Members-Only Article
For years we’ve been discussing the pernicious and comical impact of John Solomon on the rickety body of establishment Washington journalism. As a longtime reporter for the AP, he was notorious for being the softest touch for GOP operatives looking to unload opposition research no other journalists would take. But over the last decade, and particularly in his latest incarnation at The Hill, it’s all taken a more sinister turn. So I’m glad this has all gotten more attention in the last handful of days. Because it’s been clear that Solomon has been conveyor belt through which most of the misinformation and conspiracy theories you hear on the lips of Rudy Giuliani make it into the right wing and then mainstream media, not to mention the Trump family Twitter feeds.
The whistleblower complaint specifically notes Solomon’s articles as surfacing the now familiar range of conspiracy theories right around the same time Giuliani began his pressure campaign with Zelensky. My own sense is that the channel of information is Giuliani (or those advising him) to Solomon rather than vice versa. But let’s leave that to one side for the moment. Solomon also got a write-up this morning in the Post — itself a one-time Solomon employer — which for the first time takes note of Solomon’s role in all of this, as a conveyor belt of conspiracy theories into the right wing media.