The Washington Post has been among President Trump’s top critics because of the supposed threat that he poses to the free press.  The President’s Twitter tirades against CNN have caused the Post to sound the alarm bells about the erosion of our Democratic norms, with many fearing that the end result might be journalists being thrown in prison. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodgan, who has actually jailed 150 journalists in just the last year was rewarded with a platform in the Washington Post’s opinion pages.

Following President Trump’s election in 2016, the Post adopted a new slogan that graces the masthead of their website; “Democracy Dies in Darkness”.  A casual observer may think that this means that the Washington Post is interested in defending Democracy and the free press, but in the wake of the Christchurch shooting, they chose Turkey’s autocratic President to be their spokesperson against Islamophobia.  The dictator was published in the Washington Post in an article condemning Islamophobia the past week.

If it weren’t bad enough that the Washington Post has laid bare its blatant hypocrisy by giving a platform to someone who has actually thrown journalists in jail, Erdogan is also up for re-election in just 10 days, and has cynically seized on the Chirstchurch shooting to rally voters behind him.  Erdogan has shown footage of the shooting at his campaign rallies to stoke anti western and nationalist sentiment.  Despite all of this, the Washington Post’s Op-Ed by Erdogan remains on their website as recently as this morning.

Erdogan’s cynical exploitation of the Christchurch shootings has not stopped there, he has also threatened Australians and New Zealanders who will be traveling to Galipoli to mourn their dead during WW1 with violence.  He said of the mourners that “Your grandparents came here … and they returned in caskets,” he said, the ABC reported. “Have no doubt we will send you back like your grandfathers.”  Australia and New Zealand have issued travel advisories warning against potential violence as a result.