By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Monday, August 6, 2018

The New York Times said it vetted her social-media history before Sarah Jeong was hired last week, which means the newspaper was presumably aware of her “Trump is Hitler” tweets.

In addition to firing off anti-white and anti-cop missives, Ms. Jeong, the latest member of the newspaper’s editorial board, repeatedly equated Donald Trump to Adolph Hitler on Twitter leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Her account included declarations such as “Trump is Hitler,” “Trump = Hitler,” and “trump is basically hitler,” as well as “Was Hitler as rapey as Donald Trump?”

Ms. Jeong, whose age is listed online at about 30, also pushed back on those challenging the comparison as recently as last year.

After announcing her hiring last week, the newspaper came under heated criticism for bringing on an opinion writer whose numerous racially charged social-media statements include “dumba— f—-ing white people” and “#CancelWhitePeople,” both from 2014.

The newspaper stood by Ms. Jeong in a Thursday statement, saying her anti-white blasts were a reaction to “frequent online harassment” and that “[s]he regrets it, and we do not condone it.”

The Times also made it clear that her tweets were no surprise, saying, “We had candid conversations with Sarah as part of our thorough vetting process, which included a review of her social media history.”

In November 2015, she declared “cops are a—holes,” and in 2014 and 2015 she tweeted anti-male statements such as “kill more men.”

Conservative columnist Mollie Hemingway on Sunday accused the New York Times of hypocrisy after publisher A.G. Sulzberger criticized President Trump’s “increasingly dangerous” language.

“This week the New York Times hired Sarah Jeong on their editorial page. She is a virulent racist, and they defended it as if it’s not a problem,” said Ms. Hemingway on Fox’s “Media Buzz.” “They need to hold themselves to the high standard they’re holding others.”

Ms. Jeong’s defenders have swung back by blasting her critics for instigating what the Verge called a “widespread campaign of harassment.”

Ms. Jeong, a senior writer for the Verge, said last week she was engaging in what she thought of at the time as “counter-trolling.”

“While it was intended as satire, I deeply regret that I mimicked the language of my harassers,” she said in a Thursday statement.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.

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