The Ed Schultz that MSNBC viewers remember is mostly a memory now, as he’s refashioned himself more recently into a mouthpiece for the Kremlin, according to Politico.
In July 2015, MSNBC axed “The Ed Show” along with two other programs.
When the 62-year-old liberal firebrand reemerged in January, it was to announce that he had taken a job at RT America, which is the U.S. arm of a global news network financially backed by the Russian government.
Since resurfacing as a primetime host for the Kremlin-backed news organization, Schulz’s interests and talking points have changed dramatically.
For six years at MSNBC, Schultz railed against Republicans, and extolled the virtues of the Democratic Party.
He was particularly kind to Hillary Clinton, whom he once called his “favorite living New Yorker,” and President Obama.
At MSNBC, Schulz defended the president and his policies, and he often accused the commander in chief’s harshest critics of being racists, unpatriotic and un-American.
When he wasn’t doing that, Schultz used his MSNBC show to boost American labor unions, which paid him nearly $250,000 between 2012 and 2013, and attacked anyone who suggested they were in need of reform.
He even took several shots at billionaire businessman Donald Trump.
In 2011, Schultz called Trump a “racist” for questioning the president’s birth certificate. Later, when the casino tycoon toyed with the idea of running for president in 2012, Schultz was beside himself.
“Who has shown any interest in Donald Trump being the next president of the United States other than Donald Trump?” he asked. “Mr. Trump, stop embarrassing yourself!”
Shultz also criticized conservatives for their supposed “love affair” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They hate Obama so much they will even embrace the head of the KGB … ‘Putie’ is their new hero!” he said in 2013.
He argued in subsequent episodes of his show that conservatives supposedly supported Putin despite his “nasty human rights record” and his “reckless behavior.”
All that seems to have changed, however, as Schultz has turned his attention from defending the White House and labor unions to attacking U.S. domestic and foreign policy.
He’s also a big fan of Trump and Putin now, according to Politico.
“By the time Schultz resurfaced this January, he had been reincarnated in a very different journalistic form,” Politico’s Michael Crowley reported. “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 show, “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,” his report added.
U.S. policy isn’t the only topic on which Schulz appears to have evolved.
“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,” Crowley reported.
This isn’t entirely surprising for an RT host, the Politico reporter explained, as the network is a “bought-and-paid-for propaganda vehicle trying to nudge viewers toward Russia’s side of the story.”
RT maintains meanwhile that is has no dog in the 2016 presidential election, and claims it’s just telling like it is.
“We do not give preferential treatment to any candidate,” RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan told Crowley.
Schultz himself said earlier this year that his new employer would have no sway over the content of his show.
“[It’s] hogwash,” he told CNNMoney in January when he accepted the job at RT America. “Absolutely ridiculous. Nobody’s going to tell Ed Schultz what to say, or how to say it, or what stories to pick.”
But when Crowley tried recently to speak to Schultz about his role at RT and his new-found respect for Trump and Putin, the interview was abruptly cancelled with no explanation.
“I tried to ask Schultz those questions myself, but an interview I arranged with him through an RT publicist was abruptly canceled. Shultz hasn’t spoken much these days about his change of heart about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump,” the Politico reporter said.
“Nor has he discussed how a former lunch pail populist feels covering stories like NATO’s strategy toward Eastern Europe and the global role of the (very much Putin-connected) patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, whom Schultz recently interviewed, then urged Congress to invite for a speech,” he added.
