Former President Donald Trump spoke about how the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post had declined to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, adding that they were sending a message that she was “no good.”
During a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump spoke about how several major news publications such as the LA Times, Washington Post, and USA Today, among others, had announced they would not endorse either Harris or Trump.
“The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times and all these papers. They’re not endorsing anybody,” Trump said. “You know what they’re really saying? Because they only endorse Democrats — they’re saying this Democrat’s no good. They’re no good. And, they think I’m doing a great job, they just don’t want to say it.”
Trump added that USA Today had also made the decision not to endorse a presidential candidate in the election, years after breaking “tradition in urging” its readers not to vote for Trump in the 2016 presidential election against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In the 2020 presidential election, USA Today endorsed President Joe Biden, writing that it “unanimously” supported Biden’s election.
The LA Times, the hometown newspaper of Harris, first revealed that it would not be making a presidential endorsement, though it had previously endorsed Biden, former President Barack Obama, and Clinton.
Days later, the Post announced that it would also not be endorsing Harris.
William Lewis, the publisher and chief executive officer of the Post wrote in an opinion piece that the publication was “returning” to its “roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”
The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.
In response to the lack of endorsement of Harris from the news publications, readers of the LA Times and Post began canceling their subscriptions.
The Tampa Bay Times editorial board also announced that it would not be endorsing a presidential candidate, noting that there had never been a recommendation for a presidential candidate, because they “never planned” to have one.