By Ray Cardello for December 16, 2025, Season 33 / Post 33

I have always had a problem with media celebrities who elevate themselves above the event they are covering. This unfortunate occurrence can happen whether it’s a news or a sporting event. The usual solution is the handy mute button, which works if you can still see the event, but it does not provide the remedy in the case of Rachel Maddow. To be honest, and bipartisan, Sean Hannity has the same impact on me, and since he was on FOX News at 4 AM this morning, I switched over to Rachel—bad choice. I should have just shut off the TV and enjoyed the silence.

I do not understand what attracts MSNOW viewers to Rachel. She is not attractive at all, and wearing the same drab, black attire gives the illusion of watching a rerun. Her facial gestures are annoying and detract from what she is saying, which is often not a bad thing. And I feel she lives on a very superficial level, having not gone too deeply with her preparation. She is the only one getting a good deal from her ridiculous $25 million-a-year haul for one day a week. Her current salary was actually reduced from $30 million. The scalpel did not go far enough, and in my opinion, she should have been a package deal with Joy Reid.

This morning, she was ranting about the leadership at the FBI, and specifically calling for the termination of Dan Bongino and Kash Patel. I find it amazing that these Left-Wing cheerleaders go into attack mode about any facet of a Republican administration, but go into ostrich mode, with their heads firmly planted in the sand, when a member of a Democratic administration is proven inept and even criminal in their behavior. I can guarantee that if we go back in the MSNBC archives, we will never find a sour word leave Rachel’s lips about the work of James Comey.

Rachel was salivating at the rumors that Bongino might be contemplating stepping down from his position as deputy director of the FBI. Refusing to give Bongino any credit for his long and successful career in law enforcement:

Bongino worked as a police officer for the New York City Police Department from 1995 to 1999. Bongino joined the United States Secret Service in 1999 as a special agent. In 2002 he left the New York Field Office to become an instructor at the Secret Service Training Academy in Beltsville, Maryland. In 2006, he was assigned to the Presidential Protection Division during George W. Bush’s second term. He remained on protective duty after Barack Obama became president, leaving in May 2011 to run for the U.S. Senate.

Instead of acknowledging any of Dan Bongino’s experience, she insisted on referring to him as only a podcaster, which gives him no reason to be anywhere near the FBI building, let alone the deputy director. She belittled Kash Patel in the same manner, but was keying on Bongino because of the circulating rumors. This was a very weak story, delivered by someone who is simply an overpaid talking head and would be a very unsuccessful podcaster. The segment she devoted to this hatchet job was weak at best. Maddow offered no examples for Bongino’s missteps, other than to misrepresent his professional history. Her rhetoric is very dangerous: her viewers believe in her, take her at her word, and are too lazy to do their homework.

Fortunately for us on the Right, Maddow’s viewer counts are constantly dropping. Her reach and impact are diminished as her audience dissolves. Maddow only attracts 1.8 million viewers, which is exactly half of The Five, which continues to be the Number 1 show on cable news. Somebody needs to break the news to Rachel that even Will Cain beats her numbers, and he is only a sports guy!