Michael Hirsh tweets: “I think it’s good that neo-Nazi Richard Spencer is moving to Washington. It’s important that we know where he lives.”
Publishing address of Nazi Richard Spencer and call for baseball bats is totally legitimate https://t.co/bKxQjnhbtN
— David Ha'ivri ?? (@haivri) November 22, 2016
These Nazis need to be rooted out of society. They are the kind of people I would like to see hanging from a tree. https://t.co/3rU9U4BGtF
— David Ha'ivri ?? (@haivri) November 22, 2016
Jewish Violence is a very serious problem.
I hope the SPLC & ADL can work with us to help educate America on this serious & growing problem. https://t.co/7ASdmltbZl— ?John Rivers? (@JohnRiversX2) November 22, 2016
National editor at Politico Michael Hirsh resigned after publishing the home addresses of alt-right figurehead Richard Spencer Tuesday morning and advocating for serious violence.
Politico confirmed his resignation following requests for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Stop whining about Richard B. Spencer, Nazi, and exercise your rights as decent Americans,” Hirsh wrote in a public Facebook post. “Here are his two addresses.”
“These posts were clearly outside the bounds of acceptable discourse, and POLITICO editors regard them as a serious lapse of newsroom standards,” Politico Editor-In-Chief John Harris and Editor Carrie Budoff Brown told TheDCNF. “They crossed a line in ways that the publication will not defend, and editors are taking steps to ensure that such a lapse does not occur again.”
While Hirsh’s initial post could have been charitably interpreted to imply advocacy of a non-violent protest outside of Spencer’s home or other similar non-violent actions, a subsequent question and answer clarified Hirsh’s intentions.
“Completely agree we should mobilize against his hateful ideas, but what does knowing his home addresses do?” asked Doug Widmann, Harvard Law graduate and senior vice president at the at The D. E. Shaw Group. “Send a letter? Confront him in person? Seems like counter-speech is the main thing we can do. You can call it “whining” but I’m not sure that’s fair or constructive. Side note: Apparently the GSA-owned Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in DC felt obligated to host his organization’s event because it can’t discriminate against speech under the First Amendment, so there’s that problem, too.”
Hirsh responded in an unhinged manner: “I wasn’t thinking of a fucking letter, Doug. He lives part of the time next door to me in Arlington. Our grandfathers brought baseball bats to Bund meetings. Want to join me?”
Perhaps knowing it wasn’t such a good idea to advocate openly for serious violence against Spencer in a public format, Hirsh deleted the post, but not before TheDCNF grabbed a screenshot.
According to Wikipedia: “Michael Hirsh is the national editor for Politico. He is the former foreign editor and chief diplomatic correspondent for Newsweek. He was a member of JournoList. He is a lecturer and has appeared numerous times as a commentator on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and is a frequent guest of The Young Turks, a streaming internet political talk show. In addition to Newsweek, he has also written for Foreign Affairs, Harper’s, and Washington Monthly. Hirsh was co-winner of the Overseas Press Club award for best magazine reporting from abroad in 2001 for “prescience in identifying the al Qaeda threat half a year before the September 11 attacks” and for Newsweek’s coverage of the war on terror, which also won a National Magazine Award. He lives in Washington, D.C.”
Curious to hear his proposal for eradication. https://t.co/uzbOmfux1Q
— David Pinsen (@dpinsen) November 22, 2016
I think it's good that neo-Nazi Richard Spencer is moving to Washington. It's important that we know where he lives. https://t.co/Z3pKeYtWX0
— Michael Hirsh (@michaelphirsh) November 21, 2016
