Politico editor resigns after publishing addresses, threatening alt-right leader on social media

In a display of stunning carelessness, Michael Hirsh, the national editor of Politico, has resigned after publishing two physical addresses for a prominent alt-right leader and using rhetoric that suggested using a baseball bat in dealing with white nationalist leader Richard Spencer.

From the New York Daily News:

Michael Hirsh urged Facebook friends to “stop whining” about alt-right leader Richard Spencer and “exercise your rights as decent Americans.”

Spencer, the president of the National Policy Institute, gained national attention after a weekend conference speech where he used Nazi phrases and said “Hail Trump.”

“Here are his two addresses,” Hirsch said on Facebook, in a post grabbed by conservative site The Daily Caller.

Hirsh later commented that on the post that he was not suggesting sending Spencer a letter, and he is quoted as responding to a questioner with: "He lives part of the time next door to me in Arlington. Our grandfathers brought baseball bats to [1930s German-American pro-Hitler group] Bund meetings. Want to join me?”

Hirsh, formerly of Newsweek, posted his last piece for Politico on Sunday, and both his Twitter and Facebook accounts were deleted as of Tuesday morning. Politico Editor-in-Chief John Harris and Editor Carrie Budoff Brown editors released a statement regarding the incident following Hirsh's resignation, the Daily News reported:

These posts were clearly outside the bounds of acceptable discourse, and POLITICO editors regard them as a serious lapse of newsroom standards.