CNN severed ties with Jeffrey Lord over use of Nazi slogan

CNN severed ties Thursday with perhaps its best-known Donald Trump defender over his sarcastic use of a Nazi slogan at a liberal activist.

Jeffrey Lord, a historian and American Spectator columnist, had said “Sieg Heil!” during a heated Twitter discussion, already thick with fascism and Nazi accusations, at Angelo Carusone, president of the left-wing press watchdog Media Matters for America.

That was too much for CNN.

“Nazi salutes are indefensible,” CNN said in a statement. “Jeffrey Lord is no longer with the network.”

Media Matters for America had often called on CNN to dismiss Mr. Lord, and other pro-Trump commentators.

Media Matters for America quickly spiked the football Thursday afternoon, leading its homepage with a stylized image of Mr. Lord and a CNN background accompanied by the word “Bye.”

Libertarian commentator Julian Sanchez, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, was less impressed, mocking what he took to be CNN’s thought process over a couple of tweets.

“’Hmm, if we fire him for being a mendacious clown we’ll set off a round of ’liberal bias’ whining” / “Well, can we pretend we didn’t understand he was calling the OTHER guy a Nazi and hang it on that?” / “Genius!” Mr. Sanchez wrote.