HuffPo: We'll Cover Trump, but Not in Politics Section

Donald Trump may be at or near the top in the latest GOP polls, but you'll no longer find him in the Huffington Post's political section. The site announced today that coverage of the Trump campaign is moving to the entertainment section. "Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette." The decision, however, doesn't seem to be going over well:

• Wrong: At the journalism site Poynter.org, James Warren thinks the move is "especially dubious in an era where the nexus of entertainment and politics is often quite obvious and growing." Buffoon or not, Trump has clearly "touched some nerve of dissatisfaction" among voters. He wonders, too, whether HuffPo has heard of other celebs-turned-politicians like Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And how on earth will it cover the debates?

• Ditto: "Cute but shortsighted," writes Allahpundit at Hot Air. "Do they really want to end up stuck running their stories about President Trump's inauguration in the sideboob vertical?" More seriously, the post notes that the "Trump boomlet" is a "real, fascinating thing" worth covering.
• Hypocritical: "Huffington Post is taking the bait, because they're continuing to cover Trump and will continue to benefit from the clicks," writes Dylan Byers at Politico. In fact, "one might conclude that Huffington Post's announcement amounts to the same Trump-style grandstanding they claim to condemn."
• But what if...: Business Insider asked HuffPo's Ryan Grim what the site will do if Trump wins. No problem: "He will not," says Grim. "I'm as likely to get it as he is."

Byers adds that hours after its announcement, HuffPo sent out a clarifying email acknowledging Trump's impact on the GOP and the immigration debate "is itself a real thing" and will be covered "as substance, but anything that tumbles out of his mouth will land on the Entertainment page." (More Donald Trump 2016 stories.)