Megyn Kelly seems to regret not sending a “good luck” text to Ronna McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee spokeswoman who’s already ruffled feathers as a new contributor at NBC News – the same place Kelly infamously exited five years ago after voicing controversial opinions on-air.
“NBC news, the vaunted!” Kelly taunted Monday on her podcast, launching into her take on McDaniel’s first appearance on “Meet the Press” over the weekend and the allergic reaction from the network’s anchors.
“I have to tell you, I considered sending her a text, like ‘Good luck.’ No, really, truly. As somebody who is on the right side, walking into that building … talk about going into the lion’s den. But she’s a big girl, and she can handle herself. So I thought it might be somehow dismissive or condescending, so I didn’t do that.”
Kelly left her star-anchor role at Fox News in 2017 for a huge contract and bigger role at NBC. After struggling to get along for just over a year, Kelly was bounced – with the $30 million remaining on her contract paid in full – after her remarks about the appropriateness of wearing blackface on Halloween.
So far, McDaniel isn’t faring much better.
“Well, I should have [sent the text] because [McDaniel] needed the good luck during her debut weekend – which didn’t go so well!,” Kelly said.
McDaniel sparred with new “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker, standing her ground over questions about the 2020 election. In a separate, later NBC News segment that Kelly highlighted, former “Meet the Press” anchor Chuck Todd was aghast that Welker had been subject to McDaniels’ presence.
“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation,” Todd said to his successor. “I have no idea whether any answers [McDaniel] gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract … she still has credibility issues that she still has to deal with.”
Todd said the reason NBC News journalists aren’t comfortable with McDaniel being on staff is that “many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting.”
Kelly rolled her eyes at that one, noting that McDaniel, the person, is inevitably going to be different from McDaniel, the spokesperson, a role for which deflection and repetition are written into the job description.
“He’s very confused,” Kelly said. “She was being paid as a spokeswoman … It’s not the Ronna McDaniel committee.”
Kelly said from now on, McDaniel is “free to provide her own independent political analysis.”
“What has made him [Chuck Todd] confused about that?” Kelly said. “The fact that she’s accepting an NBC paycheck? I don’t get it because he seemed very capable to make the proper distinctions when NBC hired Jen Psaki! Remember Jen Psaki?”
Kelly then played a clip of Todd fawning over Psaki – “Welcome! It’s very exciting!” he says to the former White House press secretary – as a lead-in to her first day as an MSBNC host.
“You only have to apologize when you hire the conservatives, you see,” Kelly said. “When you hire the liberal mouthpieces from the White House or the DNC, it’s a different story.”
Watch the video clip above.
