Democracy dies when the #Resistance says it does, apparently.
Following President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address on Tuesday, the Washington Post posted an image of its upcoming front page, complete with a story on the speech headlined, "A call for bipartisanship."
Here's the front page of tomorrow's Washington Post: pic.twitter.com/5HQmDNoa4r
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 31, 2018
That infuriated many liberals on social media, who insisted that it was too uncritical of the president's speech.
What in the hell? https://t.co/6ZlpzYlHw4
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) January 31, 2018
Not up to the standards of a great newspaper https://t.co/JGxSun5hsC
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) January 31, 2018
my god https://t.co/mh6H3Y9MpG
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 31, 2018
Trash headline.
Alternative: White supremacist announces bigoted immigration plan that will tear families apart https://t.co/8IaMCkIinC
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) January 31, 2018
You spelled dictatorship wrong. https://t.co/vfpRFCGs0m
— Steve Marmel (@Marmel) January 31, 2018
The backlash led the Washington Post to announce shortly afterwards that it would change the headline in a later edition to: "A 'new American Moment,'" a quote from Trump's address.
This page was updated after the first edition. Here is the final front page. pic.twitter.com/nfR7p2wEPB
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 31, 2018
But that prompted a new round of mockery, both from liberals who insisted the new headline was too positive about Trump's speech, and from conservatives who called out the paper for bowing to pressure.
Just as bad. "Trump Adopts Gentler Approach." Go see the film THE POST. https://t.co/CL6dBAjN60
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) January 31, 2018
HAHAHAHAHA, WaPo changed its front page after people complained. Losers. https://t.co/MdxDy6pQaY
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) January 31, 2018
Nice work, @twitter. We pressured Wash Po into a new headline. I’m not sure it’s that much better, but at least it doesn’t say "bipartisanship." https://t.co/SK9nYbid57
— Eliza Orlins (@eorlins) January 31, 2018
Brave gatekeepers of free press caves to an angry twitter mob. Great slogan guys. https://t.co/Nghu7dSZBX
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 31, 2018