1/ A few months ago, I had an online run-in with @EoinHiggins_, a left-wing writer. It has since taken a rather bizarre turn. Thread:

2/ It began in August, when I wrote a column arguing that Trump’s authoritarianism is an outgrowth of a deeper trend within his party. It’s a theme I’ve been making over and over throughout the Trump era: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/08/republican-party-trump-conservative-movement-burn-it-down.html

3/ Higgins wrote a piece citing it, claiming I argued Trump “is an aberration within the Republican party--a bug, not a feature.” https://newrepublic.com/article/159158/democrats-george-w-bush-2020-biden

4/ Of course that is literally 100% the complete opposite of my point. We’ve all been misread from time to time but it’s rare for a professional writer to be that utterly illiterate. When Higgins refused to concede his error, I called him a “nincompoop.” https://twitter.com/jonathanchait/status/1300872015612608514

5/ Anyway, now Higgins has a piece in the left-wing media criticism organ “FAIR” arguing that my wife Robin’s work, as a consultant to government education agencies, “would appear to violate the code of ethics of New York‘s parent company”. https://fair.org/home/new-yorks-chait-boosts-charter-schools-but-no-longer-mentions-spouses-policy-role-in-charter-school-industry/

6/ Higgins contacted New York’s editors, who explained that it is not a conflict of interest and he does not understand our policy:

7/ This explanation has bounced right off him. Higgins asserts in his story that “influencing government policy” somehow IS “part of her job, much like a lobbyist or activist does.”

8/ I don’t know what to say to this. Robin’s job is offering technical assistance to states and state education bodies. She is in absolutely no way involved in influencing public policy. It’s pure fabrication.

9/ I don’t even understand how Higgins got this idea from her job description, except that he clearly has enormous difficulty reading words and drawing meaning from them.

10/ Also, Robin Chait and I can both confirm the photo of “Robin Chait” in the article is not Robin Chait:

11/ Whoever the woman in that photo is, she is not, and never has been, my wife. Robin is the woman on the left, here:

12/ Higgins further argues that I have a conflict of interest because I wrote a column criticizing union opposition to school reopening. Apparently my criticizing teacher unions for anything is a conflict of interest? https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/remote-education-distance-learning-schools-teacher-unions-red-for-ed.html

13/ Even if Robin was somehow lobbying for charter schools (she is not), what is the conflict of interest in my arguing for reopening schools?

14/ Notably, his story does not look into real or imagined conflicts of interest of ANY other education policy commentator.

15/ I know of magazines that take money from teachers unions and publish pro-union takes, without disclosing that. I happen to know of a columnist who wrote a pro-union column, and whose spouse has a teacher union as a client, and didn’t disclose that.

16/ I don’t think Higgins cares about “conflicts of interest” in education policy. His agenda seems to be to further the teacher union narrative that their critics are nefarious tools of hidden interests.

17/ Anyway, I have disclosed Robin’s work many times before. I’ll do it again here:

18/ Prior to her current role, she has worked at the U.S. Department of Education, as a teacher at a D.C. traditional public school, Center for American Progress, the Office of the State Superintendent, and Center City Charter Public Charter schools.

19/ I don’t claim my views are unrelated. As I’ve said, I’ve learned enormously from her deep expertise and experience in education:

20/ Also, Higgins’ story does not mention that I publicly described him as a nincompoop. That relationship with the article’s subject feels like something a journalist supposedly covering an ethics story should… disclose?