Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey came under withering fire Saturday after promoting an article touting the end of bipartisanship and urging one side — Democrats — to thoroughly defeat their opponents as California did in the early 2000s.
“Great read,” said Dorsey of the piece in a quote retweet that was swiftly ratio’ed.
Great read https://t.co/O2djSQf8Qv
— jack (@jack) April 6, 2018
The original piece, published on Medium by authors Peter Leyden and Ruy Teixeira, analogized our current political environment to the Civil War and suggested that Republicans needed to be “thoroughly defeated.”
“In this current period of American politics, at this juncture in our history, there’s no way that a bipartisan path provides the way forward. The way forward is on the path California blazed about 15 years ago,” wrote Leyden and Teixeira.
“At some point, one side or the other must win – and win big. The side resisting change, usually the one most rooted in the past systems and incumbent interests, must be thoroughly defeated .”
The article — and Dorsey’s promotion — is noteworth,y as Twitter has come under fire for years from conservatives over what they say is liberal bias on the platform. Twitter has long used the verification process as a form of quasi-endorsement, dispensing blue checks to favored accounts, while denying them to those out of favor. Julian Assange — the Wikileaks provocateur currently holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London — still remains unverified, despite his frequent protests.
A spokesperson for Twitter did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap Saturday.
Comment instead was amply provided by the Twitter hive mind that savaged Dorsey on the platform he helped invent.
Twitter's CEO loves this article about driving conservatives from public life and turning the rest of the country into California in the "new civil war." Literally what it's about https://t.co/b8DUxlC9Cw
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) April 6, 2018
One party rule’s been great for free speech and other individual rights. Twitter’s still banned in China, right?
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) April 7, 2018
The best part of his Tweet is that it assumes he’d win.
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) April 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/beyondreasdoubt/status/982676763594641408
https://twitter.com/CaseyMattox_/status/982655606539644930
It’s great to see the CEO of @Twitter clarify that indeed, Republicans are the enemy, that conservatives are subhumans to be defeated, not respected, and California, which ranks last in quality of life and is a laughable parody of a US state, is indeed America’s future.
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) April 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/982648358425759745
That commitment to openness only lasted a month for you retweeted an article calling for the elimination of political opposition. pic.twitter.com/jJdwTjy4rb
— Jamin Lynch (@Lynch_Jamin) April 7, 2018