MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, partnered with Brian Williams as the network’s main elections anchor team, admits breaking news is an anxiety-producing affair.
“When we’re covering breaking news, I have to learn and understand the story at the same time I am explaining the story. I take the responsibility of what I say on TV very seriously, and it causes me a lot of anxiety to think I said something that wasn’t exactly right. Even just talking about it right now makes my heart hurt.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Maddow talks about the 2016 election season and its surprising star, saying Republicans “had 330 million people to choose from, and they’ve decided that he is the best one to be the standard-bearer of one of the two major parties of the greatest nation on Earth. Like, talk to me, Republican voters!”
Maddow says she’s thought about what a Trump presidency might mean for the country:
What’s the worst-case scenario for America if he wins? It can be pretty bad. You don’t have to go back far in history to get to almost apocalyptic scenarios.
Over the past year I’ve been reading a lot about what it was like when Hitler first became chancellor. I am gravitating toward moments in history for subliminal reference in terms of cultures that have unexpectedly veered into dark places, because I think that’s possibly where we are.