Nicolle Wallace’s Promotion Says a Lot About MSNBC, the Resistance, and the State of Cable News — None of it Good

The guest was Rick Stengel — who served as a State Department official under former President Barack Obama. But it could’ve been anybody, really. Change the names, change the faces, change the date. The song, on Nicolle Wallace’s daily MSNBC show, remains ever the same.

Since its May 2017 debut, the Wallace-helmed Deadline: White House has been nothing if not consistent. Seldom does the host stray from a formula which has borne fruit in the ratings. Disenchanted politicos — be they pundits or officeholders — drop by to vent about the state of affairs in President Donald Trump’s America to a host who is herself disillusioned. And that’s the show, more or less. That’s the whole thing.

Enter Stengel — who was on to express dread about how the United States is being perceived abroad in the age of Trump. He used some colorful language to make his point.

“We’ve exploded the image of our own competency,” Stengel said. “Where people around the world look at the United States and think, ‘This is a Goddamn s-show that these people don’t even know how to run a two-car funeral.'”

Stengel did not actually utter that four-letter word starting with S. But the manner in which Wallace’s face lit up left the impression that she wished he had.

“Now you know why Rick Stengel was coveted at the highest levels of government,” Wallace said, smiling broadly. “Because he spoke in brutal truths.

“‘A Goddamn s-show,’” she repeated. “I love it, Rick Stengel.”

Despite Wallace’s stamp of approval, Stengel — a media veteran who’s logged scores of cable news hits over the years — appeared embarrassed that he’d let himself get so heated.

“Sorry about that,” he said, sheepishly.

But Wallace wouldn’t hear of it. She assured her guest that not only had he aimed correctly at the target, he’d hit the bullseye.

“It’s perfect,” she said. “You’re perfect.”

That segment — which was flawless, in the host’s estimation — took place last Friday.

On Monday, MSNBC gave Nicolle Wallace a promotion.

As part of a series of lineup changes, the network announced that it is expanding Deadline: White House to two hours. Starting on Aug. 17, the show will air from 4-6 p.m. daily. (It had been on from 4-5.) The move positions Wallace as one of the few multi-hour hosts in all of cable news, and establishes her as a top-tier player on MSNBC’s roster.

It wasn’t long ago when a segment like the one with Stengel would have earned the host a lecture from standards and practices, and caused stomachs to churn in the executive offices. But nowadays, the honchos at MSNBC seemingly just want more. How else are viewers to interpret Wallace’s promotion?

From a pure numbers standpoint, the move is completely justifiable. In the 4 p.m. hour, Deadline: White House has recently held down the No. 1 spot in total viewers, and is a competitive challenger to CNN’s supremacy in the most important category, the advertiser-coveted adults 25-54 demographic.

But the papering over of the 5 p.m. timeslot, previously occupied by Chuck Todd’s MTP: Daily, is a clear indication that MSNBC did not trust anyone on its bench — already depleted following Joy Reid’s recent promotion to 7 p.m. — to fill the opening. It also signals an expansion of a certain-type of commentary which MSNBC is increasingly favoring — loud jeremiads about the current landscape from disaffected conservatives.

Nicolle Wallace regularly traffics in a kind of punditry which has unmistakably struck a chord in the Trump age. It’s the sort of commentary which birthed The Lincoln Project, and resulted in millions flowing into its coffers. The kind that’s turned one of the project’s founders, George Conway, into a folk hero on the Left.

Many liberals have happily erased the positions and actions of these self-proclaimed conservatives during the George W. Bush days – and given the born-agains a clean slate. Wallace is one of the biggest beneficiaries. She spent nearly two years as communications director for the Bush White House, and worked on the 2008 campaign to make Sarah Palin vice president. Whatever the Republican party is now, Nicolle Wallace helped shape it.

As Columbia Journalism Review contributor Maria Bustillos put it in a recent column, Wallace served for an administration which “corrupt[ed] a number of the most sacred presidential powers. It insisted that the president should operate and be treated as a king. It prepared the way for Trump.”

Yet Resistance audiences have seemingly forgiven and forgotten. And they have flocked to Wallace’s Deadline: White House, just as they have to Morning Joe — whose eponymous host Joe Scarborough falls in the same category as Wallace. In the same vein, it’s worth noting that Wallace and Scarborough host the only multi-hour shows on the MSNBC weekday slate. Between them, they will soon be holding down five hours of the network’s programming per day.

A great number of liberals have become Wallace-Scarborough viewers, just as they have become Lincoln Project groupies. They find solace in the conversion of these conservatives. Wallace and her ilk offer liberals the ultimate affirmation of their worldview. To a segment of the Left, these piping mad ex-Righties are proof that their beliefs — which go wholly unchallenged on Deadline: White House — are righteous.

Never Trumpers, of course, are not a unique species — although they have become endangered as the Trump years have drawn on. But what separates Wallace — along with others like frequent guest Steve Schmidt, himself a 2008 McCain-Palin campaign vet — is fury. Constant, unadulterated fury.

Wallace and Schmidt almost seem to mischievously spur each other on like conspiring 2-year-olds trashing as much of their house as they can before their parents catch them. One calls Trump’s White House a “ship of fools,” the other likens the president to “mad King George.” One calls Trump’s governance a “clown show,” the other compares him to the “tooth fairy.” And on and on it goes. Constant name-calling. Never ending one-upsmanship. Cheap punditry.

So much of the Trump criticism on Deadline: White House focuses on his decorum — arguably the least of his offenses. And if it isn’t Wallace or Schmidt doing the criticizing, it could be former RNC chair Michael Steele laughing uncontrollably at comments from the president, or right-leaning radio host Charlie Sykes billing a recent news story as “something out of a Trump-World Pornhub episode.” Those moments capture Deadline: White House. It’s a show heavy on hyperbole, and light on substance.

Friday’s Rick Stengel interview is further evidence of the rage professed and amplified by Wallace five times per week. Stengel is one of the many career insiders on both sides of the aisle who dominate the Deadline guest roster. Many of them come off as frustrated that they are on now the outside looking in of establishment politics. And so they fume. They rant. They swear.

The foul language itself is not the issue here — even though it has become commonplace on the show. Decrying the four-letter words would be fruitless, as that ship left the cable news port long ago. It would also be hypocritical, given that similar verbiage can typically be heard from this reporter during the ninth inning of a Mets game.

But what the cursing symbolizes is a show lacking in fresh ideas. Deadline: White House is a one-trick pony. The host and pundits say the same things so frequently that all they can do is say them louder, and more profanely. Now, they’re going to say them twice as much.

Wallace deserves credit for being savvy enough to recognize the demand for the type of program she’s offering. She saw an opening for an impassioned, Trump-loathing ex-Republican, and she took it. MSNBC saw Wallace’s value, and is now giving her an extra hour. As a result, the network, a faction of liberals, and many cable news viewers will all get exactly what they want.

A Goddamn s-show.

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Joe DePaolo is a Senior Editor for Mediaite.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.