MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell of ‘The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell’ used part of his air time last night to question former Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel, who has been hired by NBC News (parent of MSNBC) as a political analyst — a move widely rebelled against inside the company.
[Note: NBC News star Chuck Todd criticized the network on Meet the Press this weekend for hiring McDaniel, whose history includes acknowledging during a deposition that the RNC, under her leadership, helped organize fake electors after the 2020 presidential election. MSNBC star Rachel Maddow called the McDaniel hire “inexplicable,” saying “you wouldn’t hire a made man, like a mobster, to work at a [district attorney’s] office, right? You wouldn’t hire a pickpocket to work as a TSA screener.”
Lawrence: How does that feel? To change her name to curry favor with the madman because he doesn’t like your uncle? How did you explain that to your kids? pic.twitter.com/EYJrzuF8PQ
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 26, 2024
O’Donnell said if given the opportunity, the first question he would ask McDaniel is: ‘Why did you change your name for Donald Trump?’” O’Donnell added: “Before Trump ran for president, her name was Ronna Romney McDaniel. How does that feel? To change your name to curry favor with a madman because he doesn’t like your uncle.”
McDaniel’s uncle is U.S. Senator and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a frequent critic of Trump.
In 2019, when Mitt Romney wrote a Washington Post editorial strongly criticizing Trump’s character (“Trump’s words and actions have caused dismay around the world”), McDaniel, as chair of the RNC, called her uncle’s comments “disappointing and unproductive.”