Behold the Genius of Breitbart

CNN’s Oliver Darcy gave us a window into Breitbart’s soul on Tuesday when he posted a screenshot of its internal Slack conversation featuring an exclamation-filled soliloquy by Breitbart Editor in Chief Alex Marlow. His outburst came after news broke that Brad Parscale, the digital media director for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, had been tapped to run Trump’s re-election bid in 2020.

I wish I could get as excited about anything as Marlow seems to be about Parscale’s new gig. But before I reflect on that sad fact, here are some burning questions: Why does the appointment of a digitally savvy Trump loyalist put CNN honcho Jeff Zucker and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the crosshairs more than they already are? Why can’t Marlow spell out “fuck” in his own Slack conversation? What could “in your face smash mouth trump” possibly mean?

I asked Marlow about Parscale’s revolutionary bona fides in an email. But in lieu of his response I’ll point you to a Wired analysis of the Trump campaign’s innovative use of targeted advertising on Facebook. Parscale and his team understood and capitalized on the platform’s ad infrastructure in a way the Clinton campaign did not.

This story should theoretically be in Breitbart’s wheelhouse. But hours after Marlow commanded his troops to “go wild” and “do some reporting” to “hit this from all sides,” the site has published a single, 350-word piece aggregating the Drudge Report’s initial headline. Wild!