A Rolling Stone interview feature with Rachel Maddow that was published Wednesday touted the MSNBC host as the "most trusted name in news."
"Rachel Maddow: The Rolling Stone Interview," written by Janet Reitman, tells the story of how "America's wonkiest anchor cut through the chaos of the Trump administration and became the most trusted name in news."
The profile discussed Maddow's thoughts on President Donald Trump's administration, the 2016 presidential election, how she views the media, and how she became the "most trusted name in news."
But Maddow, who said she is "a liberal for sure," does not see herself as the captain of the ship when it comes to her MSNBC show.
"Oh, I'm not a captain—I mean, if I was a parent, the children would starve, you know? Like, I can't really deal with hirings and firings and vacations and birthdays and keeping people happy," Maddow said.
Maddow is the one who decides what she covers, however. "From the very beginning, I've had a deal with MSNBC that they don't tell me what to cover, what not to cover, or how to cover what I cover," she said.
Maddow said that she prefers talking about the Republican Party over the Democratic Party.
"I'm also less interested in the Democratic party as a topic—the Republican party is more fascinating to me," Maddow told Reitman.
The MSNBC host has been a critic of Trump, but fell under criticism herself in March when she promoted her show by saying she had the president's tax returns. "Breaking: We have Trump tax returns. Seriously," she tweeted.
But most viewers were disappointed: Once the host took to the air she revealed to have Trump's 1040 from 2005.
"Do you feel like you oversold it?" Reitman asked Maddow.
"I felt like I did exactly what I wanted to do. You can't really do any worthwhile work if you're hoping for a specific response from people. This is what I do and some people like it and some people don't, and some days you're up and some days you're down in terms of whether people think you're a good person or a bad person," Maddow said.
At the end of the day, Maddow grades herself below a C.
"Well, I mean, we have technical failures. Sometimes we have boring guests. Sometimes I do a lousy job in an interview. Just sloppiness, in writing, bad editing, typos sometimes screw shit up. But occasionally, we do shows that I think are really good—I'm not blind to when we do a good job," Maddow said as her reasoning.