Jen Psaki Downplays Comparisons Between Her and Ronna McDaniel

As PJ Media previously reported, NBC hired former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, but after outrage from the staff at NBC News and MSNBC, the network let her go.

While McDaniel gets little love from the right, cancel culture has reared its ugly head once again. How was it possible that the same network that had no qualms about hiring former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki couldn’t stomach the thought of Ronna McDaniel being a contributor on the network? Psaki didn't miss the comparisons, and she felt compelled to address them on her show Monday evening.

"You may have seen some news over the last few days about the hiring of former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel as an NBC News contributor. And some, mainly in the right-wing ecosystem, have made the comparison to others who have come from government or politics into the media — including me," Psaki began “And that is a comparison I felt like I had to address."

I won’t bore you with the regurgitation of her biography, which painted a picture of someone who “got into public service” to “serve the American people.” It’s shamelessly self-righteous and the same boilerplate platitudes you hear from the left all the time.

When she spoke of her time in the Biden administration, she said she was "in the room for tough debates, for difficult decisions, for the messy and at times, incredibly grueling process of governing."

Are you crying yet? Do you have all the feels? Brace yourself.

"And that experience is something that I am extremely proud to bring to this table and to this network,” she continued. "And there are many others who have followed a similar path who I have a great deal of respect for."

"But here's the thing,” she continued. "That kind of experience only matters and only has value to viewers, all of you, if it is paired with honesty and with good faith."

Honesty and good faith? She works for MSNBC, for crying out loud. Those are not values that we can associate with that network. Do I need to bring up the Russian collusion hoax?

Anyway, Psaki continued, "Those qualities are especially important right now at a time when our institutions are under attack and when our democracy is in danger. And our democracy is in danger because of the lies that people like Ronna McDaniel have pushed on this country."

Can you hear my eyes rolling? 

"Look, this isn't about Republicans versus Democrats,” Psaki continued. "This isn’t about Red versus Blue. This is about truth versus lies. Service to the country versus service to one man committed to toppling our democratic system. That is the kind of experience that Ronna McDaniel brings to the table. And that experience does not get us to a deeper understanding of anything in the public debate."

That’s a lot of talk from someone who repeatedly lied in her capacity as White House Press Secretary. I can’t go through every falsehood she pushed from the podium, but a few months into her job, she infamously claimed that “Republicans voted to defund the police.'” It was so easy to debunk that lie that the liberal media couldn’t pretend it was true. Even the Washington Post debunked it. 

She also repeatedly pushed the lie that Trump told people to inject themselves with bleach and blamed anything and everyone else but Joe Biden for inflation. Again, this is a mere fraction of the examples of her lying to the American people while working for Biden.

Of course, her lack of commitment to honesty and good faith continued when she ditched the White House for her gig with MSNBC. One of my favorite examples is when she claimed last year, "If elected to a second term, Donald Trump would prosecute anyone he deems an enemy, unleash troops on protesters, and essentially unravel the rule of law as we know it,” while her former boss was doing just that against Trump.

Let’s just be honest about what this is really about. The partisans at NBC News and MSNBC demand ideological purity from its anchors and contributors. 

"What distinguishes Psaki from the rest of this lot is that none of them babbled about honesty and good faith after having exited a career distinguished by its dishonesty and bad faith,” writes Jorge Bonilla of the Media Research Center. "Most people in this position just take the bag and go on about their business without the moral preening, especially when they lack the moral standing to preen in the first place."

Bonilla also pointed out that Psaki "admitted to lying in order to advance the Iran Deal and then deleting video evidence of that admission while serving as State Department spokesperson."