To show just where the media stands on the Trump-Russia story, an independent journalist and former New York Times contributor is calling the affair the "biggest crime in the history of American politics," and the press is applauding him for it.

Jared Yates Sexton even won an interview with the industry Bible, the Columbia Journalism Review, after Donald Trump Jr. tweeted screenshots of his emails at the center of the newest "scandal" over meeting with a Russian lawyer who was thought to have incriminating evidence on Hillary Rodham Clinton.

This is the dumbest and biggest crime in the history of American politics. There's not even a close second. — Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) July 11, 2017

In response to the Trump Jr. tweet, Sexton tweeted: "This is the dumbest and biggest crime in the history of American politics. There's not even a close second."

Sexton has been dogging the Trump-Russia story for a year, and is publishing a book about the campaign. During the campaign he also wrote on the "aggressive" Trump crowds, according to his description of his book.

In the interview, he called Trump Jr.'s tweet the "smoking gun" in the Russian collusion case.

"This entire time, I kept hoping I or somebody else would come across some sort of smoking gun, but I never expected the son of the president to just tweet it out on a Tuesday," he told CJR.

Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017

His upcoming book is titled, "The People are going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore — A Story of American Rage." He calls it an "instant classic" and compared it to the works of Norman Mailer and Hunter S. Thompson.

From his webpage:

"It is a sobering chronicle of the sicknesses that plague our democracy―a divided nation drowning in racism, misogyny, violence, fake news, and deep-rooted political polarization as a result of our self-constructed, technologically-assisted echo chambers. Like the works of Hunter S. Thompson and Norman Mailer―books that have paved the way for important narratives that shape how we perceive not only the politics of our time but also our way of life―The People Are Going to Rise Like The Waters Upon Your Shore is an instant classic, an authoritative depiction of a country struggling to make sense of itself...An instant classic."

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com