MSNBC personality Lawrence O’Donnell made a mistake in liberal land this week – he told the truth. Allowing peeks behind the curtain in the land of left-wing politics is a no-no, audiences are not allowed to see how the sausage is made. Larry, a rich white guy, accidentally not only pulled back the curtain, he set it on fire.
Larry told disgraced former Senator Al Franken, forced to resign after multiple women came forward to accuse him of unwanted sexual advances (including unwanted touching and forced kissing), that MSNBC doesn’t even bother having anyone on who is pro-Trump. “That’s one of the reasons why Trump kind of wants you to watch CNN instead of MSNBC,” O’Donnell said. “Because he knows on MSNBC there will be no one defending him. Because we don’t bring on liars. I don’t bring on a liar. I won’t do that.”
What O’Donnell admits there is his employer is not a news organization, it’s an activist for-profit TV network. When asked if you have to lie to defend the president, Larry was unequivocal, saying, “Yes, absolutely you do. How else do you defend a liar, a pathological liar who lies about everything? You have to lie.”
Larry does not watch MSNBC or even listen to the words coming out of his mouth, apparently. Was there more than a day in the past three where he hadn’t declared the president colluded with Russia in the 2016 election? What hasn’t O’Donnell and his fellow travelers at the peacock cable outlet accused someone named Trump of doing? Murder, maybe, but that’s only because it’s just about the only thing the family hasn’t been accused of yet. (Give it time.)
It’s been a rough time for the old, white, on-air personalities at MSNBC, so you can understand why Larry would try to stand out and create some buzz for himself. The “truth-teller” had to eat a huge steaming pile of…um, crow after he lied on air about Russians close to Vladimir Putin co-signing for loans for Donald Trump. It was such a bald-faced lie that it didn’t even meet MSNBC’s standards, which is saying something.
Imagine being a 68-year-old narcissist, a self-proclaimed socialist with expensive tastes, single (his wife finally bugged out after two decades of dealing with him), and facing rumors of losing his show at the end of the year – the thing from which he seems to derive meaning in his life. Is there a market for an unemployed, over-the-hill has been, incapable of loving anyone as much as himself who hates hammering?
You begin to see why maintaining the echo chamber he works in is so appealing to him – if he loses his staff, who else would want to be around him?
Someone the Daily Beast described as an “insider” at MSNBC said the heads of O’Donnell and Chris Matthews could be on the chopping block this year. According to the report, “it all depends on what happens with the election. You could see either or moving on to other endeavors or staying for another round.”
When your fate is up in the air, you need all the buzz you can generate.
But there wouldn’t be speculation about anyone leaving the network if things were going well. MSNBC lost 25 percent of its viewers aged 18-49 in 2019, coming in 26th on basic cable and well behind the Lifetime network. That means their audience is old, and getting older. Not what companies want, especially when your numbers aren’t huge to begin with.
Also reportedly on the chopping block is none other than Chuck Todd. They can’t fire him, he’s the face of their “news” division, but they can demote his show – Meet The Press Daily. The “anchor” Todd is an anchor on ratings as well, apparently, as he is a low point for MSNBC, mostly because Todd is laughably biased and a horrible, arrogant host himself. He took the MTP brand and embarrassed its legacy even more than former host David Gregory did, which is saying something.
There’s talk of moving Todd’s show to 9:00 am, a major demotion that has Ginger Avenger and his staff upset. No one likes being told they aren’t liked, but it’s better to find out in a way that keeps your job than it is to find out by losing it.
Todd famously announced he’d no longer have anyone who disagrees with liberal orthodoxy on climate change on his show, setting the tone for the network. He’s extended that to anyone who disagrees with him on pretty much anything, which, as Larry confirmed, has also metastasized to the rest of the network. His decisions made ripples throughout the organization and they were all bad.
All of this comes as a surprise only if you live in an insulated world where everyone tells you how great you are, how smart you are, and how wonderful you are. Unfortunately for the personalities at MSNBC, they surround themselves with people who agree with them and people who depend on them for their livelihoods. Who’s going to tell them no? Turns out, viewers.
Derek is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!), host of a daily radio show on WCBM in Maryland, and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.