Exhibit 9,503,165 in “if you’re a powerful white man who does wrong, people can’t wait to rehabilitate you”: millionaire pundit Mark Halperin. Multiple women who had worked in positions junior to him came forward in October 2017 to say that Halperin had forcibly kissed and groped them, pressed his erect penis against them, or propositioned them. Now, less than two years later, Halperin’s powerful friends are trying to help him make a comeback, The Daily Beast reports.
Halperin was a dominant figure in the world of political journalism, peddling aggressively mediocre thinking and right-wing positions as the voice of truth, and making millions of dollars and given substantial control over editorial and hiring decisions at outlets like ABC News and NBC News. And that’s right back where his friends like Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski and CNN and SiriusXM radio host Michael Smerconish want him. They’ve been helping Halperin in a careful comeback attempt, with Smerconish having Halperin as a guest on his radio show and Brzezinski then touting Halperin’s analysis from her Morning Joe berth.
Brzezinski and Scarborough also blindsided colleagues and executives at their network with a plan, last fall, to have Halperin join them in an online-only show about the 2018 midterms. That plan was abandoned.
The good news is that, so far, media executives don’t seem inclined to accept Halperin back into the fold. In addition to the failed idea for an online show with Scarborough and Brzezinski, he struck out on a job at The Hill, The Daily Beast reports. But this is how it works—he gets some radio appearances, some flattering mention from his famous friends, and, at least without substantial pushback, eventually he’ll worm his way back in, maybe not to the level of power he once enjoyed, but at least into the media landscape. Because that’s how the world works if you’re a rich white guy.