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President Donald Trump publicly showed his support of Sen. Tom Cotton after the uproar over his op-ed led to a meltdown at The New York Times and the resignation of its opinion editor.
Trump tweeted about “the excellent Op-Ed penned by our great Senator” and noted that Editorial Page Editor James Bennet had quit over the recent op-ed about the George Floyd unrest last week that caused a major shakeup at the newspaper.
“Opinion Editor at @nytimes just walked out. That’s right, he quit over the excellent Op-Ed penned by our great Senator @TomCottonAR. TRANSPARENCY! The State of Arkansas is very proud of Tom. The New York Times is Fake News!!!” the president tweeted Sunday.
Opinion Editor at @nytimes just walked out. That’s right, he quit over the excellent Op-Ed penned by our great Senator @TomCottonAR. TRANSPARENCY! The State of Arkansas is very proud of Tom. The New York Times is Fake News!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2020
Cotton retweeted Trump’s message and fired back at the newspaper for its “smear” against him, calling out a “false and offensive” New York Times tweet.
“The @nytimes is lying again,” the Arkansas Republican added.
Here’s what I said.
The @nytimes is lying again. pic.twitter.com/sf0F1RPUfM
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 7, 2020
The senator had blasted The New York Times for fearing the “woke kids” in the newsroom and deciding to “tuck tail” on his opinion piece calling on the federal government to “send in the troops” to deal with the chaotic scenes of looting, arson and general rioting in major U.S. cities following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Fox & Friends hosts Tom Cotton for a victory lap around The NY Times, and he chastises “the mob in their newsroom” for its “struggle session from the Cultural Revolution in Mao’s China, where the adults had to prostrate themselves and apologize in front of the woke children.” pic.twitter.com/DRSjzIxgad
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) June 8, 2020
While Bennet and Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger defended the publication of the op-ed, the 168-year-old newspaper backtracked a day later in a statement saying the decision to run it was due to a “rushed editorial process” which “led to the publication of an Op-Ed that did not meet our standards.”
“The New York Times editorial page editor and owner defended it in public statements but then they totally surrendered to a woke child mob from their own newsroom that apparently gets triggered if they’re presented with any opinion contrary to their own, as opposed to telling the woke children in their newsroom this is the workplace, not a social-justice seminar on campus,” Cotton said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“They still haven’t identified any facts that are wrong in the op-ed, they haven’t identified what was so rushed about this process,” he said. “They’ve only prostrated themselves in front of their young children who are acting like children.”
(Source: Fox News)
In a press release on Sunday, The Times noted that Bennet’s resignation was effective “immediately” and deputy editorial page editor Jim Dao “is stepping off the masthead and being reassigned to the newsroom.”
“James is a journalist of enormous talent and integrity who believes deeply in the mission of The Times,” Sulzberger, the paper’s publisher, wrote. “He oversaw a significant transformation of the Opinion department, which broadened the range of voices we publish and pushed us into new formats like video, graphics and audio. I’m grateful for his many contributions.”
Katie Kingsbury, who has been “instrumental in reimagining Opinion,” was to take over Bennet’s role, he added.
In another note to staff, Sulzberger noted that “last week we saw a significant breakdown in our editing processes, not the first we’ve experienced in recent years. James and I agreed that it would take a new team to lead the department through a period of considerable change.”
Letter from AG Sulzberger: Bennet has resigned; JIm Dao stepping off masthead and away from opinion; Katie Kingsbury acting editorial page editor thru election. Letter to staff from AG Sulzberger pic.twitter.com/7nFOvXzxx0
— marc tracy (@marcatracy) June 7, 2020
“The journalism of Times Opinion has never mattered more than in this time of crisis at home and around the world, and I’ve been honored to be part of it,” Bennet said in a statement. “I’m so proud of the work my colleagues and I have done to focus attention on injustice and threats to freedom and to enrich debate about the right path forward by bringing new voices and ideas to Times readers.”
The meltdown over at the Times and Bennet’s resignation came as executive editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stan Wischnowski, was forced to resign over a piece with the headline “Buildings Matter, Too.”
Top editor of Philadelphia paper resigns after outrage over ‘Buildings Matter Too’ headline https://t.co/caaVI7MOVb
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) June 7, 2020
Meanwhile, reaction to the latest at The New York Times and praise for Cotton’s remarks poured in on Twitter.
Now you know what it’s like to be eaten by your own- so much for diversity of thought. So much for separation between the newsroom & the opinion pages. NY Times ed page editor James Bennet resigns after uproar over Tom Cotton op-ed – The Washington Post https://t.co/nUNtLdQSEQ
— Lara Logan (@laralogan) June 8, 2020
How can it be wrong for #jamesbennett to have let it be published if it was an op-ed? Makes no sense.
Like it or not, it was @SenTomCotton’s opinion. The NYTimes is a messed up slanted, brainwashing machine anyway. #zeroreapectforNYTimes
— strongvoice (@strongvoice) June 8, 2020
Tom Cotton pulled off regime change at the New York Times pic.twitter.com/vS7YcTiVfp
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) June 7, 2020
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