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President-elect Donald Trump’s political comeback and crushing defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris has done more than given Republicans complete control of the federal government.
The win was more than a defeat for the woke agenda of boys in girls’ sports and the far-left obsession with abortion.
It was also, apparently, a comeuppance for the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times.
That board will be replaced so that all voices can be heard, said owner Pat Soon-Shiong.
No Endorsement
The beginning of the end of the far-left, hate-Trump editorial board was the paper’s refusal to endorse Harris.
As The New American reported at the time, on October 11, Soon-Shiong told the board the newspaper would not endorse Harris. The newspaper did not explain why, but simply omitted the endorsement from its usual list.
Editorials editor Mariel Garza and two other editors, Robert Greene and Karin Klein, quit in protest.
“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent,” Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”
In an unhinged resignation letter, Garza wrote that refusing to endorse Harris “undermines the integrity of the editorial board.”
“It makes us look craven and hypocritical, maybe even a bit sexist and racist,” she wrote:
How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent Democrat challenger — who we previously endorsed for the US Senate?
The newspaper’s union claimed Soon-Shiong owed an explanation for the decision. Soon-Shiong obliged on X. It was the editorial board’s decision, he wrote.
“Let me clarify how this decision came about,” Soon-Shiong wrote:
The Editorial Board was provided the opportunity to draft a factual analysis of all the POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE policies by EACH candidate during their tenures at the White House, and how these policies affected the nation. In addition, the Board was asked to provide their understanding of the policies and plans enunciated by the candidates during this campaign and its potential effect on the nation in the next four years. In this way, with this clear and non-partisan information side-by-side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being President for the next four years.
Instead of adopting this path as suggested, the Editorial Board chose to remain silent and I accepted their decision.
In other words, the board wanted to publish a typically hysterical editorial that likely would have compared Trump to Adolf Hitler, as Harris did, while Soon Shiong wanted a more fair-minded approach that dealt with the candidates’ policies evenhandedly.
Either way, if the board refused to follow Soon-Shiong’s directions on handling the endorsement, it was, he said, its choice not to endorse.
New Editorial Board
Now, with Trump the president-elect, Soon-Shiong has announced the paper will not only begin publishing more voices right and left, but also get a new editorial board. No longer, apparently, will the board be a Democratic Party propaganda trumpet that publishes fanatical diatribes against Trump.
“Proud that we posted this letter from one of our readers on X,” Soon-Shiong wrote on the platform:
When the President has won the vote of the majority of Americans then ALL voices must be heard. Opinions are just that. I will work towards making our paper and media fair and balanced so that all voices are heard and we can respectfully exchange every American’s view .. from left to right to the center. Coming soon. A new Editorial Board. Trust in media is critical for a strong democracy.
The “letter” in question seems to be one responding to a missive from black columnist LZ Granderson, who falsely claimed that “white women handed Trump the victory,” suggesting a racial bias against Harris.
“If I did not know any better, I would think Granderson was racist against white women by blaming them for Harris’ loss,” the writer complained:
I blame the Democrats for not holding an open convention and nominating a stronger candidate to run against Trump. Instead, they just handed Harris the reins after President Biden ended his candidacy in July.
It turned out that she was an easy target for the Republicans to blame for the poor economy and the immigration issue. She was cast as simply too liberal.
Noting that Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona was the right choice, the writer closed with this:
Don’t blame white women; blame the Democrats.
“The American People Have Spoken”
White women aside, Soon-Shiong heard the American people, as was apparent after it became clear in the wee hours of November 7 that Trump had shellacked Harris.
“The American people have spoken and @latimes will take the lead to provide factual and balanced coverage as the country heals its division,” he wrote on X.
But it wasn’t just Americans in general whom Soon-Shiong heard. He heard, in particular, one demographic.
The billionaire reposted GOP CNN analyst Scott Jennings’ assessment:
Trump has a mandate. The late stage mirage of Harris momentum was crushed by regular working class Americans of all races.
One wonders whether Soon-Shiong voted for Trump. Although he is a bipartisan political donor, since 2017 his contributions have gone to Republicans. Last year, he contributed almost $10,000 to former Vice President Mike Pence’s presidential campaign. He has also donated to the National Republican Congressional Committee, GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, and GOP Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington.
H/T: Fox News
