The different styles of leadership are personified in presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, left, and President Donald Trump. This gives an apple-to-apple comparison on what voters must decide about the November presidential election.
According to Mediaite, after former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel recently made some noise over her inflammatory rhetoric, she now makes headlines with a surprising confession related to the presidential election in 2020. During a taped interview on NBC News' Meet the Press, Ronna McDaniel offered the admission that it's plain Joe Biden won a "fair and just" election.
This was a complete reversal from McDaniel's previous stance. In an interview with CNN correspondent Chris Wallace last July, she had expressed doubt on the fairness of Biden's victory, saying, "I don't think he won it fairly."
But on Sunday, in an interview with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, McDaniel said, "He won, he's a legitimate, fair and just president. He won, which was certified, it's true."
The firing of McDaniel came after she resigned recently as chair of the RNC and was hired by NBC News as an on-air contributor. His exit from the Republican National Committee elicited reactions that were both applause and disapprovals, some of whom pointed an accusing finger at him for giving in to the pressure from former President Donald Trump, but others saluted his move to get back into the media industry.
Many were surprised by the timing of McDaniel's hiring, particularly in view of her new role with NBC News. Both sides of the political spectrum criticized her, saying that she was trying to curry favor with the Democrats or rehabilitate her image. Welker tried to assuage these concerns prior to the interview, stating, "This will be an informational interview and I was not involved in his hiring."
Though this is the warning, many questions still remain about how far the extent of the impact will really go as McDaniel makes that transition from party leadership to media commentary—especially after his past statements about the 2020 elections. Accusations of voter fraud and claims of voting irregularities have been a hallmark of the political discourse since the 2020 election, in part due to Trump's incessant refrain that the election was stolen from him.
Even after several investigations and judicial decisions that asserted the integrity of the election, Trump and his allies did not stop. Thousands of Trump's supporters stormed their way into the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, in a violent attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.
There were subsequent claims that Trump had been charged with four counts by the Department of Justice over the riot. This escalated the tension within the Republican Party. In the interview with Welker, McDaniel tried to clear up any other doubt that people may have had regarding the election's legitimacy, telling the truth that Biden had won.
"I think it's fair to say there are some problems in 2020," she allowed. "But saying that does not mean that he is not a legitimate president." he said. This is the view of many Republicans. They may both be right.
Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, was called on stage at a political rally in Battle Creek where she briefly shook hands with then-US President Donald Trump on May 1. January 18, 2020.
The nuance in these views that McDaniel expresses is part of broader fissures within the Republican Party over how it can balance its stated loyalty to Trump with recognition of electoral realities. That willingness to acknowledge Biden's victory could be a sign of a shift in Republican rhetoric as the party seeks to redefine its identity in the post-Trump era.
However, the confession by McDaniel was easily rubbished. Critics pointed at past statements he had made regarding voter fraud and election integrity as proof of a lack of credibility.
Political commentator Dash Dubrowski condemned NBC News for hiring McDaniel, saying it was giving a platform to inflammatory statements by him ahead of next year's election. Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis wrote that the appointment was a sellout of conservative principles.
Despite these broadsides, NBC News defended the choice of McDaniel for its board by stating that he would bring "insider views" on national policy.
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