The Washington Post, citing two anonymous sources, scored an incredible scoop last weekend.
It reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued an order to “kill everybody” aboard a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean, including the survivors of the initial strike as they clung helplessly to the sinking wreck.
Or maybe he didn’t.
On Monday, the New York Times, citing five anonymous sources, published a counter-scoop, claiming Hegseth never said anything about killing survivors. In fact, the outlet’s sources said, Hegseth has never specified what should happen if a target survives a missile strike.
Which version of events is true? It’s impossible to say, as both accounts rely solely on the say-so of anonymous sources. Yes, we are still doing “sources say” Trump-era “bombshells,” even after everything that has gone horribly wrong in news media over the past 10-plus years.
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Yet, here we are, more than a decade into the Trump era. And despite numerous botched, anonymously sourced “scoops,” our largest and most powerful newsrooms evidently have no intention of weaning themselves of their newfound addiction to nameless sources.