Once Upon a Time in Conservative Media, Andrew Sullivan was a provocative original thinker who brought a generally conservative world view to the table as an openly gay Englishman who passionately believed in freedom of thought, freedom of expression, individual liberty, and small government.  But he broke with the GOP and administration of Bush 43 over the Iraq war, became committed to the topic of gay marriage, and fell in love with Barack Obama.  Eventually, he drank all the “hopey and changey” Koolaid and, for all practical purposes, became indistinguishable from the Rachel Maddows of the world.  In addition, he stands linked arm-in-arm with them in his hatred for Donald Trump.

But one subject that has remained a sticking point with him is the liberals’ refusal to acknowledge the historical data that shows left-wing social programs have not — despite 60 years of trying and trillions of dollars spent — actually solved the problems of racism and poverty in minority communities.  And he’s been brutal on the destruction of free speech and freedom of expression on college campuses where alternative views are deemed to be unworthy of tolerance or debate.

Sullivan writes a single weekly online column for the “Intelligencer” news page of New York Magazine, which usually runs on Friday or Saturday — not sure if there is a specific day of the week, or it just appears online when he’s finished with it.

But two days ago, he sent out a one-line message on Twitter saying his column would not be appearing this week.  The obvious subject, given events, would have been comments by him on the rioting that had broken out in various US cities in connection with the George Floyd protests.

Noteworthy about New York Magazine is that, after substantially re-inventing itself over the past decade, in September 2019, it was purchased by Vox Media.  One of the founders of what is now called Vox was Markos Moulitsas, left-wing agitator and founder of one of the earliest radical left-wing blogs: Daily Kos.

The current front page of the Intelligencer reads like a homepage for the most die-hard Anti-Trump and NeverTrump fanboys.  Seems to be a place where Andrew Sullivan’s column would be right at home.  But if you consider just a few of Sullivan’s tweets and re-tweets over the past couple days, you can discern why it is likely that what he wrote for his most recent column is being shelved and will not appear in its normal place in the world of New York Magazine.

“Can you imagine what public health officials would be saying if the protests were, say, pro-life? They’ve destroyed any credibility they might have had. Which is worrying in a plague that is just beginning. Wokeness poisons everything.”  [Commenting on public health officials who have made statements supporting mass protests notwithstanding COVID-19 implications].

“In 2019, nine unarmed black men were killed by cops in America. There are around 16 million black men in the US. The chance of this dude being killed by a cop in 2019 was 0.00000056 percent. Did the NYT fact-check this Op-Ed.”  [This was in response to an OpEd in the NYT where the author, a black man, said he had a book coming in a few months and he hoped to live long enough to see it — expressing a fear he would die at the hands of racist police.]

“Not just a capitulation. A total surrender. The groveling for running a provocative op-ed by a sitting senator expressing an opinion I do not share but is widely supported is instructive. But groveling won’t appease the social justice mob.”  [On the NYT decision to post a note on Op-Ed by Tom Cotton saying it was a mistake to publish the Op-Ed]

“One rule for the woke. Everyone else is a white nationalist. Good to see how deeply critical race theory is now embedded in public health.”

“The contempt these precious elite liberals have for those putting their lives on the line every day, saving black lives by the tens of thousands, at the risk of their own lives, is stunning.”

“This is how they do it. If you are interested in counter narratives or facts that open up debate – like comparative murder rates across ethnicities – you no longer have a place in journalism. Or you will be hounded into silence. These people are cry-bullies.”

RT —  “The promise we can make — the commitment that we can make to you — is that the re-education camps will be clean, well-maintained, and your tutors will be kind.”

RT — “Marxism with a patina of liberalism on top is still Marxism – and it’s as hostile to the idea of a free society as white nationalism is.”

RT —  “A couple of years ago, @sullydish took the time to break down how the annoying campus habits of disrupting speakers and shouting people down, along with their reflexive hostility to free speech, was gradually infecting the real world.  Nothing’s changed.”

RT — Their “safetyism” is a pose—a rhetorical maneuver to claim victim status as a means of silencing opposition. You give them too much credit for sincerity. I give them credit for being aggressors; they run over the libs.  Speech they don’t like = violence.  Violence they like = speech.

That’s just in the last 48 hours.  Imagine what his Twitter timeline looks like over the past 2 weeks.  Go read it — Sullivan is an interesting guy.

But yesterday, some news broke about where Sullivan currently stands with his “betters” on the editorial staff of New York Magazine.  An article in the “Spectator USA” says Sullivan is not being allowed to write anything about the protests and riots.  And according to the article, Sullivan’s contract with New York Magazine prevents him from writing for any other publication on the topic — so the editors at New York Magazine have silenced Sullivan because they don’t like what it is he has to say.  But not only are they staking out certain subjects as “out of bounds”, the article goes on to say that he can’t publish anything without seeking approval first.

Sullivan, a source close to New York magazine reveals, has to have his work vetted by sensitive junior editors to make sure it doesn’t trigger them. If it passes their sniff testing, it can be published.

Here’s an RT from Sullivan that says it all:

Remember all those commentators and journalists who smugly informed us that the Woke craziness and suppression of campus speech was being overhyped and it was just a few overzealous students? They’ll never admit they’re wrong. But they were very, very wrong.

As Sullivan once famously wrote — “We’re all living on campus now.”