Conservative Site RedState Apparently Purging Itself Of Trump Critics In ‘Mass Firing’
While many in conservative media complained vociferously about The Atlantic’s recent dismissal of right-wing writer Kevin Williamson over old comments he made about hanging women for having abortions, a well-known conservative site has decided to rid itself of a number of writers who haven’t jumped aboard the Trump Train.
Friday morning brought the news that Salem Media, the owner of influential right-wing site RedState, had fired a whole slew of writers while temporarily locking the site. RedState founder Erick Erickson, who left RedState a few years ago, broke the news of the “mass firing.”
Mass firing at RedState today by Salem/Townhall. Very sad to see, but not really surprising given Salem's direction. And, finally, after all these years, they've turned off my account.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) April 27, 2018
CNN’s Brian Stelter highlighted that a number of sources told him that the terminations were largely determined by who was supportive of the president.
“”Insufficiently partisan” was the phrase one writer used in a RedState group chat.
“They fired everybody who was insufficiently supportive of Trump,” one of the sources who spoke with CNNMoney said, adding, “how do you define being ‘sufficiently supportive’ of Trump?””
Stelter also reported that the firings were about money as well, but that sources told him that the “deciding factor between any two people seems to have been who liked the president and who didn’t.”
Some writers for the site spoke out on Twitter about the situation, including now-former editor-in-chief Caleb Howe.
The rumors are true. There has been a mass firing at RedState, and those let go (including me) are all Trump critics. His supporters remain.
— Patterico (@Patterico) April 27, 2018
oh boy have I got some shit to say today.
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) April 27, 2018
There is a right way to do something and a fucked up way. I don't make you choose the fucked up way, I just make you pay for it if you choose it. You can call me back or you can watch this unfold right here, guy.
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) April 27, 2018
Erickson wrote that he would take on recently fired RedState writers and put them on a stipend for his site The Resurgent, adding that it isn’t much but it could help. He also noted that RedState “is all but dead now.”
Interestingly, RedState had recently published pieces commenting on the Williamson situation and how it showed liberals were “afraid of ideas that are outside of their comfort zone.”
