As you now know, Republican Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona calling CNN congressional reporter Manu Raju a “liberal hack” has triggered the national media in epic fashion. Now the investigative journalism phase is kicking in post-insult, and one Politico reporter is all over it:

A little insight into how calculated this was. McSally attacked Manu in the 10am hour. She had registered the domain name "https://t.co/YQW3ySFPna" by the 11am hour. (16:24 UTC = 11:24 EST) pic.twitter.com/TkBHt8S2BZ — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 17, 2020

The NY Times’ Maggie Haberman joined in:

Are you suggesting this may not have been on the level? https://t.co/OkAaQWf8EQ — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 17, 2020

Who, me? ¯_(ツ)_/¯ — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 17, 2020

Call the Pulitzer people!

The only insight here is into how aggressively stupid the political journalist class is. It’s a domain name purchase, not open heart surgery, and it happened after the exchange, not before. https://t.co/dMrdP8ODkY — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 17, 2020

"McSally attacked Manu" I'm hoping Manu recovers fully after he leaves the ICU https://t.co/SX3YENsr99 — Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) January 17, 2020

“Attacked”? Can the media get more snowflake-y?

If it was registered before 10am then you'd have a story. — AndrewStateCollegePA (@andrew16875) January 17, 2020

It’s almost as if McSally and her staff know what the general public thinks about the national media (not that journos realize it).

Hey reporters. There's… ummm… some real important shit going on and we need you. 40 minutes to register a domain name is 39 more than you need. Sorry your friend got yelled at, but come TF on. We need you on your A game https://t.co/vp5C9YBMw8 — Nomi Atoll (@NomiAtoll) January 17, 2020

Is Manu going to survive from this “attack”?! I hear the Docs are saying his chances of recovery are slim to none. Keep us updated Kyle! https://t.co/8a60wwQNuK — Nick Short ?? (@PoliticalShort) January 17, 2020

Pulitzer worthy work. ? — Wazowski Delecto (@WazowskiMighty) January 17, 2020

They're so savvy that they realize they got played by somebody who knows how they operate, and it took them less than 24 hours to catch on. https://t.co/c7SDQXsP7p — It's still 2016 apparently (@jtLOL) January 17, 2020

It’s almost as if the MSM is totally predictable.