February 19, 2020 --

Max Boot, in The Washington Post, February 8, wrote an op-ed piece titled, "Trump's Friday night massacre' is just the beginning. I fear what's to come."  Columnist Boot was alluding to the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and the resignations of Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus, on October 20, 1973, in what quickly became known as "the Saturday Night Massacre."  Lest Mr. Boot not make himself clear, the term, "'Friday night massacre'" in the body of the column,  linked to the original Washington Post story on the Cox dismissal and the Richardson and Ruckelshaus resignations, October 21, 1973. 

(To see the original story, written by Carroll Kilpatrick, just google "Max Boot Friday Night Massacre Washington Post," and, when the column appears, click on "'Friday Night Massacre'" -- first sentence, this paragraph.}

Mr. Boot, of course, was referring to the reassignment of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from his White House post on the National Security Council and to the dismissal of Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union (we are not a member of the EU; why do we need an ambassador to the organization?). Vindman's brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman was also reasigned from this NSC post.

LPR believed, back in 1973, that the term "Saturday Night Massacre" was invidious, designed to promote hostility to President Richard Nixon.  Indeed, LPR wrote about the term to Archibald Cox, who agreed (his letter was long ago lost) that of course no one was killed on October 20, 1973.  LPR holds the same view toward the latest misuse of the  word "massacre" by Mr. Boot and a host of anti-Trump media outlets.  No Washingto LPR understands that President Trump has a term for such invidious expressions by journalists:  "fake news."