In a strange twist on journalism, HuffPost has declared that it will no longer take Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy seriously.
To achieve that goal, the site is moving him to its entertainment pages.
Considering they are paying their reporters to cover him on the campaign trail, it seems plausible that this is a PR stunt.
But in a statement posted on the HuffPost website, Washington Bureau Chief Ryan Grim and Editorial Director Danny Shea say it’s legit.
“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.”
Reducing Trump to their coverage of the Kardashians and ABC’s “The Bachelorette” is just cold. But it may be hotter than they’re letting on. Ironically, these stories — particularly the Kardashians — are widely known to be top traffic getters for any news site.
In another group email, Grim wrote, “Up until now, we had erroneously been covering him as an actual presidential candidate. …Now, the impact he’s having on the Republican Party and the immigration debate is itself a real thing, and we’ll cover that as substance, but anything that tumbles out of his mouth will land on the Entertainment paige.”
So far, Trump has not responded to the news that he has been reduced to the importance level of Kim Kardashian.
The Mirror sought comment from Trump’s camp as well as HuffPost, specifically wondering if the site’s political reporters will no longer be permitted to cover the real estate mogul.
UPDATE: Grim assured that they will still cover Trump, but not in the usual manner. “They’ll still be covering him,” Grim told The Mirror by email. “Things that come out of his mouth will be filed to Entertainment. His impact on the campaign, on the immigration debate and on politics in general will still be filed to Politics.”