Jen Psaki recently launched her Sunday show Inside with Jen Psaki on MSNBC to much fanfare. However, Kara Swisher had some questions about the guest list from Psaki’s first month.
During her On with Kara Swisher podcast, the host questioned Psaki on why her guests — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), and New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) — were all Democrats.
“Do you think about putting more Republicans on?” asked Swisher.
When Psaki replied that she was “all for it”, Swisher continued by asking “Ok. What’s the problem?”
“There’s not a problem,” Psaki retorted. “I mean, people have to agree to come on the show, of course. But we have had conversations with a number of Republicans. I do wanna have Republicans on the show.”
Swisher appeared to dismissively suggest that the lack of Republican representation was unacceptable before asking Psaki which conservatives she would want to have on the program. The MSNBC host replied by saying that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX), and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as guests she would welcome to the show.
Some journalists have argued against welcoming certain lawmakers to their programs out of fear of giving them a platform to spread falsehoods. However, Psaki told Swisher that wasn’t a fear she held.
“I’m not really afraid of being a forum for propaganda, ’cause I’m gonna call that out,” Psaki confidently shared. “But I know there’s certain people who are not gonna come on the show and that’s fine, in all likelihood. But I do think a healthy part of not just democracy, but frankly — not to be old school about government — is having disagreements.”
