This spring, Ronna McDaniel of the RNC needed a job. As national chair since 2017, she needed to replace the $400,000/year income loss resulting from her forced resignation as Donald Trump clinched the GOP presidential nomination.

There's quite a bit to unpack in that lede, but there really isn't column space for it. Let's just move on to her job search.

We all know the path of least resistance for recovering politicos looking for work is to get picked up as some network's "political analyst." McDaniel did her due diligence, signed with the top-tier Creative Artists' Agency, and started negotiations. She was ultimately hired by NBC, to the general shock and outrage of its news staff.

The easy button would have been to go to Fox News, certainly, where McDaniel could make bank just saying the same stuff she's been saying for seven years to sympathetic hosts for an appreciative audience. I have to respect McDaniel for wanting to take her message to the NBC News team.

Quick explanation of NBC vs. MSNBC: MSNBC is a cable news network with a heavy focus on left-wing analysis; NBC News is the main network news operation focused on daily reporting with special weekly news analysis programming airing on Sundays. NBC News provides much of the factual content for MSNBC, but they are distinct networks with different missions and audiences. Put simply, NBC News is a more traditional network news operation, and MSNBC is an ideological analysis network.

So for McDaniel to want to work with a national news team instead of an ideologically focused commentary channel was a surprise. Although perhaps NBC just offered her more money (reportedly $300,000 per year). She made her debut March 24 on NBC's banner Sunday news program, Meet the Press.

As the news of McDaniel's hiring spread across the news staff, so did the objections. Chuck Todd, NBC's chief political analyst, also appearing on the show he formerly hosted on the 24th, told viewers that McDaniel has "credibility issues" and then told the host, Kristen Welker, "Our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation because I don't know what to believe."

McDaniel's interview had been booked weeks before her role as a paid contributor was announced. Todd went on to say that "…I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn't want to mess up her contract."

Is this just sour grapes over bringing a supposed Trump supporter into the fold? As with most things involving politics and the press, it's not that simple. I do media relations for a living, and I can tell you relationships are key. Todd noted that while RNC chair, McDaniel refused every interview request he made of her.

However, among the few relationships the RNC did build with media outside of right-wing ideological outlets, McDaniel did develop one with NBC, ultimately selecting it to host a Republican presidential debate last year. According to Ryan Lizza at Politico, McDaniel gave NBC the edge as she conferred with them as well as with CNN and ABC.

The outrage among the news staff comes not only from the interview snubs but her willingness in joining Donald Trump in his public attacks on the press and her statements about the 2020 election and January 6 Capitol riot (McDaniel referred to the riot, where seven people died and more than 200 were injured, as "legitimate political discourse.).

Here's the real mistake made by NBC News: if you want a GOP insider to provide analysis during the 2024 election, Ronna McDaniel is probably not going to pay her freight. Her time at the RNC was successful in fundraising, but abysmal with regard to the actual goal: getting Republicans elected.

During her tenure as RNC chair, McDaniel failed to deliver a single winning election cycle. Under her leadership, the GOP lost eight governorships, four Senate seats, 20 seats in the House of Representatives and an incumbent Presidential race.

And being a Trump apologist does not make one a Trump insider. McDaniel will never be a Trump surrogate in her TV appearances. She does not have a handle on personalities or issues; recall that the RNC didn't even bother with a platform for the 2020 election. She can tell you about donors (she routinely spent six hours each day calling them), and her own opinion, at long last.

Which she did on Meet the Press, where her comments - "I do not feel people who committed violent acts on January 6 should be free," "I don't feel violence should be part of our political system," and "When you're the RNC chair you kind of take one for the team," made it clear that she did not believe what she was saying in the RNC chair role when she spoke about January 6.

To a degree, such candor is expected from a politico-turned-pundit. The problem is McDaniel's and the RNC's benign stance on January 6 and complicity with Trump's 2020 election disinformation campaign have further polarized our country, alienated voters and hurt the credibility of our national news organizations.

McDaniel has a big rock to push up a steep hill if she wants to make it as credible political analyst. And maybe the biggest indignity of all is that Chelsea Clinton got paid twice as much by NBC ten years ago.

Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican, she lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and two of cat. She can be reached at news.ind.merritt@gmail.com.