Is it really a secret that most of the journalists in DC basically agree with left-wing Democrats about nearly everything? I don’t think that’s a surprise to many people but the journalists themselves mostly keep pretending they’re neutral arbiters. This morning the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Politico, John Harris, responded to a tweet about a white nationalist who says he wants to take over the GOP with this snarky reply:

Thought that job had been filled….. https://t.co/35GUSXGhWU

— John F. Harris (@harrispolitico) October 17, 2018

Hmmm…I wonder who he’s talking about? Arthur Schwartz responded by saying Republicans should stop taking calls from Politico.

https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1052576750524346369

At this point, Harris had three choices: 1) Ignore the criticism, 2) delete the tweet and apologize, or 3) gaslight everyone. He went with option three:

A fair point @ArthurSchwartz , this could be interpreted as broad swipe rather than a quip about the headline on the NBC piece. Sometimes wisecracks get lost in Twitter translation so appreciate the chance to clarify. pic.twitter.com/wpsXiHUoPq

— John F. Harris (@harrispolitico) October 17, 2018

For a clarification, this isn’t very clear. I think everyone understood this was a quip about the NBC headline. If you look at the responses to Larry Sabato’s original tweet (the one Harris responded to) most of them are some variation of “Already been done.” The point of all of these responses, including Harris’, was to suggest that the GOP already had a white nationalist leader. Harris doesn’t deny that in his clarification, he just denies it was a “broad swipe,” whatever that means. GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel isn’t buying whatever Harris is selling:

This offensive statement from the head of Politico is another example of why distrust in the media is at an all-time high. pic.twitter.com/cdGiFiKo4S

— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) October 17, 2018

Fox News has a bit more reaction to Harris’ tweet:

Conservative strategist Chris Barron told Fox News that one of the most “discouraging developments of the media in the era of Trump is the complete and total blurring of lines between objective journalism and opinion journalism,” pointing to Harris’ tweet as an example.

“This kind of tweet is what we would expect from a left-wing pundit not from an objective journalist and especially not from the man who oversees an ostensibly non-partisan news outlet,” Barron said. “If news outlets want to restore the American public’s faith in them they can start by demanding more of the men and women working in journalism. A little journalistic integrity and commitment to journalistic standards and ethics would go a long way.”

Finally, there’s another angle on this story as well which has to do with the story Harris was responding to initially. Why is that NBC is devoting 5 minutes of airtime and a lengthy story to a 29-year-old identitarian from Europe who wants to infiltrate the GOP? Is it just a coincidence this is being given a big push 3 weeks before the election? I eagerly await the NBC story about communists looking to gain ground with young Democrats. Maybe it’s coming before the election but I won’t hold my breath.