A new report in Esquire detailing the inner lives of D.C.'s “Never Trumpers” — a term coined to describe former diehard Republicans who refused to ever support Trump — revealed an interesting tidbit about the operations at the Wall Street Journal, and the recent, mysterious departures of five top writers and editors:
Bret Stephens, who won a Pulitzer in 2013, was the defector with the highest profile. He was deputy editor when he jumped over to the Times, where he was soon joined by his editor at the Journal, Bari Weiss. The Journal’s books editor, Robert Messenger, is now at The Weekly Standard. Sohrab Ahmari, a foreign-policy writer, went to Commentary. Mark Lasswell, an editor, was told not to return from a book leave.
Reportedly, this was due to an internal controversy surrounding a second editorial, written by James Freeman, which detailed Trump’s mob dealings — a topic that was brought into the spotlight after a Ted Cruz's interview with "Meet The Press."
According to the report:
Freeman wrote a strong attack on Trump’s Mob dealings, and had a second ready to go. But as Trump got closer to clinching the nomination, Paul Gigot kept delaying publication, saying “it needed work.” Once Trump became the likely Republican nominee, Freeman executed a neat volte-face. “The facts suggest that Mrs. Clinton is more likely to abuse liberties than Mr. Trump,” he wrote. “America managed to survive Mr. Clinton’s two terms, so it can stand the far less vulgar Mr. Trump.”
Some commentators, such as conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, believe the Journal’s editorial page toes the ideological line of House Speaker Paul Ryan. Likewise, the Journal's writers tend to bite their proverbial tongue when it comes to criticizing Trump — at least since he became president. Rcently, WSJ published an editorial questioning Robert Mueller’s “credibility” and suggested that he should resign from leading the Russia investigation.
Yet if the report is confirmed true, the biggest hypocrisy and irony here has to do with Trump’s ongoing tantrums about “Fake News” and his war on the media, when his hands, which is no surprise, are the dirtiest. Trump has no concept of objectivity and the importance of freedom of the press.
Rupert Murdoch, who owns both WSJ and Fox News, is a friend of the president, and reportedly advises Trump daily.
“The president speaks to Murdoch now almost every day. And Murdoch speaks with Jared Kushner as well. Murdoch is one of the people who urges the president to stay focused on the economy narrowly and foreign policy more broadly,” the New York Times reported in May.
Sam Tanenhaus, who wrote the Esquire piece, further explored the disintegration of the Republican party, and what the "Never-Trumpers" are conspiring to do to course correct — which includes a Manifesto, and a book.
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