The head of the Republican National Committee ripped Politico’s co-founder and editor-in-chief Wednesday for implying that President Donald Trump is a white nationalist.
The condemnation came after a tweet from John Harris, in which he responded to an NBC News report that a white national leader wanted to “take over” the GOP.
“Thought that job had been filled,” Harris tweeted in response to a posting of the NBC News account by pollster Larry Sabato.
RNC chair Ronna McDaniel was outraged.
“This offensive statement from the head of Politico is another example of why distrust in the media is at an all-time high,” she tweeted.
Conservative Arthur Schwartz also fired back — demanding Republicans boycott any interview requests from Politico.
“Until this guy is gone from Politico, no Republicans should take calls from or help his reporters. He’s not hiding it — this is what he thinks of us. Despicable,” Schwartz tweeted.
Harris later tweeted to “clarify” his tweet — conceding that Schwartz made a “fair point.”
“This could be interpreted as broad swipe rather than a quip about the headline on the NBC piece,” Harris said. “Sometimes wisecracks get lost in Twitter translation so appreciate the chance to clarify.”
Meanwhile, The Hill reached out for comment from Politico — and got a response that went beyond Harris’s explanation, asserting Harris was making a point about how there was no prospect of someone taking over the GOP from Trump.
“More specifically, his point was that there is currently no prospect of anyone taking over the Republican Party from its current leader – President Trump, which most Republicans and political observers would presumably agree with,” the spokesman told The Hill.