If you’re hypercritical of President Donald Trump, chances are you are fond of MSNBC. But this is one Trump critic who has little patience for MSNBC. It’s as if its hosts and contributors don’t know themselves. By the way, MSNBC will soon sever itself from parent company NBC and it will become MS NOW (My Source News Opinion World).
And what is my beef with MSNBC? Its sense of intellectual honesty seems no greater than Trump’s. MSNBC is as hypocritical as it is hypercritical. It’s a who’s who of former and disaffected Republicans who now sit in the political corner of the Democrats. These include Nicole Wallace (current host of Deadline Whitehouse who had worked for former President George W. Bush), David Jolly (who is currently a Democrat running for governor in Florida and a former Republican congressman), Tim Miller (former press secretary for Republican Governor Jeb Bush of Florida), and Charlie Sykes (former conservative talk radio host in Milwaukee from 1993 to 2016).
Nothing is wrong with switching parties. Winston Churchill, one of the greatest leaders in world history, switched from the Conservatives to the Liberals and back to the Conservatives in his long career as a British statesman. And arch-conservative Ronald Reagan identified himself as a Democrat when he was a young man. Reagan often strayed from his conservative principles (notwithstanding his reputation as a staunch defender of the political right). But when Reagan became a Republican in the early 1960’s, his heart was definitely with the Republicans.
So why my indictment of MSNBC personnel? The switch in their party affiliations is somewhat shallow. They have a recurring theme of opposing Trump. And that’s okay by me. But dislike for Trump is not by itself going to bring the Democrats back to power. Indeed, the dislike for Trump is so obsessive at MSNBC that it risks turning off viewers and may even push the electorate toward the Trump Party (it has ceased to be the Republican Party).
Don’t get me wrong. Trump is in my opinion a zealot and threat to all that is great about this country. He is my least favorite president in history (and we’ve had some bad presidents). Indeed, Trump is such a specter that those who have in response left the Republican ranks have reasons which are quite legitimate. Trump by himself is a valid incentive for one to break ranks with the Republicans.
But the MSNBC pattern begs the obvious question: Why were its panelists and guests Republicans in the first place? Former Republicans on MSNBC don’t merely oppose Trump. They have embraced the entire platform of the Democrats. From the pro-choice on abortion to the often debated role of government as an agent for good, MSNBC’s Republican alumni now show no sign of ever having harbored a conservative position.
In my book, it’s better to be a Jack Kennedy Democrat than a Ted Kennedy Democrat. And notwithstanding my habit to vote a straight ticket for Democrats, the Democrats support a number of positions uncomfortable to me. But MSNBC’s lineup of former and disaffected Republicans aren’t just uncomfortable with Trump. They now espouse the views of the more liberal wing of the Democrats.
No party should command ideological purity. And the Democrats have a larger tent than has the Trump Party. It’s understandable that MSNBC’s former and disaffected Republicans find themselves with nowhere else to go except to the Democrats. But they have yet to articulate a coherent explanation to their collective political odyssey.
Opposition to Trump should be staunch and those Republicans (former and disaffected) should be welcome into the ranks of the Democrats. But the reality of Trump is not an excuse for intellectual dishonesty. Political commentators should hold themselves more responsible. They owe to their viewers, listeners, and readers a consistent standard of political dialogue.
John O’Neill is an Allen Park freelance writer and a graduate of Wayne State University.
