Shapiro Leaks Emails: Newsweek Writer Had Psychiatrist Secretly Appraise Kashuv
Kyle Kashuv, of the few outspoken pro-Second Amendment supporters among the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students, recently engaged in a lengthy and heated Twitter exchange with liberal Newsweek “journalist” Kurt Eichenwald.
The exchange ended with insults hurled Kashuv’s way followed by a debatable claim from Eichenwald that he didn’t realize the teenager he was insulting was a Parkland shooting “survivor.”
As we have seen with the concerted boycott effort aimed at Fox News host Laura Ingraham, liberals have declared the Parkland students to be absolutely off-limits to any sort of insult or criticisms, no matter what they may have said to earn a rebuke.
Thus, Kashuv figured turnabout was fair play and called for similar boycotts against Eichenwald and the employers listed on his Twitter bio — MSNBC and Vanity Fair — though it has since been revealed that he isn’t currently employed by either media outlet, as reported by The Daily Beast.
One would think the story would end there, but the animated tentacles of this odd confrontation have continued to sprawl about in all directions, and have now dragged conservative pundit and radio host Ben Shapiro into the mess.
Shapiro tweeted an email he received from Eichenwald on Tuesday morning in relation to his online spat with Kashuv, and it was horrifyingly revealing of the kind of person Eichenwald really is.
I just received this from @kurteichenwald. There are no words for how wild this email is. @VanityFair is apparently an odd place.I just received this from @kurteichenwald. There are no words for how wild this email is. @VanityFair is apparently an odd place. pic.twitter.com/Ik1bfjoKyl
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 3, 2018
The email began with Eichenwald noting the fact that he was working on an article about the “relationship” between Shapiro and Kashuv. Within the strange list of bullet points was an implication that Kashuv was little more than a troll who was engaged in some sort of conspiracy against “non-Fox network” media journalists.
Eichenwald revealed in the email to Shapiro that he has shared his private direct messages with Kashuv on Twitter with a psychiatrist “friend” who allegedly proceeded to tell him that the student was in “desperate need of psychiatric help or support.” The unnamed friend said it’s unclear if those issues stemmed from the shooting, “being psychologically unprepared” for the media spotlight or some other “underlying pathology.”
Eichenwald concluded his email to Shapiro by asking if he and Kashuv were “working in tandem” and essentially accused Shapiro of taking advantage of a “psychologically troubled kid” to further his own conservative agenda.
He closed with, “And don’t send this to Kyle. He does not need to know what a psychiatrist is saying about him. You have hurt him enough,” while signing off as a “contributing editor” for Vanity Fair.
Benny Johnson from The Daily Caller shared Shapiro’s tweet and remarked, “Here, @kurteichenwald calls Parkland Student @KyleKashuv mentally disturbed, admits to having a psychologist analyze him secretly & believes Kyle is part of a media conspiracy theory. Do you stand behind your writers attacking a high school shooting survivors @VanityFair?”
Here, @kurteichenwald calls Parkland Student @KyleKashuv mentally disturbed, admits to having a psychologist analyze him secretly & believes Kyle is part of a media conspiracy theory.
Do you stand behind your writers attacking a high school shooting survivors @VanityFair? https://t.co/UE98rTUDMx
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 3, 2018
Kashuv himself replied to Johnson’s tweet, “Benny, I am utterly horrified at this. Not by what Kurt said, but by the fact a ‘psychiatrist’ broke practice and diagnosed me through Tweets.”
Benny, I am utterly horrified at this. Not by what Kurt said, but by the fact a "psychiatrist" broke practice and diagnosed me through Tweets
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) April 3, 2018
This sort of underhanded character assassination by Eichenwald (of a kid he disagreed with) is par for the course for him, but for an actual psychiatrist to knowingly break the rules of their profession and provide advice or an assessment of someone’s mental state by virtue of their tweets — provided Eichenwald was actually honest about that part — is quite stunning.
Regardless, as was made clear by The Daily Beast, both MSNBC and Vanity Fair have quickly distanced themselves from Eichenwald, and it will be a wonder if he manages to hold on to any sort of journalism gig once the dust settles from this insane development.
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