RUSH: Holy smokes, folks, another op-ed page editor has quit the New York Times because of bullying. Her name is Bari Weiss. I'll have details coming up, but listen. She's written a letter of resignation to this kid, A. G. Sulzberger the 19th, who is now the publisher. "Twitter is not on the masthead of the New York Times, AG, but Twitter has become its ultimate editor."
Bingo!
The entire left believes that Twitter is America, that they believe Twitter is American public popular opinion and that it is a majority. They're gonna go down so hard, folks, in November. They're gonna go down so deep, they're gonna go down so fast, they're not gonna know what happened to 'em. Twitter is not America. This babe -- Bari Weiss is her name -- you know what she said?
She said it should not require an act of courage for a moderate independent to go to work at a major American newspaper. It ought to be the absolute definition of what that newspaper would want, a moderate independent, somebody that it's not bias. We'll leave aside for the moment that there's no way she's not a leftist. I mean, she works for the New York Times.
But the point is, she fashions herself an independent. She fashions herself a moderate. And showing up for work as a moderate, as an independent, means you're gonna get bullied and shouted and hooted out of there. It shouldn't require an act of courage to go to work as an independent or as a moderate at the nation's leading newspaper.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: All right. We're back. Now, I'm gonna get to the phones here for just a second before I get to the Bari Weiss resignation, the New York Times op-ed page editor, 'cause it's fascinating, a very teachable moment. In fact, Victor Davis Hanson has a piece today at National Review entitled, "Peak Jacobinism?" Now, by Jacobin, he's referring to like in the French Revolution a member of a radical society or a club of revolutionaries that promoted, say, in the French Revolution the Reign of Terror and other extreme measures.
And they began to peak and question what they're doing, and it all begins to fall by the wayside. And he's asking, are we reaching that point here, peak Jacobinism with the current iteration of the revolutionary left in this country? So the Bari Weiss resignation letter may be that. Mr. Hanson may have been prescient beyond his ability to understand it when he wrote the piece at National Review. But I'll connect those dots in the monologue segment of the next busy broadcast hour.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Victor Davis Hanson's piece today, "Peak Jacobinism?" The Jacobins were the most radical, anti-elites and agitators in the French Revolution. And Victor's piece today is asking, no matter what kind of movement you're talking about, it's tough to sustain the massive emotional level you need and intellectual. It's difficult to sustain, particularly this kind of revolution, which is an illicit one, one born of no values of any consequence. A revolution born of illogical, irrational rage and anger, a revolution born of no solutions.
By the way, the Redskins have announced they're getting rid of their name. You know the anger out there? Bob Costas is mad. Bob Costas is mad that it took corporate pressure to get it done rather than real social justice. So wait a minute. I thought the objective was to get rid of the name Redskins because it was so atrocious, it was so insulting, it was so racially insulting, it's demeaning. So we're gonna get rid of name. Not enough. Not enough.
Now we're angry that it took FedEx pressure to get it done, that it took pressure from Nike, that Dan Snyder didn't really have any massive social justice conversion. He just cowardly caved. I'm warning you, do not think you can appease these people. Do not think you can buy them off by giving them a portion of what they want. Do not think you can make them go away by giving them a little of what they want, like defund the cops, half a million instead of a full million, the defund the cops. You cannot, nothing can make them happy. As such, the revolution is gonna burn out.
So with that, Bari Weiss is the op-ed editor at the New York Times. She took over for James Bennet, who they fired, if you'll remember, 'cause he ran an op-ed written by Tom Cotton, the senator from Arkansas, a United States senator. And he ran an article in support of deploying the military on the streets of America to restore order during the rioting and looting.
The staff at the New York Times bullied James Bennet and threatened the management that he had to be fired, and they fired him for running an op-ed by a U.S. senator. Then, he had to do a bunch of Drew Brees kinds of bend over, grab the ankles apologies. And that wasn't enough for them. So the replacement was a woman named Bari Weiss. She has now resigned. She was a staff writer.
She was editor for the opinion section, the op-ed page, is leaving the New York Times after constant bullying by colleagues. I have here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers her resignation letter. And I have to tell you, it's nothing you see written these days. Let me give you some pull quotes from the letter. Pull quote number one.
