Last Sunday, journalist and political commentator Charles Hurt published a scathing article in the Washington Times on CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta.
The conclusion that Hurt drew from his analysis is, unsurprisingly, that Acosta should be fired.
Tipping point
The incident that seems to have pushed Hurt over the edge occurred when President Donald Trump met with reporters from around the world at the tail end of his overseas trip.
Acosta was among the assembled journalists, and in the spirit of putting past differences aside, the president was gracious enough to call on him to ask a question. That is when Acosta, “at a time when the American political press could not possibly do any more to embarrass itself,” according to Hurt, took an opportunity to pounce.
“Do you agree,” Acosta asked, “that it is despicable for a government to kill a journalist,” making reference to the death of Jamal Khashoggi last October.
“Who gave this idiot a microphone?” asked Hurt. “Who gave him a press badge? Who would give this nut a minute of airtime?”
Acosta scorched
To say that Hurt took issue with Acosta’s question would be an understatement. “Mr. Acosta gets a shot at asking the leader of the free world a question and this ridiculous bozo asks the president whether he opposes a part-time newspaper columnist being murdered and brutally dismembered with a bone saw,” he wrote.
“He asked this in front of a roomful of reporters from around the world,” Hurt continued. “What must those people think of America? The seriousness of our press? What a joke.”
President Trump responded to Acosta’s question by, of course, saying, “Yes, I do. I think it’s horrible,” a response Hurt said is “the way a parent answers a crybaby having a temper tantrum.”
“Like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson before him,” Hurt wrote, “Mr. Trump understands that freedom can be messy. And it is best to let ludicrous loudmouths like Jim Acosta have their say, like the raving lunatic caterwauling on the street corner gets his. Best to just let the nut vent. And then serious people can all get on with the serious work at hand.”
Firing warranted
Hurt went on to argue that Acosta, clearly suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, ought to be fired.
“CNN should strip him of his press credentials,” Hurt asserted. “He should be forced to file as a registered lobbyist for the Democrat National Committee or whatever committee handles this virulent strain of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Someone needs to change his diaper and shove a pacifier in his suckling lips.”
Indeed. But, as we know, there is little hope of his employers, who seem to be equally incubated, taking that kind of overdue action.
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