FILE PHOTO: The logo of The Washington Post is displayed as union members and supporters gather at a 'Save the Post' rally outside The Washington Post after widespread layoffs were announced, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 5, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
The rehiring of a Washington Post columnist fired for criticism of Charlie Kirk dealt an "embarrassing defeat" to MAGA cancel culture.
During a Saturday episode of Power Lines, media reporters Jon Passantino and Oliver Darcy discussed the "bizarre and surprising" arbiter ruling that forced The Post to rehire Karen Attiah and give her back pay. The arbiter found that Attiah, the former global opinions editor, had been wrongfully terminated for posts on social media in the wake of Kirk's killing.
"She went on social media and posted that she was refusing to tear her clothes and smear ashes on her face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is not the same as violence," Passantino explained. "She didn't directly name Charlie Kirk, but it came in the hours afterward, and people kind of connected the dots."
The Post fired Attiah days afterward, and "she was, of course, furious about that," Passantino explained. "She was speaking her mind, and she didn't say anything illegal or, in her mind, that was unethical."
Passantino described the arbiter's ruling as "astounding" after it forced The Post to hire her back. He added that Attiah was "amazingly" fired by the anti-cancel culture crowd "who has always said that you don't have to do what the libs tell you."
Darcy described the anti-cancel culture crowd as "total hypocrites" who allowed "right-wing extremism speech."
"That's fine, apparently, but anything else is not," he said, before adding that Attiah's firing, along with the firing of other Charlie Kirk critics, exposed the MAGA version of cancel culture.
"The bigger theme that's been revealed here, not only at the Washington Post, but under Trump, is that these people are actually the thought police," Darcy said. "They won the election, they got power, and it turns out they're the villains they hated the entire time."
However, Passantino said that Attiah's rehiring revealed that "really, they won a battle, and they lost the war in the end. She actually is the last person standing in the case," noting that most of her superiors who fired her at The Post are gone, though he added that The Post is owned by Trump-allied billionaire Jeff Bezos.