New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters is under fire after the “paper of record” ran a story Sunday he authored on the “increasingly close race for governor” of Virginia. Polls show former Democratic Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe is neck-and-neck with businessman Glenn Youngkin (photo, speaking at a Family Research Council event), a Trump-endorsed Republican who has done a good job of hiding his far right leanings and associations.
The election is Tuesday.
“Mr. Youngkin has framed the election as an opportunity for Virginians to send a message to the nation that Democrats are out of step with the majority of Americans on a number of issues, from how racial inequality is taught in schools to coronavirus-related mandates,” Peters writes.
That’s false, or at least grossly misleading: the majority of Americans strongly support mask mandates. And USA Today in September reported “60% of American parents want their kids to learn about the ongoing effects of slavery and racism as part of their K-12 education,” a fact Peters neglected to note.
But the real issue many are angered about are these two paragraphs:
“I’m a Hillary-Biden voter,” said Glenn Miller, a lawyer from McLean, as he walked into a Youngkin rally in southern Fairfax County on Saturday night that drew more than 1,000 people. He explained his tipping point: Working from home and hearing his teenage daughter’s teacher make a comment during a virtual lesson about white men as modern-day slaveholders.
“There are a lot of people like me who are annoyed,” he said, adding that he was able to vote for Mr. Youngkin because he did not associate him as a Trump Republican. “My problem with Trump was I thought he was embarrassing. I just don’t think Youngkin is going to embarrass me or the state.”
Peters pushed that angle on Twitter, calling Miller a “Hillary-Biden voter & dad” who is voting Republican because he can “stomach” Youngkin.
In fact, as many on social media noted, Glenn Miller is more than likely not a “Hillary-Biden voter,” but, as some on social media have revealed, a “GOP activist,” donor, and author.
Award-winning journalist and author Jonathan Katz notes that the “supposed Biden-turned-Youngkin voter [Jeremy Peters] quoted wrote an article about CRT and race-based admissions for Quillette two months before the 2020 election.”
Quillette is a right wing website that, as one writer at The Nation says, “normalizes the alt-right,” and is “repackaging discredited race science.”
And as Katz’s tweet shows, others are focusing in on that false “Hillary-Biden voter & dad” angle:
“I’ve said it before, but Peters is either the most gullible reporter on the NYT staff or a Republican operative,” Katz adds.
It’s hard to see someone with this many donations to Republicans being a “Hillary-Biden voter.”
Katz also reveals that Miller has authored articles for the Fairfax, Virginia GOP.
Sensitive to the mounting criticism, Peters early Monday tweeted: “If you’re a political independent who works for a nonprofit that helps vulnerable women, voted for Biden and say you think Trump is embarrassing, Twitter will still call you a rightwing nut who dupes gullible journalists. What a place.”
But Katz adds that “Miller is a highly paid, very much for profit real estate lawyer in addition to being a right-wing anti-‘CRT’ activist,” and criticizes the piece as “amateur.”
Peters’ additional claim was also debunked.
Attorney and upcoming author Luppe B. Luppen:
Luppen notes this is not the first time for Peters:
Here’s how some others are responding: