Trump piles on Bill Kristol as Weekly Standard as publication announces shut down
The Weekly Standard is shutting down after 23 years in circulation, the publication’s parent company announced Friday.
Beforehand, editor in chief Steven Hayes had met privately with Ryan McKibben, CEO of the magazine’s parent company, Clarity Media.
“For more than twenty years The Weekly Standard has provided a valued and important perspective on political, literary and cultural issues of the day,” Clarity Media President and CEO Ryan McKibben said in the statement. “The magazine has been home to some of the industry’s most dedicated and talented staff and I thank them for their hard work and contributions, not just to the publication, but the field of journalism.”
Employees were told at an all-staff meeting that they would be paid through the end of the year, and that afterward they would receive severance which would range in scale depending on factors like seniority. To receive severance, however, employees would need to sign a strict non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreement.
Editor-in-chief Stephen Hayes and his allies had been seeking potential buyers for The Weekly Standard, but Clarity Media lost interest in a sale by this week, according to Politico.
The magazine’s final issue, which was completed Thursday, will publish on Dec. 17. The move ends one of the only conservative outlets that consistently stood in opposition to the style and politics of President Trump.
President Trump unleashed on The Weekly Standard in a tweet Saturday morning. “The pathetic and dishonest Weekly Standard, run by failed prognosticator Bill Kristol (who, like many others, never had a clue), is flat broke and out of business,” Trump wrote. “Too bad. May it rest in peace!”
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