Nicolle Wallace on NBC Hiring Ronna McDaniel: Election Deniers Can Now Peddle Lies ‘as Badge-Carrying Employees of NBC News’

Wallace: “For our part here, we’re going to cover this story as part of our ongoing series of conversations about American autocracy, asking the question or positing the theory that it could happen here. I’m going to read to you an excerpt from Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny. Tim is standing by to talk to us. This is from the first page of the first chapter of On Tyranny: ‘Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.’ In this instance, NBC News, either wittingly or unwittingly, is teaching election deniers that what they can do stretches well beyond appearing on our air in interviews to peddle lies about the sanctity and integrity of our elections, which Ronna McDaniel did yesterday on Meet the Press.”

[Clip starts]

WELKER: “Can you say, as you sit here today, did Joe Biden win the election fair and square?”

MCDANIEL: “He won. He’s the legitimate —“

WELKER: “Did he win —“

MCDANIEL: “— president —“

WELKER: “— fair and square —“

MCDANIEL: “Fair and square he won. It’s certified. It’s done. But I do think —“

WELKER: “Ronna, why has it taken —“

MCDANIEL: “— Kristen —“

WELKER: “— you until now to say that?”

MCDANIEL: “— let me just say something —“

WELKER: “Why has it taken you until now to be able to say that?”

MCDANIEL: “I’m going to push back a little, because I do think it’s fair to say there were problems in 2020. And to say that does not mean he’s not the legitimate president.”

[Clip ends]

Wallace: “There were no problems. But what — what we’ve also said to election deniers is not just they can do that on our airwaves, but that they can do that as one of us, as badge-carrying employees of NBC News, as paid contributors to our sacred airwaves.”