Jonathan Capehart, co-host of MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” is opening up about his decision to leave The Washington Post after almost two decades. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist addressed his departure from the paper while filling in for Lawrence O’Donnell on “The Last Word” Thursday evening.
“On Jan. 5, 2007, a call with Fred Hiatt changed my life,” Capehart began. “I was dying a slow death at a corporate public relations firm during my second departure from journalism.”
At the time, Hiatt was the editorial page editor of The Washington Post. According to Capehart, the two had been in contact throughout the years, but nothing had ever come of it. “This time was different,” he said. “Hiatt hired me.”
Capehart described the early days at the Post as “a swirl of terrified excitement” and reflected on the wide range of work he was able to do during his “18 years, five months and 16 days” at the paper.
Earlier this year, Capehart said, he began to question his future at the Post after “a critical decision” by the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, triggered the resignation of Hiatt’s successor as the opinion section editor, David Shipley.
“In February, the owner of the Post decided that the section would focus on the twin pillars of ‘personal liberties’ and ‘free markets,’” Capehart explained. “We in the section received an email from our new editor, which reiterated that and added that it’s also important we communicate with optimism about this country in particular and the future in general.”
Capehart said he struggled to understand the directive: “How can we communicate with optimism about the future in general when we’re living in the here and now, where American democracy is in peril? Or put another way: How can one constantly extol the beauty of a home’s doors, crown moldings and windows when the rest of the house is engulfed in flames and its foundation is flooding?”
“Unapologetic patriotism is incomplete if it doesn’t allow for a mirror to be held up to America, her people and her president — to hold them all accountable when they have strayed from her founding principles,” he added.
“The Weekend” co-host then listed some of the ways he believes America, under Donald Trump, had strayed from those founding principles: The administration is playing chicken with federal courts. The administration is using masked federal agents to snatch people off the streets and send them to hellish prisons abroad. The administration deployed the military on the streets of an American city. The president is using his office to enrich himself and his family. He’s turned Congress, a co-equal branch of government, into the staff wing of the executive branch. Capehart said he was unable to put aside that reality in order to continue work at the Post: “And we’re supposed to ignore it? Leave it to others to wrestle with on their news pages and websites? No, no, no.” “The Constitution gives us the inherent, unapologetically patriotic right to rail against such affronts to democracy and the rule of law,” Capehart concluded. “The First Amendment demands it.” You can watch Capehart’s full explanation in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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