A Times article about Robert Mercer, a donor who supports Senator Ted Cruz, describes Mr. Mercer as " a reclusive Long Islander who started at I.B.M. and made his fortune using computer patterns to outsmart the stock market."
"Reclusive" is newspaper jargon for anyone who doesn't drop whatever he is doing immediately and run to the telephone whenever a newspaper reporter calls. Its use in these instances, as in the New Republic's description of "reclusive" Harold Simmons, bears no resemblance to the dictionary definition of the word reclusive, which describes someone living in solitary confinement, secluded from the world like a monk or a hermit. It's a way the newspapers pressure people to cooperate with them by hurling insults at those, especially Republicans, who don't play their game.