McDaniel’s unpopular and unsuccessful tenure under the RNC saw her career take an immediate nose dive after her departure. Despite the hope that the “revolving door” of politics-to-media would be a step up for her, she’s being effectively banned from MSNBC airwaves. It’s a delightful illustration of the predicament facing any right-winger naïve enough to think they can win over the left by abandoning Trump.
McDaniel’s debut on "Meet the Press" was a spectacle of awkward evasion and half-hearted distancing from her half-hearted Trumpian past, which was, predictably, neither sufficient nor convincing for the likes of MSNBC’s Rashida Jones or Kristen Welker. It was a performance doomed from the start, a failed attempt to wash away the indelible Trumpian tint. Ronna was never really a Trumper, ironically enough, which means she has nowhere left to go after this but the Lincoln Project, if they’d have her. The leftist pile-on continued with Rachel Maddow’s mewling whine on Tuesday that “I find the decision to put her on the payroll inexplicable. And I hope they will reverse their decision.” Maddow says the opposition isn’t partisan, which is the funniest lie I’ve heard all day, and I still read the Washington Post.
Let’s savor the irony here: Chuck Todd, former host of "Meet the Press", lambasting his own network for McDaniel’s inclusion, cited “gaslighting” and “character assassination” during her RNC tenure. It’s as if the mere association with Trump is an unforgivable sin, a permanent black mark that no amount of public penance can erase. This feigned outrage from Todd, Maddow, and others only underscores the laughable hypocrisy and selective memory of the left.
Let’s face it, Republicans, if you’ve voted for Trump you’re “tainted,” so you might as well jump in whole hog. We all float down here, Ronna. And when you’re down here with us, you’ll float too!
Hell, even my old buddy and fellow failed presidential candidate Joe Walsh said he could never support me ever again after my vote for Trump in 2020. What would old Joe think now that I’m a full-blown Cole County, Missouri Trump delegate? Well… I might as well just walk around Jefferson City with a scarlet T on my chest. Thankfully I live in a part of the country where that’s a badge of honor. The other day I walked into my local Hyvee for a meeting and asked a group if they were the local Republican Trump delegate club and they said, “No but we support you!” God bless rural America.
Even more entertaining in all this is the sanctimonious stance taken by "Morning Joe" hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, demanding a reconsideration of McDaniel’s hiring. Their call for ‘authentic’ conservative voices, selectively defined by their standards, reeks of a patronizing censorship, thinly veiled in the guise of balanced journalism.
To a Trump supporter such as myself, this entire fiasco is a delightful confirmation of what we’ve long believed: the 'Never Trumpers', in their pathetic scramble for acceptance, have not only betrayed their base but have also been scorned and ridiculed by those they desperately sought to appease. The treatment of McDaniel is seen as just desserts, a well-earned humiliation for someone who thought she could play both sides against the middle and come out on top. But since you are lukewarm, Ronna, the gods at MSNBC have spit you out.
Comparisons to Mick Mulvaney’s brief and underwhelming stint at CBS News only add to the schadenfreude. It’s a repeating pattern: erstwhile Trump allies, seeking rehabilitation in the eyes of the left, find themselves instead isolated and derided, pariahs in both camps. This debacle should serve as a stark and amusing warning to the 'Never Trumpers': your attempts at redemption are not just futile, but comically so. You find yourselves in a no-man's-land, disowned by your former allies and rejected by your would-be friends. In your eagerness to dissociate from Trump, you’ve managed to alienate yourselves from those who despise you and those who now regard you as traitors.
McDaniel’s fall from grace is a testament to the polarized, unforgiving nature of current American politics. Sink or swim. Kill or be eaten. It reveals the absurdity of the Never Trump fantasy, where delusions of bipartisan acceptance crash against the reality of ideological and tribal warfare. For those like Mulvaney and McDaniel who thought they could play both sides, the message is clear: there’s no room for turncoats, fence sitters, or milquetoasts. You either pick a side and play it straight to the end, or you end up like Ronna. Matter of fact, we should take a page out of the comedy flick Kingpin, where the main character’s last name Munson became a descriptor for someone thrown to the wolves and torn apart just like Ronna was. When a milquetoast NeverTrumper joins a leftist media outlet and is promptly torn apart we can now say they got McDaniel’d. Good riddance.
