You know your internal meltdown has made the big time when the View is talking about it for four solid minutes. We’ll get to that in a minute but first there’s a piece up today at Vanity Fair which attempts to add some information about how all of this got started.

I’ve already pointed out that Felicia Sonmez, the reporter who went after Dave Weigel over a retweeted joke, had previously sued the Post. That lawsuit was dismissed in March of this year but it seems Sonmez is not over it. Vanity Fair reports she was making waves internally with reference to her lawsuit two weeks ago:

About two weeks ago, Gold, the National editor, sent out an email urging colleagues to “take time to assess how you are doing” and “seek help if you need to talk to someone” in the wake of the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde and the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. “Just a reminder that I was punished after I told an editor that I had to take a walk around the block after reading a difficult story,” Sonmez replied—to the entire National staff—according to emails reviewed by Vanity Fair. One reporter noted that Sonmez has said both publicly and privately that she’s still at the Post because she wants to help fix things. “Discouraging reporters at the Post from seeking help they need—that’s actively being part of the problem,” they told me. “This idea that she’s fighting for sexism and gender, while that might have felt true at some point, now just rings disingenuous, even for people who want to give her the benefit of the doubt.”

As you can probably tell from that paragraph, people at the Post are getting tired of Sonmez non-stop criticism. Yesterday, a bunch of Post reporters started tweeting very similar messages about how proud they are to work for the paper. I suggested this was intended as a non-confrontational response to Sonmez badmouthing the paper. Vanity Fair doesn’t confirm that but does say it was a coordinated effort.

On Tuesday afternoon, Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey tweeted that he was “proud” to work at the paper, a place “filled with many terrific people who are smart and collegial.” Four minutes later, reporter Rosalind Helderman, too, tweeted that she was “proud” to work at the Post, which is “always striving to be better than it was yesterday.” Six minutes later, another reporter, Amy Gardner, tweeted how she was “proud” to work at the paper, followed by other top journalists at the publication, such as Matt Viser, Carol Leonnig, and Dan Balz.

The public outpouring of Post pride—which I’m told political reporters were urging one another to take part in—followed executive editor Sally Buzbee’s memo reiterating workplace policies and promoting collegiality among staff. The memo dropped following a few days at the Post that have been, as one reporter described it, a “clusterf**k.”…

The Post drama spilling out publicly onto Twitter has upended the newsroom, where there’s no shortage of opinions on the continued fallout. “I think Felicia initially was right—that was a gross Dave Weigel tweet, and we were all grateful she called attention to it,” one Post staffer told me. The problem, the staffer added, was in “continuing to make it an issue and go after more and more colleagues.”

Again, I think Sonmez is wearing out her welcome. She ended the day yesterday by lashing out at another reporter who tweeted “Please stop.”

Lisa Rein, who has been a journalist for longer than Felicia Sonmez has been alive, asks Sonmez to stop feuding with her colleagues. Sonmez promptly attacks Rein, asking if she has “any idea of the torrent of abuse I’m facing right now.” pic.twitter.com/TvrR5l9GVh

— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) June 8, 2022

Today, a video editor at the Post who has been vocally supportive of Sonmez wrote a letter to the editor demanding Lisa Rein be punished for asking Sonmez to stop.

Day #6 of infighting at WaPo. Video technician Breanna Muir, who replied all to Sally Buzbee's Sunday memo, just sent a new email to The Post's newsroom, this time about reporter Lisa Rein asking Felicia Sonmez to "please stop" last night on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/rT4vYyC9oD

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) June 8, 2022

Again, a lot of people at the Post are just sick of it. They can’t even work at this point.

Per another source at WaPo: Reporters are getting even more frustrated with the infighting because now when they call sources, the sources want to talk at length about all the drama unfolding inside their newsroom.

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) June 8, 2022

Before moving on, Vanity Fair does briefly mention the other problem at the Post right now, Taylor Lorenz:’

…as a reporter said of Lorenz: “Taylor is very talented, but her personal antics frequently overshadow her journalism.”

That’s true but in this case, the Post still has not explained why they are still sticking with an Editor’s Note/correction that Lorenz and the legal YouTuber referenced in the story say is not true.

As promised, the ladies of the View offered their take. As you might expect Joy Behar seems to side with Sonmez’ but the rest of the panel seemed to mostly agree this has gone on long enough. Sara Haines, as is often the case these days, has the best take but the best line goes to Sunny Hostin (I can’t believe it either) who made this crucial point, “Twitter is not the real world.”