar Conde announced that he’d decided to end the network’s deal with McDaniel after an open revolt by his stars over hiring someone who had played a role in Donald Trump’s attempt to contest the 2020 election he lost.

But while the abrupt reversal was cheered by some MSNBC staff, other NBC News journalists said they believe the move will only continue to strengthen complaints by Republicans that the network doesn’t want to hear their perspectives.

Now, NBC staffers are bracing for Republican backlash, fielding texts from angry GOP sources.

“Political reporters here didn’t take part in the backlash, nor did they get to give input on the hire,” one NBC News journalist said. “But they’ll be the ones who have to pick up the pieces with sources who are now dismayed with the organization.”

Four NBC News staffers expressed concern that instead of fixing the problem, hiring and then firing McDaniel had only alienated liberal viewers while confirming Republican fears. Two Republican aides told Semafor they’d texted their NBC News contacts to express their anger with the decision.

The conflict over McDaniel threatens to reverse some of the gains that top network figures believed that it had made to establish some credibility with members of the Republican Party. NBC lobbied hard behind the scenes for a GOP primary debate, dispatching anchor Lester Holt to meet with the RNC as part of the network’s pitch. It worked: NBC was the first non-Fox outlet to secure a debate. And throughout the GOP presidential primary, the television news organization and its digital counterpart broke a number of major stories about the contest, including the news of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign announcement with Elon Musk, and infighting within the major super PAC supporting DeSantis for president.

McDaniel, who was elevated then discarded by Donald Trump, makes an unlikely martyr for a MAGA right that viewed her with suspicion even after she stopped using her middle name, Romney. But even critics like former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy took the opportunity to lambaste the network.

“I would have hoped for a decision other than that one for her first move to be instantly taking a contributorship with that network,” Ramaswamy told Semafor, “but I think it’s very lame of NBC to cower to a mob of people after they did make a decision to not give somebody who they thought was worth giving a voice to. You could debate that question, but once they’ve decided to do it, I think it’s rather lame and pathetic of them to pull it before she had a chance to contribute whatever they thought she had to contribute.”

Stephen Moore, a former top Trump economic aide now at FreedomWorks, called it a “good day for our team, because it makes [Democrats] look ridiculous.” He added that he has no particular view on McDaniel, whom he referred to as “Ronna McDonald” several times during a short telephone interview.

Former Trump chief of staff Mick Mulvaney called the firing “a great move for NBC. It allows them to completely shed their image as a legitimate news outlet, once and for all.”

McDaniel herself was shocked by her abrupt reversal of fortune. One person familiar with the situation told Semafor that CAA warned her on Monday that she likely would need to hire a lawyer to prepare for a contentious exit from the network. It was awkward timing for the former RNC chair, who was traveling for an interview for a separate high level corporate board position which could also be imperiled by the unfolding network drama. Another person close to McDaniel said she did not hear from NBC all day, and learned about her firing from media reports.

NBC will have to manage its brand with Republicans as it attempts to repair what insiders see as a management failure as much as a political blunder. Running a talent-heavy television newsroom is a legendary exercise in internal politics, and executives typically keep stars close, consult them often — and try not to surprise them. Stars, in turn, can occasionally exercise an effective veto on management decisions, as the company found this week. Veterans of the network were shocked that top talent had apparently not been consulted in advance on the move.

“It’s a star system and there’s no bench,” said one former top NBC executive.

The move also deepened tensions between NBC News and MSNBC leadership, which have strained at moments throughout the last several years. Some senior NBC News figures privately expressed frustration at MSNBC president Rashida Jones, who did not oppose McDaniel’s hiring, but reversed course Saturday afternoon amid backlash from top talent. For its part, top figures at MSNBC expressed astonishment that the network didn’t seem to grasp how strong the backlash to the decision would be internally.

NBC did catch one break. McDaniel’s lack of popularity among top members of her own party may not make her a true martyr among Republicans. Her former institution, the Republican National Committee declined to comment on her firing, and Trump himself posted a mocking tweet directed both at McDaniel and “weak” NBC. Said one senior Republican aide: “No one really cares about Ronna.”

NBCU’s Conde wrote that the company is “committed to the principle that we must have diverse viewpoints on our programs, and to that end, we will redouble our efforts to seek voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum.”

McDaniel began her career as a unifiying figure, but is now “marooned on the other side of a line she crossed with her behavior following the 2020 election, if not before,” CJR’s Joe Allsop wrote.

Joseph Zeballos-Roig and Ben Smith contributed to this article.