Danielle Pletka, who is not exactly a fan of President Trump wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post titled, “I never considered voting for Trump: I may be forced to vote for him this year.” 

The theme is the runaway radicalism of the Left.

The presence of the op-ed is somewhat unusual because the Washington Post editorial section, unlike Bennett’s at the New York Times, largely consists of 16 shrieking screeds by Jennifer Rubin and Max Boot with titles like “Six reasons every single Republican must be dragged from their home and executed in front of their family”. 

I’m only exaggerating by a little bit. 

And that’s the Post’s “conservative” section. The rest of it is even worse.

How exactly did the Post balance out Pletka’s op-ed which is, by no means pro-Trump, but anti-cancel culture and left-wing extremism?

Alexandra Petri – I can’t believe you’re forcing me to vote for Trump, which I definitely didn’t already want to do 

 Daniel W. Drezner – I never considered voting for Trump in 2016. I may be scared into voting for him this year by my exaggerated fears

1. This is a childish response to someone trying to have an adult conversation. It’s not so much satire, as Drezner claims, but repeating something someone said in a high mocking voice.

2. If the Washington Post is going to have the counterpoint to an op-ed criticizing left-wing extremism be one of its leftists mocking the original writer, does it really need two people pulling the same gag in two different op-eds? The duplication speaks volumes about the lack of originality along with the childishness.

I’ve been discussing the Gawkerization of the media for a while now. And it’s almost a redundant conversation. But it’s still worth comparing this garbage to the Post of 20 years ago where such a response would have been unimaginable. Even as bad as the New York Times is, I don’t see the response to a Bret Stephens or Ross Douhat op-ed about cancel culture being two mocking op-eds. The day will no doubt come, especially with an Intercept vet in charge, but for now there are still some standards.

There are, revealingly, none at Marty Baron’s Washington Post which has become a social justice blog for the D.C. set.