Journalist Megyn Kelly recalled a 2015 conversation with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell where he called the network was a “sinking ship” during the first episode of her new podcast Monday.
Kelly premiered her podcast “The Megyn Kelly Show” on Monday with an hour-long interview featuring journalist Glenn Greenwald. Among other topics, the duo touched on “the state of the media” and Kelly brought up a 2015 conversation she had with O’Donnell.
“At the end of Obama’s second term I was at the White House Christmas party, and you know, they invite the journalists for one of those,” Kelly said. “And I saw Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC, and I said, ‘hey, how you doing?'”
“And he said, and I quote, ‘I am on a sinking ship known as MSNBC,'” she said of O’Donnell.
LISTEN:
In the premiere episode of the @MegynKellyShow, @MegynKelly recounts a conversation she had with Lawrence O’Donnell, who told her in 2015 “I am on a sinking ship known as MSNBC.”
Then… came Trump.
Full conversation with @ggreenwald: https://t.co/qpx1Zw6ZlB pic.twitter.com/o9HxIluKbD
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) September 28, 2020
Kelly continued on to explain how President Donal Trump “saved” MSNBC and “other outlets.” Greenwald appeared to agree, noting that he has “friends at MSNBC who were on the verge of losing their jobs” because people were not tuning into the network. (RELATED: ‘Chock-Full’ Of People ‘Actually Wearing Blackface’: Megyn Kelly Suggests NBC Has Double Standard On Blackface Rules)
“Obama was treated as this kind of like quiet savior figure, which isn’t very exciting,” Greenwald said. “It doesn’t make you tune in. You need to get people revved up and angry in order to get them to watch cable news.”
Greenwald called Trump “the savior” because networks are able to portray him as an “existential threat to the Republic.” Greenwald also pointed out the legitimate benefits of depicting the president in this way, adding that it is often exaggerated.
“It’s become a huge profit model for media to pretend that they’re kind of on the front lines of … this unprecedented assault on democracy by this fascist dictator,” according to Greenwald, who said the press often treats Trump “almost as a Hitler figure.”
Kelly’s first week of her podcast will also feature conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro and Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, among others, she announced Monday.