Have you ever wondered what agents of the Central Intelligence Agency were thinking the day their new commander in chief used CIA headquarters as a backdrop for lies about his inauguration audience? It was harmless that Donald Trump had misjudged the weather. But it had to be unnerving to see someone so powerful be so dishonest about something that could be so easily shipped with a $20 drone.

That embarrassing piece of American history epitomizes Trump’s fragile ego and the distance those around him were willing to go to protect it.

An example in the news this week is Ronna McDaniel, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, who was recently hired and then fired by NBC. It was as if, before hiring her, NBC executives didn’t know she was trying to help Trump overturn the 2020 election.

Despite the recording.

In any case, the question: How do we cover Trump?

?

the one that has haunted the news industry since he became the face of the “birther” movement is also overshadowed by a question that is equally important:

what should we do with his people? “What should we do with his people?

“

Those with insight, like McDaniel, and complicity, like McDaniel.

If you remember, hours after Trump lied to the CIA about the size of the crowd in January 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tried to tell a room full of reporters that the former president had the largest crowd ever witnessed an inauguration, period, both privately and personally and around the world.

When the setback came, he doubled down and threw his credibility off a cliff.

Less than two years later, he appeared on Dancing With the Stars dressed as a frozen daiquiri, seeking redemption. And somehow he found it, somewhere between a credible and a discredited source. Just like his former White House colleague Kellyanne Conway

the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign. She appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press to defend Spicer, suggesting he was offering alternative facts about crowd size.

It was hard to believe what she said before that moment. Subsequently

…

Regardless, it was no surprise that NBC bosses found resistance within the company to putting McDaniel on the air, especially given the influential voices of its left-wing sister network.

,

MSNBC.

Why would a network even want someone like McDaniel?

,

Whose reputation has been destroyed? It’s not like President Nixon on Laug

Hi

N

that was

for

the Watergate scandal.

Media outlets are hungry for Trump-driven ratings and content. There is a market for comments from people who regret helping him in the beginning and from people who would like to do it again. And somewhere in that ecosystem, air puppets like McDaniel spines are swinging around, hoping to cash in on the insight they’ve gained from participating in a failed coup.

In 2018, providing a platform to rehabilitate the image of people like Spicer was questionable.

Political aid

Omarosa Manigault left Trump and tried to redeem herself with a tell-all book (as if we didn’t know that already) and a spot on Celebrity Big Brother. Chris Christie went from leading Trump’s transition team to a contributor at ABC News (where I also work). Alyssa Farah Griffin, Trump’s former director of strategic communications, left the nest and found sanctuary on The View.

But in 2024, with all we know about Trump’s plot to overturn the election through our legal system and personal efforts to prevent votes from being certified, it’s clear that people like McDaniel represent nothing but themselves. They do not speak on behalf of a political party. And as such, the analysis they provide on the current political landscape is not based on anything greater than self-interest.

We shouldn’t be too surprised that they are using the same playbook that the Trump White House drew from in 2017. After the president made these false claims at CIA headquarters

about a televised event that took place the day before in broad daylight less than 10 miles away

it didn’t take a high-level analyst to see through the lies. And yet, instead of issuing a correction, the administration provided alternative facts to protect Trump’s fragile ego. Just as McDaniel presented alternative facts to 2020 voters in hopes of doing the same.

It’s still not clear what the best practices are for beating Trump, but when it comes to the other people who nearly cost us everything, I know where they can go.

And it’s not television.

@LZGranderson