When former MSNBC host Ed Schultz signed up with a Russian-government-funded channel, the Cold War conservative joke was that it was a lateral move. But Politico’s Michael Crowley took the time to note that Big Ed is toeing the Russian line in the new gig. The article is titled “The Kremlin’s Candidate: In the 2016 election, Putin’s propaganda network is picking sides.”
The art with the article clearly signaled that meant Trump...like they were running mates. Politico’s pull quote asserted “Just under the surface is a bought-and-paid-for propaganda vehicle trying to nudge viewers toward Russia’s side of the story at a time when Moscow has increasingly become an international pariah."
Schultz sounds “bought and paid for” in Crowley’s review:
Back when he hosted a prime-time talk show on MSNBC, Ed Schultz divided the world into heroes and villains. The heroes usually included Democrats like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The villains were most Republicans, and especially Donald J. Trump. When Trump obsessed over Obama’s birth certificate and academic credentials in 2011, Schultz branded him “a racist.” When Trump flirted with running for president the next year, Schultz ridiculed him. “Who has shown any interest in Donald Trump being the next president of the United States other than Donald Trump?” he fumed. “Mr. Trump, stop embarrassing yourself!”
Another bad guy was Russian President Vladimir Putin. Schultz delighted in ripping conservatives for what he called their “love affair” with the Russian leader and his ability to make Obama look weak on the world stage. “They hate Obama so much they will even embrace the head of the KGB ... ‘Putie’ is their new hero!” Schultz said in one 2013 segment. In another, he smugly reminded conservatives about Putin’s “nasty human rights record” and the way his “reckless behavior” was “crippling” Russia. More generally, Schultz often framed GOP opposition to Obama as “anti-American” or “unpatriotic.”
That was all before last July, when MSNBC abruptly canceled The Ed Show after a six-year run and dumped the 62-year-old prairie populist from the network. By the time Schultz resurfaced this January, he had been reincarnated in a very different journalistic form: as a prime-time host, reporter and political analyst for RT America, the U.S. branch of the global cable network formerly known as Russia Today, funded by the Russian government.
Gone is the praise for Obama and Clinton. Gone, too, are the mocking references to “Putie.” And gone are the judgments about others’ patriotism. Schultz’s 8 p.m. RT show, The News with Ed Schultz, now features Putin-friendly discussions about the failings of U.S. policy in the Middle East, America’s “bloated” defense budget and the futility of NATO strategy.
Even Trump is getting a new look from Schultz. Speaking at various points on RT in recent months, Schultz has said that Trump “has tapped into an anger among working people,” is “talking about things the people care about,” and even, as Schultz recently declared, that Trump “would easily be able to function” as president.
Another prominent “former” of American cable news, Larry King, is painted as bowing deeply to their patron Vladimir Putin:
The Russian president’s face was a faint shade of green as he gazed up at a giant image of Larry King. It was December 10, and Vladimir Putin was the guest of honor at RT’s 10th anniversary dinner, at Moscow’s Metropol Hotel in the shadow of the Kremlin. Putin wasn’t green from food poisoning; the hue came from lighting that bathed the room in the lime of the network’s logo.
King was opening the ceremonies by video message from Los Angeles, where the 82-year-old now hosts a diminished version of his old CNN talk show for RT, joining a roster of hosts that includes other past-their-prime U.S. celebrities like Schultz and Jesse “the Body” Ventura, the former wrestling champ-turned Minnesota governor who also has a show on RT. In his trademark shirtsleeves and suspenders, King apologized for his absence and let Putin know he’d love to interview him. The Russian leader looked visibly pleased.
If liberal journalists find it distasteful for their old friends to work for a Russian autocrat who likes Trump, would they feel the same way (and write the same article) if the Russian autocrat was cozy with the Clintons?
