Political reporters know lots of things the way we all know lots of things. Gossip. Of course they "know" things, not know them. That's gossip. It affects how they cover people. That's not all wrong, of course. Sometimes there are things that are genuinely known that for complicated/legal reasons can't be reported and I don't think journalists should be the blank slates they like to pretend they are sometimes. But a lot of that stuff isn't that. It's shooting shit at the bar level of gossip. I'm sure there are a lot of skilled whisper disinformation campaigns in DC. A lot of happy hours. What do people talk about?
