WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, the American Principles Project sent a letter signed by 37 top conservative leaders to The Washington Post calling on the newspaper to stop promoting columnist Jennifer Rubin as a conservative and to instead hire a columnist who could “eloquently and effectively” defend the policies of President Trump and his party:

“We, of course, respect the right of The Washington Post to employ whatever writers it pleases — even Jennifer Rubin. However, we ask for the sake of intellectual honesty that the Post cease to identify her as in any way “conservative.” Given the Post’s standing as an important platform for political opinion in our nation’s capital, we also respectfully request that you consider hiring a voice who can eloquently and effectively defend the positions held by our President, his party, and the millions of voters who elected him. We would be happy to provide recommendations.”

The letter, which provided numerous examples of Rubin’s writing in which she took positions completely counter to conservatives, also argued that the newspaper’s identification of Rubin as “center-right” was exactly the type of misleading practice that has contributed to an erosion of trust in the media, particularly among conservatives:

“Anyone following Rubin’s writing closely at this point would rightfully find the claim that she is ‘conservative’ laughable. And yet, she is still regularly touted in the media as a conservative voice — and by your own paper as ‘reporting from a center-right perspective.’

“This issue exemplifies why so many Americans — particularly conservatives — hold a high distrust of the media. How can an average reader take the Post’s opinion section seriously when, of its numerous regular columnists, none can be found which defend the policies of our nation’s elected president?”

The letter was first publicized by The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway. You can read her piece here.

To learn more about the letter and/or to schedule an interview, contact Paul Dupont at (o) 202-503-2010 or pdupont@americanprinciplesproject.org.