Let's celebrate Ronna McDaniel being fired with 5 more times conservatives got the boot

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And just like that Ronna McDaniel is out at NBC!

On March 26, former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel was dropped from the network following backlash from the public and NBC's own journalists.

McDaniel signed a contract with NBC for a position as a contributor, reportedly worth $300,000, just two days after she stepped down from her role at the RNC, but she was swiftly met with complaints and on-air protests from the network’s top talent, including Rachel Maddow, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, from the network’s talent who spoke out against it on air. Chuck Todd was upset because McDaniel had been booked on Meet the Press while she was negotiating her contract, but Kristen Welker, who interviewed McDaniel, wasn’t informed.

Todd was outraged and wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “The issue isn’t about ideology, it’s about basic truth. Those trying to make this a left-right issue are being intentionally dishonest. This is about whether honest journalists are supposed to lend their credibility to someone who intentionally tried to ruin ours.”

But this situation isn’t unique. Republicans have been fired many times before for supporting white nationalists, posting videos of the January 6 insurrection, and making antiemetic remarks.

Conservatives’ arrogance makes them think they can say and do abhorrent things without it coming back to bite them, but they’re wrong. So, to celebrate McDaniel’s being fired for trying to work for a news organization while being an election denier, here are five other conservatives who were handed their walking papers!

Candace Owens

Just last week, conservative commentator Candace Owens was fired from her post at the Daily Wire over claims she promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories. She said inflammatory things about the United States’ role in the genocide in Gaza and even claimed that a gourd of Jewish people in Hollywood and Washington D.C. are doing something “sinister,” Yahoo News reports.

Basically, she was acting like the hateful person she’s always shown herself to be when she talks about the trans community or immigration. Instead of taking responsibility for the words that came out of her mouth, Owens posted on X (formerly Twitter), “The rumors are true— I am finally free.” And, in a turn of events that has us questioning whether YouTube should exist, Owens is planning to restart her old show on the site.

Kevin Williamson

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Kevin Williamson, a conservative columnist for The Atlantic, was fired in 2018 after a two-week social media outcry. He was originally hired as one of four new “Ideas” columnists, but women on staff were unhappy because of his history of bad takes on women’s rights. He called trans actress Laverne Cox “an effigy of a woman,” and in 2014, he wrote on Twitter (now X) that “the law should treat abortion like any other homicide.”

Editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg defended Williamson, saying that he shouldn’t be judged by one old tweet, but backtracked once Media Matters uncovered audio of Williamson doubling down on his position on abortion while on a National Review podcast, The Observer reports.

“The language he used in this podcast—and in my conversations with him in recent days—made it clear that the original tweet did, in fact, represent his carefully considered views,” Goldberg said in a new statement. “This runs contrary to The Atlantic’s tradition of respectful, well-reasoned debate and to the values of our workplace.”

Kevin Whitt

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Republican Party of Texas field organizer Kevin Whitt was ousted after The Texas Tribune discovered that he defended the far-right nationalist group the Proud Boys and had published a video showing him harassing a pizzeria employee in Washington D.C. over the ridiculous and damaging "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory. He was also at the Capitol on January 6 and posted a video to his Instagram showing the crowd the following day.

Shockingly, Republicans took action immediately and fired Whitt two hours after The Texas Tribune contacted them with the information their investigation had stirred up. Whitt called his firing" canceling conservatives, obviously" because, of course, he did.

James Bennet

James Bennet, the New York Times editorial page editor, was forced to resign in 2020 amid backlash for publishing a Republican senator's op-ed that advocated using military force against protestors, Politico reports.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton wrote the opinion piece titled Send the Troops In, called for deploying the military to deal with protestors in New York City, whom he called "rioters" and looters." The public and dozens of NYT staffers opposed the column's publication, including Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones, who tweeted at the time, "I'll probably get in trouble for this, but to not say something would be immoral. As a black woman, as a journalist, I am deeply ashamed that we ran this."

The article is still on the NYT website, but there is a long editor's note added to the top saying the article is "newsworthy" but called the editing process "rushed and flawed."

Kevin Carnekee

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In 2019, Google employee Kevin Cernekee was fired from the tech behemoth over claims he had a history of defending white nationalist ideology. Of course, he denies the allegations and says he’s being punished for advocating for free speech and that he opposes white nationalism — ugh, these people are insufferable.

He was accused of a laundry list of bad behaviors, including trying to gather donations for Richard Spencer — president of the white supremacist think tank the National Policy Institute — and defending the neo-Nazi group Golden State Skinheads, CNBC reports.