As the official start of the 2020 Democratic primaries draws closer, the nation’s largest newspaper has finally given its official endorsement to not one, but two Democratic candidates for president: Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.
After falsely accusing President Donald Trump of “brazen corruption” and “the veneration of a mythological past,” the editorial board acknowledges that there is a sort of civil war within the Democratic Party between “moderates and progressives.” As such, the piece ultimately chooses to endorse one candidate from each side of this divide, with Warren representing the progressive cause and Klobuchar representing the moderates.
While the Times says it would push back on some of Warren’s more radical positions, including “nationalizing health insurance or decriminalizing the border,” it nonetheless claims, without evidence, that many of her other far-left positions “are now mainstream.” Citing the age and poor health of the other leading socialist candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), the Times selects Warren as its progressive “standard-bearer.”
In selecting its choice of a moderate candidate, the Times editorial dismisses most of the other candidates outright before eventually addressing the frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden. Like with Sanders, the Times declares his advanced age of 77 to be the biggest issue, saying that “it is time for him to pass the torch to a new generation of political leaders.” In its endorsement of Klobuchar, the Times points to what it calls “a lengthy tenure in the Senate and bipartisan credentials,” which have allegedly made her “the most productive senator among the Democratic field.”
The piece ends with numerous falsehoods about President Trump, including blaming him for a non-existent rise in white nationalism, as well as being “a threat to democracy.” It concludes that the ongoing debate within the Democratic Party between progressives and moderates is one that should happen in public, and that Klobuchar and Warren are the “best equipped to lead that debate,” before adding: “May the best woman win.”