"Twitter is" -- this is her letter of resignation to A. G. Sulzberger the 19th. He's the 32-year -- he's already bald -- the 32-year-old son of Punch, Pinch Sulzberger, that Little Pinch. This is his kid, A. G. His name is Arthur G. the 14th but they call him A. G. to make him seem older. 'Cause he's really a young guy. So that's who the letter is to.
"Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor."
Folks, this is a profundity that -- for somebody at the New York Times to tell them Twitter is not America, folks, this is gonna be our ultimate salvation. In fact, I don't want to say this too loud, and I don't want you to repeat it. I don't want you to go out there on your own social media and say: "Limbaugh said, Rush said," because the more they think Twitter is American popular public opinion, the better it is for us, because Twitter isn't.
Half of Twitter is robots. The other half of Twitter is genuine Looney Tune insanasonics. They are people that you don't know. They hide behind the cloak of anonymity. They are human debris in many instances. But journalism's gotten so lazy that Twitter has become a stand-in for national public opinion. I'm so sick of it. I've been sick of it for I don't know how long.
You have a news story. Somewhere in the story, "and Twitter blew up" or "a tweet went viral." Yeah? Viral with who? They try to make us believe that Twitter is public opinion. Therefore, public opinion is radical left, and radical leftism is now the majority of America, and the New York Times believes it. And this is her warning. A. G., "Twitter is not on the masthead of the New York Times, and Twitter has become the ultimate editor." And it's really true.
So this guy James Bennet, he publishes an op-ed by Tom Cotton, somebody on Twitter gets mad about it, writes a scathing tweet, gets retweeted, New York Times staff sees it, "Oh, my God. Twitter hates us. Oh, my God. We gotta get rid of Bennet." So they get rid of Bennet because of Twitter. They don't even know anybody on Twitter except each other, but they don't know these anonymous tweet losers, and they do not know these bots because they're not people.
Bari Weiss, " "As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions."
Damn right. The New York Times has become the epitome of tyranny and authoritarianism. You're not allowed to have any other point of view if you read the paper. You must conform to the opinions in the news stories or you're not even welcome as a subscriber.
Bari Weiss: "I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now, history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative."
Meaning, you're not even allowing for history. You are predetermining it and then finding ways to write history to conform to what you want it to be, with no concern for what it actually is. Meaning the facts of a story are irrelevant, particularly if they don't conform with the desired outcome.
Bari Weiss: "My own forays into Wrongthink" -- that's with a capital W -- "have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist," she's Jewish, by the way. "I have learned to brush off comments about how I'm 'writing about the Jews again.' Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers.
"My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in. There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly 'inclusive' one, while others post ax emojis next to my name. Still other New York Times employees publicly smear me as a liar and a bigot on Twitter with no fear that harassing me will be met with appropriate action. They never are. There are terms for all of this: unlawful discrimination, hostile work environment, and constructive discharge. I'm no legal expert. But I know that this is wrong.
"All this bodes ill, especially for independent-minded young writers and editors paying close attention to what they'll have to do to advance in their careers. Rule One: Speak your mind at your own peril." In other words, don't. "Rule Two: Never risk commissioning a story that goes against the narrative. Rule Three: Never believe an editor or publisher who urges you to go against the grain. Eventually, the publisher will cave to the mob, the editor will get fired or reassigned, and you'll be hung out to dry.
Can you believe this? The New York Times op-ed editor writing about becoming a victim of the mob, which is the staff at the paper. Mr. Hanson is right on the money. Peak Jacobinism. "For these young writers and editors, there is one consolation. As places like The Times and other once-great journalistic institutions betray their standards and lose sight of their principles, Americans still hunger for news that is accurate, opinions that are vital, and debate that is sincere. I hear from these people every day."
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: The Official Program Observer, Mr. Snerdley, just asked me if I thought the New York Times was in any way shamed by this resignation letter from Bari Weiss. There's no way. No way. Its staff, the management, are not shamed by any of this. When's the last time you ever heard of a shamed dictator, a shamed tyrannical authoritarian?
They don't know what shame is. They don't have consciences. Let that be a good lesson to you. You can't guilt trip these people on the left into calming down or to going easy on us. There's no such thing as guilt or conscience, shame. They don't have those emotions. Look. There's more on the Bari Weiss.