In the epochal summer of 2024, The New York Times decided to remind everybody who was boss. It had hesitated long enough; now was the time for action. It tensed its stringbean muscles, firmed its collective brow, and dedicated its full editorial resources to prying a sitting president from pursuing reelection, its columnists, political reporters, pundits, and pollsters leaning on the lever with a rare unanimity of purpose and tone. This wasn’t one of those feeding frenzies where everybody gleefully bares their teeth, enjoying the thrash and froth and surfacing subplots. This was a more somber and orderly eviction process, a journalistic duty to be done as only the Times could do it, for the good of the nation and to the sound of distant trumpets. On July 21, the Editorial Board (druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic) got its wish. President Biden stepped aside as the Democratic Party nominee, justifying and sanctifying the paper’s decision to go all-in and all-out, without fear or favor, no matter how many column inches it took.
Dawn of the Diddy
