Should I really be surprised that this guy is the “China Affairs” editor at his outlet?

The Economist’s Gady Epstein took to Twitter this weekend to make an attempt at nailing VP Mike Pence for eating in front of a supposed symbol of white supremacy. The dinner was back on Friday in Georgia and included Gov. Brian Kemp.

pic.twitter.com/sD5nr467Fl

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) May 24, 2020

I’ll be honest. I’ve seen a lot of ridiculous accusations stem from the deadly rally held in Charlottesville back in 2017, but I don’t recall ever hearing that its participants had suddenly made the Thin Blue Line flag racist. Learn something new every day.

While I’ve certainly expressed my discontent with some of America’s policing, the majority of law enforcement are guys trying to do a job. That doesn’t excuse misbehavior, and that should be called out especially loudly because of the power dynamics at play, but the idea that sitting in front of a flag in support of police officers is now white supremacy is lunacy. Besides, I suspect no one at that table was even thinking about what was hanging on the wall behind them.

After getting thoroughly dragged in his mentions, Epstein deleted his original tweet and put up a snarky explainer.

Deleted a tweet about Pence and the "thin blue line flag" because RIP my mentions. But know this: symbols take on meaning far beyond what you might wish for them. It's important to acknowledge that

— Gady Epstein (@gadyepstein) May 24, 2020

No, it’s not important to acknowledge what a few racists think about a flag. There’s absolutely no reason to give people like that such agency over normal, everyday parts of our society and culture. To do so is actually playing into their hands. Those who run to tweet condemnations because they thought they saw an Iron Cross or have decided supporting the police is white supremacy are doing far more to propagate that ideology than the white supremacists could hope for. Stop giving them attention they don’t deserve.

But let’s be real. This wasn’t about calling out racism. It was yet another “journalist” who can’t hide his biases well enough. Epstein saw this as an opportunity to call insinuate a political opponent was racist. Nothing more.