The NY Times’ accurate headline about a President Trump speech angers readers — some of whom cancel subscriptions — and sparks an emergency meeting where the executive editor calls the headline “an f-ing mess.” What fueled this outrage and chaos? In his speech after the El Paso mass shooting, Trump called on Americans to abandon racism, and come together against hate. However, the front page headline –“Trump Urges Unity Against Racism” — upset the Left’s narrative of the president as a race-baiter and minority hater. The headline was shortly replaced with “Assailing Hate But Not Guns”.
[We apologize for two brief audio glitches in this video. Obscured moments are both contained in this description.]
Here’s are the relevant passages from President Trump’s speech:
“The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul…Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside, so destructive, and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion, and love.”