The whole thing began when New York Times investigative reporter Eric Lipton highlighted a few stories from The Washington Post about how the front page of the newspaper pointed its spears at President Trump for the synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh that killed 11 people.
WashPost front page points at Trump in both of the weeks terror attacks. pic.twitter.com/UmoAkmPsvQ
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) October 28, 2018
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was none too pleased. And in an era when Trump doesn’t need an excuse to throw darts at the media, this seemed like a real easy call for her: Of course, attack the media.
Is there any tragedy the Washington Post won’t exploit to attack President @realDonaldTrump? The evil act of anti-Semitism in Pittsburg was committed by a coward who hated President Trump because @POTUS is such an unapologetic defender of the Jewish community and state of Israel. https://t.co/0tCNpepC9k
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) October 28, 2018
One observer snarked that Sanders didn’t even know how to spell Pittsburgh — which she spelled without the “h.”
White House correspondent Peter Baker, who is also an MSNBC contributor, then took the opportunity to explain to Sanders what journalism is.
“To be clear, the Washington Post is not attacking the president,” Baker wrote on Twitter. “The president’s critics are and the Post is writing about the conflict. That’s what newspapers do. We don’t just quote the people in power but the people who disagree with the people in power. @DavidNakamura”
No doubt, Trump enjoyed Sanders’ abrasive scolding of WaPo no matter what Baker said. Considering what he wrote this morning, she gets a gold star.
8:03 a.m.: “There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame…”
8:07 a.m.: ” … of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony. Fake News Must End!”
The Mirror sought comment from Sanders on her reaction to Baker attempting to school her on journalism. She did not immediately respond, but if she does, I’ll bring her comments to you.
