The Washington Post faced backlash on Saturday evening over a headline that praised President Joe Biden in response to the Senate passing Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
The headline, which was later featured in a tweet, stated, “Biden stimulus showers money on Americans, sharply cutting poverty in defining move of presidency.”
Reaction to the headline was overwhelmingly negative across the political spectrum with many calling it propaganda.
Here are some of the newsworthy responses the the headline garnered:
- Kelley Paul, wife of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): “Creepy headline worthy of North Korea. Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post letting us know all is well— keep taking your Soma, watching Netflix, and ordering from Amazon, because Biden is ‘showering’ us with money!”
- Josh Jordan: “Did Joe Biden write this headline?”
- Jessica Taylor, former GOP congressional candidate, “More like: Biden stimulus saddles debt on Americans, furthering poverty in opening move of presidency.”
- Peter Daou, left-wing activist: “PROPAGANDA”
- Tom Franklin, news editor: “Are they serious? I spent part of my youth in an impoverished home. A one-time $1,400 payment doesn’t ‘sharply cut poverty’. It’s a band-aid on a deep cut gushing blood. It improves a man in poverty…for now. Then it’s right back to diving in the couch cushions for quarters.”
- Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH): “As my friend @APompliano wisely observed, by this logic, after the previous +$4-trillion spent, the wealth gap in America would be closing, not expanding. This bill destroys the dollar, expands the wealth gap, and fails to provide the most essential stimulus checks-paychecks.”
- Christopher White, news producer: “It’s gonna be very difficult for peeps on the bottom rungs of the economic totem pole to stay afloat in an economy beset with tons of inflationary pressures without a substantial min wage increase. Prices are gonna increase and it’s gonna suck for a lot of folks on the low end.”
- Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT): “Seems unbiased to me. Maybe they’ll even start hammering him with tough questions like ‘what’s your favorite color?’.”
- Tatjana Pasalic: “I moved from Eastern Europe so I don’t have to read such disgusting propaganda. Nobody is being lifted from poverty by receiving a one time payment of $1,400. Get out of here with this bs.”
- Chris Pack, GOP strategist: “Go take a cold shower, WaPo.”
- Ian Miles Cheong: “China would never even write something so nakedly sycophantic about Xi Jinping. This is North Korean levels of Pravda.”
- Abdul Dremali: “….did joe biden write this?”
- Andy Specht, reporter: “What an embarrassing tweet.”
- Elijah Schaffer, The Blaze: “Joseph Goebbles would be proud of this one.”
- Matt Welch, Reason Editor at large: “One of the purposes of journalism is to measure tangible impact as opposed to projections or intent.”
- Max Abrahms, professor: “Great journalism, not embarrassing at all.”
- Stephen Miller, political commentator: “North Korea is asking you to tone it down a bit.”
- Left Voice: “The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos and it shows. This aint a shower. It’s a tiny drop in the bucket.”