BuzzFeed tells its employees it's fair to call Donald Trump a 'mendacious racist'

BuzzFeed Editor-in-chief Ben Smith sent a memo today to employees outlining how to talk about Donald Trump on social media.

Smith noted that, while employees should avoid being "political partisans on social media," they shouldn't mince words about Donald Trump. 

In the memo, Smith wrote that because Trump is "out there saying things that are false and running an overtly anti-Muslim campaign," that it's OK to talk about Trump in a way that is similarly unfiltered.

"It is, for instance, entirely fair to call him a mendacious racist," Smith wrote, saying the news team's reporting is "rooted in facts, not opinion; these are facts."

News outlets all over the world have been scrambling to cover Trump's run for the White House - which has likely been one of the most unorthodox presidential election campaigns in history.

The GOP frontrunner has publicly refused to be hemmed-in by party politics - as has been shown many times since he launched his campaign in June.

Here's Ben Smith's memo:

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