Kamala Harris Calls Newspaper Decisions Not to Endorse “Disappointing”
Vice President Kamala Harris said the decisions by the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post to not endorse a presidential candidate were “disappointing,” while alluding to former president Donald Trump’s ties to billionaires.
In an interview with Charlamagne tha God on Tuesday’s The Breakfast Club, Harris appeared to speak to the ownership of The Washington Post by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and of the Los Angeles Times by the biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong.
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“It’s disappointing, no doubt,” Harris said.
“It’s billionaires in Donald Trump’s club. That’s who’s in his club. That’s who he hangs out with, that’s who he cares about. That’s why, when he was last president, he put in place a massive tax cut for billionaires and the biggest corporations. And that is exactly what he will do again. His policies are not about middle class folks. He’s not sitting around thinking about what he can do to take care of your grandmother and your grandfather. He’s thinking about people like himself or himself and all of his grievances and all that makes him angry about how he has personally been treated, as opposed to worrying about how you have been treated and what his responsibility is to lift you up,” Harris continued.
Last week, the Los Angeles Times announced it would not be endorsing a presidential candidate, which led to the resignation of the paper’s editorial page editor, Mariel Garza, and other staffers. Soon-Shiong said that he had offered the editorial board the chance to write a factual analysis of the policies from each candidate, rather than an endorsement, but that they turned down that offer.
The Washington Post followed shortly after, saying that the paper would not endorse a candidate for president, the first time it has made that decision since 1988. The outlet said it will let readers decide whether they support Trump or Harris, and will do the same for all future elections. Bezos has since argued that the decision to not endorse presidential candidates was made because presidential endorsements “create a perception of bias” amongst a paper’s readership.
Both decisions have been met by blowback from the public and from high profile journalists, including The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
“Under Jeff Bezos’ ownership, The Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electrical process,” the two said as part of a statement.
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