The corporate media is regularly accused of favoring Democrats in their coverage, but it appears as though an MSNBC producer just got caught saying the quiet part out loud.
A man who writes and produces for the cable network admitted in hidden camera video that MSNBC is “doing all they can to help” Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by The Daily Mail’s Maureen Callahan, author of Ask Not, to discuss the revelation and what it shows about the state of the press and politics today.
Undercover Admission
James O’Keefe has a long history of exposing people and organizations through his undercover reporting first at Project Veritas and now at O’Keefe Media Group (OMG), and the latest target was MSNBC producer Basel Hadman.
An undercover OMG journalist went on a date with Hamdan, who works on the show Ayman Mohyeldin Reports, and asked him a series of questions about what the network is doing to assist the Harris-Walz campaign. It was recorded via a hidden camera as the two drank wine in a restaurant. OMG released the footage on Thursday:
When the undercover reporter asks if Hamdan feels like “MSNBC is doing enough to help the Harris campaign,” he said they are “doing all they can” to “amplify her message… of the day.” He said Harris’ “message of the day” becomes “their message of the day” at MSNBC.
The practice, he said, “hammers home the point… that this news network is indistinguishable from the party.” When asked explicitly if MSNBC is “just the Democratic Party’s mouthpiece,” He responded “exactly.”
Hamdan then said it is doing the viewers a disservice. “They’ve made their viewers dumber over the years,” he shared. “Viewers get mad with the guests or the hosts if the host were to criticize Democrats.”
He agreed when the reporter suggested the MSNBC audience is “brainwashed” but said they likely realize the party’s flaws. “[It’s] not that they can’t do any wrong,” Hamdan said. “It’s maybe, ‘They can do wrong, I just don’t want to hear about it.’ ‘Don’t say that out loud because, if you say it out loud, it helps Trump.’”
At the end of the day, he believes MSNBC’s approach to the ‘news’ benefits Donald Trump. “I think brainwashing and dumbing down progressives helps Trump,” he said.
Truth Serum
While the admission is not surprising, Callahan found at least one aspect to be revealing. “My favorite part of that clip is when he says ‘we’re dumbing our audience down,'” she said. “This is the viewership that likes to feel like they are so high on their own supply of moral self-righteousness and that every political position that’s espoused by this network is the only true and correct one.”
He turned that notion, she noted, on its head. “He is basically saying, ‘We’ve dumbed them down; we’ve brainwashed them, and it’s good for us,'” Callahan added. “It seems he is kind of proud of it.”
And it is not just sanctimony amongst viewers. Megyn pointed to the indignation shown by Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, and others on what Wallace called the “sacred airwaves” of MSNBC after former RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was hired (and then promptly fired) by the network. “She’s concerned about these ‘sacred airwaves,’ but this guy Basel Hamdan gives it up in that clip,” Megyn said.
Ultimately, Megyn had a word of warning for daters: “Pro tip, when your date sounds more like the inquisitor in a deposition and has her handbag pointed at you… a note of caution before you offer your unvarnished thoughts.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Callahan by tuning in to episode 907 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.