The Apprentice-Style, Times Reveals Its Democratic Candidate Endorsements, Warren and Klobuchar, on FX Series

Matt Webb Mitovich

“You’re endorsed!”

The New York Times used its Sunday-night TV newsmagazine, The Weekly, to build up to and then reveal its endorsements for the Democratic presidential race: Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar.

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Explaining the split vote, the Times said in a statement, “In this perilous moment, both the radical and the realist models warrant serious consideration. For this reason, we are breaking with convention, and putting our support behind not one, but two candidates.”

The announcement came after The Weekly (which airs on FX and streams on Hulu) had aired excerpts from their editorial board’s traditional in-depth interviews with leading contenders for the Democratic nomination, also including Joe Biden, Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Cory Booker (who has since dropped out) and Deval Patrick.

“These illuminating interviews have historically happened behind closed doors. This year, the Times board experimented with a new level of openness,” the publication said of the decision to open their deliberations to the public. “We hope this endorsement process will give readers — and voters — a new understanding of the key issues facing the nation and shaping the 2020 presidential race.”

The decidedly Apprentice-style format of the proceedings understandably drew mixed reactions on social media, with some likening it to the world’s worst rose ceremony and others acknowledging that, well, reality-TV is what entertains people nowadays.

Warren took the split decision in stride, while Klobuchar regarded it an honor:

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