Donald Trump a Racist? BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Allows Staff to Say So: “These Are Facts"

Per a memo from BuzzFeed's Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith, if you want to call GOP frontrunner Donald Trump a racist, that's cool – as long as you work for BuzzFeed.

Smith recently wrote a letter to his staff detailing the guidelines of social media policy regarding reporting on Trump's campaign and concluded that it was perfectly fair to label him as a "mendacious racist," largely because the things he's been publicly saying and posting to Twitter can be construed, to many, as such. Because of that, Smith claims, "BuzzFeed News's reporting is rooted in facts, not opinion; these are facts."

After word got out that Smith's letter was leaked to conservative site The Blaze, the editor took it upon himself to post the entire memo to his Twitter account.

Here's a memo I sent to @buzzfeed staff today on our social media policy, and Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/zCiDds3C29

— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) December 9, 2015

Smith noted that BuzzFeed's policy goals are twofold, holding stronger context for the News staff rather than the "17 Cats Who Look Like Your Mom" (or whatever list you want to insert here) staff. They are, "To preserve our readers' confidence that we can be fair; and to not needlessly undermine the work of the reporters on beat."

In short, BuzzFeed's reporting is a reflection of Trump's campaign itself. Therefore, if Mr. Trump wants to discuss administering a ban on Muslim immigrants entering the country, the publication will report that with the same level of irreverence; if he wants to bring up Mexican rapists once again, they will also report that in the same fashion.

In similar, but much less publicized, news, The Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington recently wrote via a blog post that the political team at HuffPost will similarly report on Donald Trump's campaign as it shifts from a "sideshow" to one of "cruelty and know-nothingness."