MSNBC, NBC leaders were caught flat-footed, out of touch with staff on Ronna McDaniel fiasco: Insider

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MSNBC President Rashida Jones and NBCUniversial News Group Chairman Cesar Conde came out looking like they didn't understand their own staffers after this week's Ronna McDaniel debacle, a network insider tells Fox News Digital.

Exactly one week after proudly announcing the hiring of McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, as a paid analyst, NBC is still reeling after an unprecedented tongue-lashing from its own stars, media critics and even prominent Democrats. McDaniel was dumped after just four days and is seeking all $600,000 from her lucrative contract. Republicans and conservatives observing the fiasco were left with even less trust in NBC News and the media writ large than ever.

And Jones and Conde were left thunderstruck after signing off on bringing McDaniel on as an analyst and getting a staff-wide revolt for their troubles. The pair are "corporate climbers," an insider told Fox News Digital, who are happier to please parent company Comcast than take care of their employees.

Neither are in touch with their own staff, the insider said, because "they just didn't see the blowback coming." Meanwhile, Comcast, led by CEO Brian Roberts and President Michael Cavanagh, is happy to put aside platforming "election deniers and anti-democratic sentiment" in favor