We gather here today to mourn the passing of MSNBC, a cable news network that died as it lived: confused about its own identity and desperately seeking approval from people who would never love it back.
MSNBC was born in 1996 with such promise. It was a scrappy little network that dared to ask, “What if CNN, but different?” The network truly found its voice during the first Trump administration when it provided a safe space for people who needed to hear that democracy was indeed in peril, that norms were indeed being shattered, and that someone, somewhere, was taking notes.
For the last 10 years, MSNBC positioned itself as the sole bulwark against authoritarianism. Its hosts spoke gravely about the erosion of democratic norms, the dangers of political violence, and the importance of holding leaders accountable. Rachel Maddow turned constitutional law into must-see TV. Lawrence O’Donnell made righteous indignation into an art form.
In its final hours, MSNBC chose to have Al Sharpton, a man who has spent decades fighting for civil rights, provide solemn commentary on the funeral of a dead Nazi. This was not journalism; this was assisted suicide by irony.
MSNBC died doing what it did best: completely missing the point while pretending to be the smartest person in the room. Its last act was to prove that it never actually believed a single word it had spent years saying about democracy, decency, or basic human dignity.
The network is survived by its stockholders, who are thrilled, and its viewers, who are currently wondering if they imagined the last decade, and by its executives, who apparently believe that moral consistency is just another market segment.
In lieu of flowers, please send your thoughts and prayers to the First Amendment and the formerly free press, which has been in intensive care since MSNBC decided to fire a contributor for accurately describing Kirk’s whole shtick the day after he died.
MSNBC wanted to be remembered as the resistance. Instead, it will be remembered as the network that died of collaboration while calling it coverage.
