Rachel Maddow opened her Monday night show with a rebuke of her bosses’ bosses.
The MSNBC host slammed her network’s parent company for helping to fund President Donald Trump’s latest project. The cable giant was among dozens of corporations helping fund Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom.
“Every corporation — like our parent company for another hot minute, Comcast — that wants to pay for Trump to take a literal wrecking ball, excuse me, I mean an excavator to the White House, should know there’s a cost to their reputation,” Maddow said. “There may be a cost to their bottom line when they do things against American values, against the public interest, because they want to please Trump or buy him off or profit somehow from his authoritarian overthrow of our democracy.”
“There’s a cost.” Rachel Maddow slams Comcast, her own parent company, for helping fund Trump’s ballroom. pic.twitter.com/gJ7k2cD2cR
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) October 28, 2025
The ballroom project, funded by private donations, began with the demolition of the White House’s East Wing this week. Trump has touted it as coming at “zero cost to taxpayers,” though the question of using donations to curry favor with Trump remains. A CNN review of the donor list shows many contributors have substantial “business before the federal government.” Donors include Google, Apple, Amazon, and Palantir. Donations are being routed through the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall.
Maddow’s critique was echoed by several of her MSNBC colleagues.
Lawrence O’Donnell called Trump’s demolition of the East Wing “a unique presidential crime against our history and culture,” and accused Comcast of prioritizing future mergers over principles. Stephanie Ruhle, the first network host to flag the donation last week, told viewers, “Corporations are paying for it. Comcast, our Comcast, is one of those that are underwriting this. Shouldn’t that be more concerning to the American people? Because there ain’t no company out there writing a check just for goodwill.”
The backlash comes just weeks before Comcast formally spins off MSNBC, which will become part of a new entity called Versant under the name “MSNOW” starting November 15.
