It's getting harder to tell the journalists from the performers
Case in point: Political reporter Glenn Thrush, who has a knack for failing up. He had a starring role in the John Podesta emails released by WikiLeaks last year.
In April 2015, while working as chief political correspondent for Politico, Thrush sent an inappropriate series of emails to Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta. In one, Thrush told Podesta that he was working on a fundraising story, and helpfully offered: "Can I send u a couple of grafs, OTR [off the record], to make sure I'm not f------ anything up?"
Normally, for a journalist, this would be a good way of f------ up your career.
Podesta responded: "Sure." Thrush then wrote back with an even sweeter offer, saying: "Because I have become a hack I will send u the whole section that pertains to u."
Thrush is right about being a hack, but he was wrong to offer to send his story over to a source for pre-clearance. He must have sensed as much, which is why he told Podesta: "Please don't share or tell anyone I did this."
Yes, because a journalist would never want the truth to come out.
Thrush should have been fired by Politico. Instead, he got a promotion of sorts when he was hired by The New York Times to cover the White House. He also got a contributor deal at MSNBC. In his new role, @GlennThrush recently tweeted:
"Any debate about civility in politics begins with Trump. No one has degraded discourse more, while embracing the fringe. Fact, not opinion."
You heard the hack. Fact, not opinion. As if, at this point, any of us can tell the difference.
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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.
(c) 2017, The Washington Post Writers Group
