Twitter Users Blast Politico For Giving Ben Shapiro The Keys To Playbook Newsletter

OXON HILL, MD, UNITED STATES - 2018/02/22: Ben Shapiro, host of his online political podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) sponsored by the American Conservative Union held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
OXON HILL, MD, UNITED STATES - 2018/02/22: Ben Shapiro, host of his online political podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) sponsored by the American Conservative Union h... OXON HILL, MD, UNITED STATES - 2018/02/22: Ben Shapiro, host of his online political podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) sponsored by the American Conservative Union held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Twitter users swiftly expressed their confusion over Politico’s decision to let conservative commentator Ben Shapiro take the reins of its popular “Playbook” newsletter on Thursday morning — a day after the House voted to impeach President Trump for the second time.

On Thursday morning, Shapiro took aim at the media in “Playbook” by accusing members of the press of supposedly being “bewildered” over the fact that House Republicans didn’t unanimously vote to impeach Trump for “inciting insurrection.”

“Many in the media seem bewildered that House Republicans didn’t unanimously join Democrats in supporting impeachment (looking at you, Playbook readers in the media) — after all, Republicans were in the building when rioters broke through, seeking to do them grievous physical harm,” Shapiro wrote.

Predictably, Shapiro got up on his soap box to boast that his “Republican sources” told him that “opposition to impeachment doesn’t spring from generalized sanguinity over Trump’s behavior.”

“I’ve been receiving calls and texts for more than a week from elected Republicans heartsick over what they saw in the Capitol,” Shapiro wrote.

Shapiro’s guest authoring of “Playbook” was published a day after he brushed off the deadly insurrection of the Capitol riots last week by nonsensically claiming that it’s common practice for everyone to own zip ties. At least two Capitol rioters were seen with zip ties seemingly intended to be used as restraints.

Shapiro, who has become a controversial conservative media figure with his incendiary remarks, appeared unfazed by the backlash.

TPM reached out to Politico for comment.

In a statement released to the Washington Post in response to the backlash on Thursday, Politico said that it has “taken great care to assemble a roster of guest authors who are prominent thinkers and writers and represent a range of perspectives.”

“What sets Politico apart in this intense political and media moment is that we rise above partisanship and ideological warfare — even as many seek to us into it,” Politico said. “It’s a core value of the publication that is unchangeable, and that above all protects our ability to do independent journalism. It’s part of our mission.”

Here’s how Twitter users panned Politico for letting Shapiro guest author its most popular newsletter:

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Notable Replies

  1. trolls love the backlash it is why they troll

  2. Parasites.

    Social Parasites

  3. Being a Politico, among other places, reader, I read Shapiro’s Playbook earlier this morning. I was offended at all his slippery apologetics for Republican lies, distortions, and deceits. According to Shaprio, its all the left/liberal/Dems fault that Trump had to do these things and that Republicans had to defend his attacks on election integrity, the Capitol, etc. Makes me really sick to see a Jewish neo-Nazi cut from the same vicious racist cloth as Stephen Miller, the Jewish Goebbels.

  4. “Reins,” not “reigns.”

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