Johnathan Walker:NBC hired former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel. The internal uproar reeks of blatant anti-GOP bias.

Ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech this month,Johnathan Walker White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the quiet part aloud about MSNBC's cheerleading for progressive politicians on the network's “Morning Joe”:

“I was going to say, I don’t think you guys need me," she said with a laugh. "I was just listening to the commentary. I don’t think you guys need me this morning, but it’s good to be on.” 

Jean-Pierre said this because before her appearance on the show, host Joe Scarborough couldn’t praise Biden enough, staunchly defending the 81-year-old president against criticism of his fading mental abilities. 

“He’s better than he has ever been, intellectually, analytically,” Scarborough said. “F you if you can’t handle the truth. This version of Biden … is the best Biden ever.”

So why am I telling you this story?

Because it’s illustrative of just how in the bag Scarborough and many of the network’s other leading “journalists” are for Biden. They might as well be on the president’s payroll. More on that later.

And it helps explain why there has been so much internal backlash at MSNBC, which is part of the NBC News division, after NBC recently announced it had hired Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, as a contributor. 

Ronna McDaniel is bad, but Jen Psaki is A-OK? 

The floodgates of grumbling opened Sunday on “Meet the Press” when NBC News analyst Chuck Todd had an on-air freakout over his employer's hiring of McDaniel. 

“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation,” Todd told host Kristen Welker after she had interviewed McDaniel. “There’s a reason why there’s a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this, because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting.” 

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Todd’s criticism of NBC was the first public expression of the internal mayhem after Friday’s announcement. 

On Monday, MSNBC personalities such as Scarborough, Rachel Maddow and Nicole Wallace took time on their shows to express their displeasure. 

Perhaps the most ironic comment came from Jen Psaki, who was on the Biden payroll before joining MSNBC herself two years ago. 

The former White House press secretary said direct political experience “only matters and only has value to viewers if it is paired with honesty and good faith,” which apparently is true for her but not McDaniel. 

Give me a break. 

The outrage over McDaniel’s hiring was noticeably absent among these same journalists when Psaki came on board. Todd and Scarborough seemed totally fine as a deal with Psaki was negotiated while she still served as a Biden mouthpiece. (Some reporters to their credit did voice concerns, but there’s no comparison with the high-profile reaction to McDaniel's deal.)

'No interest in giving voice to half of the country'

McDaniel’s biggest “flaw” seems to be that she headed the Republican Party at the behest of former President Donald Trump after he won the 2016 presidential election. McDaniel previously had been the chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

Trump has since tossed McDaniel aside, which is why she was in the market for a new gig.

You can be sure that detractors inside and outside NBC News will keep pointing to how McDaniel’s presence will threaten democracy and give voice to election denialism. 

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Never mind that McDaniel could offer insight into Trump’s thinking – and that of his supporters, who happen to make up a large percentage of the electorate. 

“This just shows how detached the chattering class is,” Republican strategist Dennis Lennox told me. “They have no interest in giving voice to half the country. The idea that you hire the sitting Democratic White House press secretary but the immediate-past-chairman of the Republican National Committee is persona non grata simply because she has a different political viewpoint from the prevailing editorial line of MSNBC is absurd.”

It is absurd, and it points to the obvious liberal bias that dominates much of mainstream media. These MSNBC anchors are showing themselves for who they are: unabashed advocates for Biden. 

MSNBC President Rashida Jones already has tried to assure staff that McDaniel won’t appear on the channel’s programming. 

I hope NBC News gives McDaniel a chance and doesn’t give in to the cancel culture and intolerance on full display within its company.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques