Axios reporter Jim VandeHei drew some significant criticism for hyping up a story he cowrote about former President Donald Trump being a "changed" man after surviving an assassination attempt this weekend.
In a tweet promoting the story, VandeHei quoted former Fox News host Tucker Carlson as vouching for Trump's changed character, despite the fact that Carlson drew widespread ridicule earlier this year for touting the superiority of Russia to the United States of America based on a trip to a single flagship Moscow grocery store.
This proved to be too much for many of VandeHei's followers, who chided the journalist for yet again falling for Trump campaign claims that their candidate is about to "pivot" to become more presidential.
"This man cheered on a deadly riot at the Capitol and spent the last week brutally mocking a political opponent who also was a recent target of political violence," wrote former GOP operative Tim Miller. "Can we wait to actually see some evidence before declaring that he is Mandela now? Some of this is ridiculous."
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"Reader, you do not have to take one word of this seriously," commented journalist Jennifer Schulze. "Any Trump 'change' is another political strategy. Any serious journalist that reports this without facts & context (hello, ‘proud boys stand back & stand by’) is just doing propaganda."
"This is an unserious publication," added journalist Rebecca Fishbein.
"Let’s not start talking about another pivot," lamented Twitter user Michael Freeman. "Charlie Brown has tried to kick that football many times already."
Another Twitter user, meanwhile, simply responded to VendeHei's tweet about a "changed" Trump by writing, "Hahahaha hahahahaha."
