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The incident reveals just how badly some major media outlets have lost their way. Maybe the ratings frenzy and “both-siderism” have warped management’s news judgment.
We can only hope that NBC and other news organizations take away something more than “don’t hire a MAGA mouthpiece” (as important as that is). A few ideas:
- Create a mission statement that affirms your goals are telling the truth and defending democracy, which protects the First Amendment — not fake balance.
- Stop pretending four-times-indicted former president Donald Trump and his movement are presenting alternative “policies” as a normal party would. They are fighting for an alternate system: authoritarianism.
- Politicians’ outright lies must be identified, not just labeled as their “response” or “position.”
- Instead of obsessing over polls, devote extensive coverage to analyzing the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” and Trump’s fascist agenda. Feature historians and political scientists during news segments (not only on panels) to put Trump’s views and statements in context.
- Don’t excerpt a few words from a Trump rally or speech, dub it an “argument” and ignore his mental short-circuits and deteriorating intellect.
If respectable outlets can acknowledge the lunacy of putting McDaniel on staff, perhaps they can end practices that wind up enabling liars and authoritarian cultists. Then, the McDaniel debacle could be viewed as a much-needed wake-up call.
Distinguished person of the week
In Maryland, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks has trailed Rep. David Trone in the Democratic primary contest to replace retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D). If she wins the primary and then the general election against former Republican governor Larry Hogan, Alsobrooks would become Maryland’s first African American senator. She would also guarantee an African American woman’s presence in the Senate after Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) leaves.
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Trone, a White self-funding mogul and multimillionaire owner of Total Wine & More, got his start in public office after a lifetime in the private sector. He has aligned himself with the centrist New Democrat Coalition and prides himself on getting things done. By contrast, Alsobrooks has spent her life in public service on behalf of the overwhelmingly African American Prince George’s County. She told ABC’s “This Week,” “I think it’s important to have [someone] representing you who lives like you, who thinks like the people they represent.”
At a debate I recently moderated, Alsobrooks and Trone generally agreed on policy. However, Alsobrooks hit Trone for past donations to MAGA state candidates, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Trone argued that he was protecting his business interests in states where his stores operate.
Axios reported, “Over $29 million has already been spent in the race. … That makes it the third most expensive primary in the country, with Trone, a wealthy businessman, accounting for 97% of that spending.” Nevertheless, a recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll showed Alsobrooks only seven points behind, within the margin of error and with nearly 40 percent of voters undecided.
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Since then, Trone inadvertently used a racial slur during a congressional budget hearing, for which he later apologized. Just days later, five African American House members endorsed Alsobrooks. This week, the popular anti-Trump warrior Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) endorsed Alsobrooks. Raskin told The Post that Alsobrooks “really comes out of local and state politics from the Maryland soil.” While warning against a negative primary, he emphatically declared that he wants Alsobrooks in the Senate to fight on two key issues: abortion and voting rights. Alsobrooks then snared the nod from two-term former Prince George’s County executive Rushern L. Baker III.
This might have been Alsobrooks’s strongest week to date. The new endorsements (adding to a list of heavyweights, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore) give Alsobrooks some momentum. If she wins, Democrats will have a dynamic, rising star.
Something different
When someone says “Lehman Brothers,” you probably think of the financial behemoth that went bankrupt during the 2008 financial crash. I certainly did — until I saw the Tony-winning play “The Lehman Trilogy,” which traces the history of the firm founded by three brothers who immigrated from Germany. The three-man cast, in an acting tour de force, plays the original trio, plus descendants and other minor characters, both male and female of various ages.
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As with America generally, much of the brothers’ wealth was built on slavery. They carved out a niche as middlemen in Alabama between plantation owners and giant cloth manufacturers in the North. As they moved from cotton to coffee trading to banking to investment banking to bond and stock trading, the family accumulated immense power and wealth. Over time, however, their attachment to physical products became more and more attenuated. They were simply in the business of money and complex financial instruments.
An economy that works for the few rather than the many and relies on trust in vaguely understood financial vehicles comes with significant risk. (“Don’t stop dancing!” one Lehman urges as he dances the twist into the 1960s — and beyond the grave.)
This fascinating story about economics, race, religion and family manages to present the brothers and their descendants as real, complete characters. At times sober, at times laugh-out-loud funny, the more than three-hour production (with two intermissions) never drags. With minimal sets and well-timed sound design, the actors and their voluminous dialogue keep you riveted. I cannot say I have ever learned more at a play.
Every other Wednesday at noon, I host a live Q&A with readers. Submit a question for the next one.
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This week, I look at the Ronna McDaniel debacle, pick the distinguished person of the week and share a magnificent theatrical experience.
