It looks like both sides are playing the exact same game.



Salem Media, owner of the influential conservative outlet RedState, froze the site on Friday and dismissed many of its writers.

Erick Erickson, the site's longtime editor who left in 2015, tweeted about what he called the "mass firing" on Friday morning.

"Very sad to see, but not really surprising given Salem's direction," he wrote. "And, finally, after all these years, they've turned off my account."

Multiple sources told CNNMoney that they believed conservative critics of President Trump were the writers targeted for removal. "Insufficiently partisan" was the phrase one writer used in a RedState group chat. "They fired everybody who was insufficiently supportive of Trump," one of the sources who spoke with CNNMoney said, adding, "how do you define being 'sufficiently supportive' of Trump?"

The rumors are true. There has been a mass firing at RedState, and those let go (including me) are all Trump critics. His supporters remain. — Patterico (@Patterico) April 27, 2018

Hmmm. Banning dissenting and independent opinions.

That sounds vaguely familiar to me. Does it sound familiar to you?

After the primaries on March 15, “I will no longer tolerate malicious attacks on our presumptive presidential nominee or our presidential efforts,” Kos writes, speaking on behalf of everyone who uses the high-traffic site.

Ironically, almost exactly eight years before, during the presidential campaign in mid-March 2008, Kos banned criticism of Obama and insisted Clinton “doesn’t deserve fairness on this site” — but more on that in a moment.

...

Then the clincher: “Saying you won’t vote, or will vote for Trump, or will vote for Jill Stein (or another Third Party) is not allowed,” Kos declares.”If that’s how you feel, but have other places in which you can be constructive on the site, then keep your presidential feelings to yourself,” the Daily Kos despot states.

Kos also goes out of his way to ban “pessimism” and being a “Debbie-Downer,” substantive political concerns.

“Battle ‘the establishment’ where it makes sense,” the glorious leader declares. “So you are angry at the establishment? Go stick it to the man in downballot races where there good anti-establishment candidates on the ballot [sic].”

“We pick our battles, and in many places, the establishment will be our allies,” Kos openly admits.

In early 2016, the GOS was ranked by Alexa as the 272nd biggest website in the United States.

Gee. I wonder how purges of blasphemers works out?





I'm sure that things will turn around at RedState just like they did at OrangeState.