Ultra-Quickies: When Speaking To One Of The “Gentlemen of the Press:”

     ...always record the conversation:

     Jonathan Martin, the national political correspondent of The New York Times, called Donald Trump a “racist” and “fascist” during two campaign conversations with a Republican National Committee staff member, according to people with direct knowledge of the exchanges.

     Martin said that those working for the presidential candidate were “complicit” in his racist campaign, these people said.

     I first reported these heated conversations in my forthcoming book, “Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press and the War Over the Truth.” Two more sources have now emerged to confirm the account.

     The following comes from Howard Kurtz’s book Media Madness:

     Weeks before the convention, an RNC staff member called Martin one night to challenge one of his stories. The reporter shot back, “You’re a racist and a fascist; Donald Trump is a racist and a fascist, we all know it, and you are complicit. By supporting him you’re all culpable.”

     During the fall campaign, the party staffer called him again, and Martin accused the staffer—and everyone working on Trump’s behalf—of supporting a racist campaign and a racist candidate.

     This time the staffer was distraught and relayed the conversation to the boss, Sean Spicer. Spicer called a top Times editor and unloaded about Martin’s behavior. The editor thanked Spicer for the information.

     Half an hour later, Martin called Spicer and demanded: “How dare you go behind my back? What are you doing calling one of my editors?”

     “Excuse me,” Spicer replied, “you call one of my people and say this and I don’t have a right to complain?”

     These press bastards are destroying all grounds for believing in the possibility of honest journalism. They’re not reporters. They’re not even opinion-mongers. In Glenn Reynolds’ words, they’re “Democrat operatives with bylines.” They need to be taken down really bloody quick.