The Huffington Post Has ‘Fired’ Donald Trump From Its Political Coverage
"We have decided we won't report on Trump's campaign as part of The Huffington Post's political coverage," the site announced Friday. "Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section."
Huffington Post
Huffington Post
“YOU’RE FIRED!” read the familiar Trumpian catchphrase emblazoned across The Huffington Post’s home page Friday.
The news website, which ranks as the Internet’s most popular after Yahoo and Google News, made the announcement that it will no longer treat Donald Trump as a serious political candidate. Instead, the site has decided to classify his campaign as entertainment.
They explain:
“After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president, we have decided we won’t report on Trump’s campaign as part of the Huffington Post’s political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump’s campaign is a sideshow. We won’t take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you’ll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette.”
On the other hand, as Mother Jones’ David Corn warns, “His bid isn’t a joke; it’s a return on the GOP’s investment in extreme politics.”
Corn notes:
It’s not that Trump is truly a statesman who ought to be regarded as such. But he is a political phenomenon that tell us much about a significant slice of the American public: Republican voters. It is indeed a drop-dead serious matter that a large bloc of GOPers—perhaps a plurality, depending on which poll you prefer—would entrust this nation to Trump. And the fact that Trump’s demagoguery is prevailing at this early stage of the Republican presidential race is a measure of how far the tea party shift in the party has gone—and how this ideological extremism has developed deep roots within the GOP.
Trump is not a problem for the Republicans because of his excessive, made-for-headlines, provocative (or racist) pronouncements. (He’s gone from birther to Mexican-basher.) He’s a problem because one out of six or so Republicans are exclaiming, “Yeah, what he said!” If Trump were polling at the same level of, say, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (2 percent), he certainly would deserve minimal notice. But his muscular showing in Republican voter surveys—which will land this media-savvy say-anything egomaniac on the GOP debate stage—is a sign that tea party extremism (which often comes with a racial component) still grips the Republican party. He’s not a carnival barker outside the tent. He holds sway over one of the rings of the GOP circus. The center ring? Maybe not. But for years, the Republicans have exploited and banked on paranoid, angry, and resentful tea party-ish voters. They played footsie with the irrational Obama-haters who believed in death panels and all the secret-Muslim-socialist-born-in-Kenyan-dictator-take-away-your-guns-let-illegals-in-and-destroy-America crap. This is how they gained control of the House and then the Senate.
Well, this crowd wants more red meat. And Mr. You’re Fired has identified this market and seeks to satisfy the demand.
To Arianna and all my wonderful friends at Huffington Post, I understand the impulse to say we won’t allow Trump to transform the race into a freak show—TrumpTV™—but I most respectfully submit that to exile Trump to the realm of the Kardashians is to let the Republican party off the hook too easily. Trump poses a crisis for his party. It may be entertaining for the Democrats to watch. But this crisis is not transpiring in TMZ-land. It’s what the GOP has brought upon itself. Here is the ROI on the GOP’s extreme politics.
Ultimately, the story is not Trump, but the Trumpers™ who were encouraged and used by the party—remember when House Speaker John Boehner held an anti-Obamacare rally at the Capitol and the tea party crowd chanted, “Nazis, Nazis” about the Democrats?—and who now crave more and will not settle for a Jeb Bush or Scott Walker. As of now, Trump, with all his bluster and bleating, is their celebrity champion, the contestant they embrace and root for. And that’s no sideshow.
However the media choose to categorize the fear-mongering tycoon, it looks like he won’t be disappearing from our newsfeeds anytime soon.
–Posted by Roisin Davis
Your support matters…Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.
You can help level the playing field. Become a member.
Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.
Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.
Since the whistleblower has been charged with espionage, the political press has come to his defense. It's likely too little too late.
The document has exposed the broken FISA court system and may lead to prosecution for former and current members of the FBI and Justice Department.
Matt Taibbi Sees Possible Validation of Trump’s Accusations About Media as Outcome of Russia Hearing
A look at the day's political happenings, including Mitt Romney denies his infamous "47 percent" remark and Eliot Spitzer weighs in on Anthony Weiner's latest round of illicit messages.
The 38-year-old Florida bartender who secretly filmed Mitt Romney's infamous "47 percent" remark that negatively impacted the GOP presidential nominee's campaign revealed in his first interview why he felt obligated to release the video.
A look at the day's political happenings, including the true meaning of Presidents Day revealed and Mark Sanford airs his first South Carolina congressional campaign ad.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.