NBC News figured out the easy part within a few days. (Disclosure: I am an MSNBC contributor.) After a firestorm of criticism from Democrats, the “Meet the Press” host and guests, MSNBC hosts and outside journalists, NBC executives dumped former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a contributor reportedly set to be paid $300,000 annually. MSNBC journalists found her hiring “inexplicable,” as Rachel Maddow put it, given her alleged facilitation of the 2020 phony elector scheme to overthrow the election, her past performance as the “team” mouthpiece (describing Jan. 6, 2021, as “legitimate civil discourse”) and her nonstop attacks on the press.
Sadly, MSNBC management couched the decision to drop her in a blizzard of corporate speak. (“No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned … It has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal.”) Funny — the journalists who spoke up said McDaniel’s departure was required to preserve their journalistic mission and the network’s credibility, not out of any need for “alignment.”
The incident reveals just how badly some major media outlets have lost their way. Maybe the ratings frenzy and “both-siderism” have warped management’s news judgment.
We can only hope that NBC and other news organizations take away something more than “don’t hire a MAGA mouthpiece” (as important as that is). A few ideas:
If respectable outlets can acknowledge the lunacy of putting McDaniel on staff, perhaps they can end practices that wind up enabling liars and authoritarian cultists. Then, the McDaniel debacle could be viewed as a much-needed wake-up call.
In Maryland, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks has trailed Rep. David Trone in the Democratic primary contest to replace retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D). If she wins the primary and then the general election against former Republican governor Larry Hogan, Alsobrooks would become Maryland’s first African American senator. She would also guarantee an African American woman’s presence in the Senate after Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) leaves.
Trone, a White self-funding mogul and multimillionaire owner of Total Wine & More, got his start in public office after a lifetime in the private sector. He has aligned himself with the centrist New Democrat Coalition and prides himself on getting things done. By contrast, Alsobrooks has spent her life in public service on behalf of the overwhelmingly African American Prince George’s County. She told ABC’s “This Week,” “I think it’s important to have [someone] representing you who lives like you, who thinks like the people they represent.”
At a debate I recently moderated, Alsobrooks and Trone generally agreed on policy. However, Alsobrooks hit Trone for past donations to MAGA state candidates, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Trone argued that he was protecting his business interests in states where his stores operate.
Axios reported, “Over $29 million has already been spent in the race. … That makes it the third most expensive primary in the country, with Trone, a wealthy businessman, accounting for 97% of that spending.” Nevertheless, a recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll showed Alsobrooks only seven points behind, within the margin of error and with nearly 40 percent of voters undecided.
Since then, Trone inadvertently used a racial slur during a congressional budget hearing, for which he later apologized. Just days later, five African American House members endorsed Alsobrooks. This week, the popular anti-Trump warrior Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) endorsed Alsobrooks. Raskin told The Post that Alsobrooks “really comes out of local and state politics from the Maryland soil.” While warning against a negative primary, he emphatically declared that he wants Alsobrooks in the Senate to fight on two key issues: abortion and voting rights. Alsobrooks then snared the nod from two-term former Prince George’s County executive Rushern L. Baker III.
This might have been Alsobrooks’s strongest week to date. The new endorsements (adding to a list of heavyweights, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore) give Alsobrooks some momentum. If she wins, Democrats will have a dynamic, rising star.
When someone says “Lehman Brothers,” you probably think of the financial behemoth that went bankrupt during the 2008 financial crash. I certainly did — until I saw the Tony-winning play “The Lehman Trilogy,” which traces the history of the firm founded by three brothers who immigrated from Germany. The three-man cast, in an acting tour de force, plays the original trio, plus descendants and other minor characters, both male and female of various ages.
As with America generally, much of the brothers’ wealth was built on slavery. They carved out a niche as middlemen in Alabama between plantation owners and giant cloth manufacturers in the North. As they moved from cotton to coffee trading to banking to investment banking to bond and stock trading, the family accumulated immense power and wealth. Over time, however, their attachment to physical products became more and more attenuated. They were simply in the business of money and complex financial instruments.
An economy that works for the few rather than the many and relies on trust in vaguely understood financial vehicles comes with significant risk. (“Don’t stop dancing!” one Lehman urges as he dances the twist into the 1960s — and beyond the grave.)
This fascinating story about economics, race, religion and family manages to present the brothers and their descendants as real, complete characters. At times sober, at times laugh-out-loud funny, the more than three-hour production (with two intermissions) never drags. With minimal sets and well-timed sound design, the actors and their voluminous dialogue keep you riveted. I cannot say I have ever learned more at a play.
Every other Wednesday at noon, I host a live Q&A with readers. Submit a question for the next one.
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