In a move that brings a prominent Republican voice to the network, Ronna McDaniel, who recently stepped down as chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, has been hired by NBC News as a political analyst.
McDaniel will make her debut on NBC’s long-running “Meet the Press” program this Sunday. She is expected to contribute analysis across both the NBC News and MSNBC platforms going forward.
This adds an insider perspective from the top ranks of the Republican Party to NBC’s stable of commentators and analysts. Ronna McDaniel’s tenure as RNC chair from 2017 until 2023 spanned Trump’s presidency, his failed re-election bid, and the GOP’s disappointing performance in the 2022 midterm elections.
The former party chair frequently echoed and amplified Trump’s combative “fake news” rhetoric towards the media during her time leading the RNC. Her arrival at a major news network may strike some as an incongruous career pivot given her prior criticisms of the press.
At NBC, she will join the ranks of other prominent Republican voices providing analysis, including Marc Short, the former chief of staff to ex-Vice President Mike Pence, and Brendan Buck, a previous aide to former House Republican leadership.
McDaniel’s exit from the RNC came amid tensions with Trump after the committee moved forward with hosting presidential primary debates – which the former president had sought to derail as he attempts to clear the field of potential 2024 challengers.
The former president subsequently endorsed handing control of the RNC to Michael Whatley and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chairs, further strengthening his grip over the party’s machinery.
Whether becoming a paid NBC commentator will provide distance from Trump’s sphere of influence for Ronna McDaniel or pull her further into his orbit of allies remains to be seen. But her hire gives NBC a direct channel to a perspective from someone who had a front-row seat to the former president’s takeover of the Republican Party.
