Civil War! Progressives Jordan Chariton And HA Goodman Trade Barbs

Most liberals are well aware of the ongoing cold civil war taking place within the Democratic Party and the ranks of the mainstream American left: progressives vs. establishment, or Bernie supporters vs. Hillary supporters. It has been bubbling under the surface ever since Sanders dropped out and endorsed Clinton.

Last night matters were complicated when tensions between rival factions within the Bernie wing of the Democratic opposition boiled over.

The progressive insurgency spearheaded by the Bernie Sanders campaign saw the rise of a slew of new, independent media figures, most of them bloggers and vloggers, such as Debbie Lusignan of Sane Progressives , and HA Goodman, who seemingly has nothing better to do all day than publish an endless stream of Huffington Post articles full of rehashed material and conspiracy theories.

It also saw a rise in prominence to already-existing progressive media outlets, such as Amy Goodmans Democracy Now! and Cenk Uygurs The Young Turks .

The explosion last night had its roots in growing tensions regarding the difference of opinions between progressives who want to focus on fighting Trump and the Republican agenda, and those who want to focus almost exclusively on the establishment Democrats such as Tom Perez and Hillary Clinton.

Now, The Young Turks has long drawn the ire of leftists for their decision to focus on the Trump agenda more than the issues within the Democratic Party. There are two exceptions to this, one of whom I have written about before on my Patheos blog : Jimmy Dore, comedian and satirist and co-host of Aggressive Progressives on TYT Network, and TYT Politics reporter Jordan Chariton. This event concerns the latter.

Chariton has been rightfully lauded over the past year for his impassioned commentary and excellent reporting on issues such as the Dakota Access Pipeline and lead-contaminated water in Flint, MI and East Chicago, IN. He broke the story of Donna Brazile leaking debate questions to the Hillary Clinton campaign, making him an instant celebrity among left-liberals/progressives/Bernie supporters. And he was outspoken in his disagreement with The Young Turks over the level of coverage they gave to Donald Trump .

So when HA Goodman made a video attacking The Young Turks for their lukewarm washing-over of the ongoing DNC lawsuit, Goodman made a point to praise Jordan Chariton and his reporting. It was clear to all that Jordan was one of the good ones, a member of the left-wing of The Young Turks alongside Jimmy Dore and Steve Oh (and others). Goodman left Chariton out of the accusations of selling out and shilling.

But then last night, Chariton took to Facebook Live to set the record straight. He blasted Goodman for his shoddy reporting style, refusal to ever issue corrections to the many false claims and predictions Goodman has made, and accused Goodman of being sensationalist in order to generate clicks.

Goodman responded literally within minutes, firing off a series of angry Facebook posts and a video of his own. Goodmans defense was that Chariton was acting on behalf of The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur, whom Goodman has criticized frequently in the past. He posted his insanely-titled video below the copy: Next time tell Cenk to fight his own battles Jordan.

Twitter exploded, with many of Goodmans fans leaping to his defense.

@JordanChariton @kierobar Jordan quit being your handlers puppet. It was just a matter of time! Unfollowed a while back. Thanks for confirming that wise choice! Chelle2016 (@MLloydette) May 5, 2017

@JordanChariton All @HAGOODMANAUTHOR did was tell the truth how TYT was making excuses and defending the DNC. You guys seen to be as thin skinned as Trump!! A REAL Progressive (@Richard42764) May 5, 2017

But Goodman wasnt finished, declaring war on TYT and promising to do about 1 vid a day now, just stating how much I despise TYTNetwork.

Whether or not you enjoy The Young Turks and their establishment-leaning perspective on American politics, Goodmans behavior, both before and after this happened, should make it clear that he is not the type of person progressives want leading them.

In many of his posts (since deleted) he referred to Cenk Uygur as a little bitch. In his own video response, he led with (well, after spending a full minute shamelessly and awkwardly plugging his other social media channels) jokes about how he had triggered Chariton and TYT. You know, triggered jokes, exactly like Trump supporters and Mens Rights Activists make.

His Huffington Post profile is literally insane. Every single article seems to be written to plug another article, video, or project of his. He writes sensationalist headlines bordering on conspiracy with zero original reporting to back anything he says up. He aggressively assured everyone that Hillary Clinton was definitely, certainly, absolutely going to be indicted, and never issued a retraction or apology. He literally brags about how many times hes been published on the Huffington Post, without ever mentioning that once youve been accepted, you can literally publish as often and as much as you like with no editorial oversight.

Finally, if the difference between these two men needs any more highlighting, Charitons simple response on Twitter says it all.

Cenk doesn't even know I did video. I speak 4 myself & myself only. Feel free to create video spinning it that way https://t.co/y02iwsMPfp Jordan (@JordanChariton) May 5, 2017

I do not consider myself an active member of the progressive movement at this time, so I dont really have much skin in this game. But I will always be a fan and supporter of Jordan Charitons investigative reporting, and will always be opposed to the sensationalist yellow journalism typified by HA Goodman. In this case, it was abundantly clear who I should support.

I hope that progressives all over have clear enough heads to see this the right way.