Far-left USA Today announced on Monday that it will not endorse a presidential candidate in the 2024 election.
This makes USA Today one of the latest far-left major publications to steer clear of backing Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz, joining an unprecedented media shift that includes outlets like The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.
A spokesperson for USA Today told The Daily Beast that rather than endorsing a candidate, the paper plans to “provide readers with the facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions.”
But this sudden detour away from an endorsement speaks volumes about the lack of support Harris is facing.
Daily Beast reported:
USA Today’s editorial board wrote that it decided to endorse back then—for the first time since 1982—because the 2020 election was was an “extraordinary moment” in history that required an “extraordinary response” from the paper.
“Biden is a worthy antidote to Trump’s unbounded narcissism and chronic chaos,” the paper told its readers.
Trump, 78, is by most accounts still the same man today as he was when USA Today printed its scathing editorial about him, but the paper has apparently had a change of heart in what its readers are looking for from it.
Lark-Marie Antón, a USA Today spokesperson, explained the decision to not endorse in an email: “Why are we doing this? Because we believe America’s future is decided locally—one race at a time. And with more than 200 publications across the nation, our public service is to provide readers with the facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions.”
USA Today has a circulation of 132,640 print subscribers and has millions of more readers online. However, unlike the trio of national newspapers larger than it by print circulation—The New York Times, the Post, and The Wall Street Journal—USA Today is the flagship brand for over 200 local newspapers dotted across the country.
Unlike the billionaires overseeing of the Post and LA Times, there have been no reports that any single person in the leadership at Gannett, which is a publicly traded company, intervened to personally shut down an endorsement at USA Today.
Now, five of the six largest U.S. newspapers have either withheld endorsement of Harris-Walz or scrapped endorsements altogether, according to Jake Schneider, Team Trump’s Rapid Response Director.
According to the press release:
Five of the six largest U.S. newspapers have now either declined to endorse Harris-Walz or forego endorsements altogether:
- The Washington Post decided to nuke their presidential endorsements for good rather than endorse Harris-Walz — the paper’s first non-endorsement since 1988.
- The Los Angeles Times — the largest newspaper in Kamala’s home state — declined to endorse for the first time in decades.
- Multiple other major newspapers — all of whom endorsed Biden in 2020 — have either withheld endorsements or declined altogether, including the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, and the Minnesota Star Tribune.
It’s not just major news outlets running away from Harris-Walz. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters withheld endorsing the Democrat ticket for the first time in almost three decades, while the International Association of Fire Fighters opted against endorsing the Democrat ticket for only the second time since at least 1976.
Humiliating.
President Trump — the best closer in politics — has the momentum, the enthusiasm, and the message for the time — and next week, he’ll send Kamala back to California for good.